page_title: Arthur Lawrence Hellyer Jr.
section_title: Radio career
hierarchical_section_title: Arthur Lawrence Hellyer Jr. / Radio career
caption_attribution_description: English: Deejay Art Hellyer interviewing Andy Griffith in WCFL-AM radio studio in Chicago in 1953
context_page_description: Arthur Lawrence "Art" Hellyer Jr. was an American radio and television broadcaster whose professional career spanned the years 1947–2012 and included local and national network radio programs as a disc jockey, radio and television news reporter and anchor, sports reporter, game show television host, and live and recorded television and radio commercials.
  Chuck Schaden, Chicago radio history buff and host of Golden Age of Radio programs on WBBM-AM and WNIB-FM 97.1 wrote that "Art Hellyer was the king of Chicago radio", and Hellyer "became the originator and perhaps the foremost exponent of zany, off-the-wall comedy on the air." During his career Hellyer's shows achieved #1 in ratings on three different Chicago radio stations during his program time slots. Vicki Quade, journalist and playwright, called Hellyer "a legend in radio."
context_section_description: Following his military service, Hellyer enrolled in broadcasting classes in March 1946, at the Radio Institute of Chicago. He studied with experienced broadcasters and radio actors including Paul Barnes, Bob Cunningham and Ted Liss, and worked on studio projects with fellow students including future TV actor, Tom Bosley.
  Hellyer's professional broadcasting career began on New Year's Day 1947 at WKNA-AM, Charleston, West Virginia, hosting the first music program on this newly-licensed radio station's initial day of broadcasting.  His early career (between 1947–1950) included hosting radio programs at WOWO-AM Fort Wayne, Indiana; WMRO-AM Aurora, Illinois; and WISN-AM, WMAW-AM and WMIL-AM, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he also reported news throughout the night of the  Truman-Dewey election in 1948.  In Milwaukee he often broadcast live from "remote" local music venues, emceeing stage and ballroom performances with Patti Page, Liberace, Ken Griffin, Frankie Laine and other entertainers.
  Hellyer's break into a major market was in May 1950, when his daily postcards mailed to WCFL-AM Chicago's program director asking to "rescue" him from Milwaukee resulted in an unorthodox on-air live audition for 50,000 watt WCFL while broadcasting his show on air on WMIL-AM in Milwaukee.  WCFL hired Hellyer, and by 1952 Hellyer was given the drive-time 6am – 10am radio slot where he was promoted as the "Morning Madcap." During this time Hellyer also freelanced with radio shows broadcasting on as many as seven different radio stations the same week, emceeing celebrity events, and generally advancing his career with radio and television commercial work as the regular voice of national sponsors. This included announcing live in-studio commercials on the CBS network show "What's My Line" in New York.
caption: Hellyer interviewing Andy Griffith in 1953 on WCFL-AM in Chicago
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