The Bozo Show (WDOSP)

The Bozo Show is a local version of the Bozo the Clown franchise for Harrisburg, PA and is broadcasted on WDOSP. The series originally ran from 1976 until 2000, when the station became an ABN affiliate and ABN cancelled the series, deciding that it did not fit their programming direction. However the series did return in 2002 with a completely different format.
The show has been a long-running series in Harrisburg, to the point where Firehouse Media, WDOSP's parent, renews the contract with Larry Harmon Productions and DuMont Television every year.
== History ==
=== 1976-2000 ===
In 1976, Kayla Herbert, original owner of WDOSP, using a bank loan, bought the Harrisburg license for Bozo the Clown. While she and Larry Harmon looked for someone to play Bozo while Kayla created characters and sketched up ideas, she saw Zack Leal, a local comedian, making fun of clowns in a comedy act. Soon, she brought Zack to Larry, leading to Larry selecting Zack as the Harrisburg Bozo. After gaining a Bozo costume, the show took form. Initially, the series was filmed in a warehouse in Whitehall, but soon filming moved to the studios of PBS affiliate WGKX. Other characters include, but are not limited to, Jenna, a anthropomorphic Irish fox (currently played by Zack's daughter Elizabeth) who is Bozo's love interest, and who sings songs for the audience, Professor Wonkytonk (currently played by Jack Valquez) who invents gadgets for Bozo, and "a cast of millions." The original Jenna costume was produced by Shafton, Inc. of North Hollywood in California. In 2000, when an ABN affiliation was brought onboard, ABN management cancelled the show, deciding that it did not fit ABN's programming direction.
=== 2002-present ===
Eventually, in 2002, the show returned after much meddling with ABN executives. Zack Leal jokingly stated in a interview about the show's return "Now Jenna and the cast of millions are out of unemployment." Currently, The Bozo Show is used to broadcast programs from ABN Kids and Toonopolis on the WDOSP main feed. In 2014, the original Jenna costume used by her actresses over the years was retired and donated to the Pennsylvania Museum of Music & Broadcast History, to make way for a new Jenna costume, made by local fursuit production company Fluffed Up Productions. Eventually, WDOSP donated the set that they had been using for almost 40 years to the museum in August 2015 to make way for a new set, made by Atomic! Set Construction.
== Bozo's Pizza Circus ==
WDOSP's manager from 1980 to present, Arnold White, owned a chain of family entertainment centers with the Bozo license, called Bozo's Pizza Circus. The chain began in 1991 when WDOSP bought a Showbiz Pizza Place, in the Kroger Plaza center, at auction, and rethemed it after the Bozo character. It was a popular place for children's birthday parties and was popular with teenagers for it's Rock-afire Explosion show (which was retrofitted with clown theming when the store became Bozo's Pizza Circus). About a year later, he purchased a Bullwinkle's Restaurant, a competitor to Showbiz, in Pittsburgh. When the franchises for other competing FEC's, such as Tex Critter's Pizza Jamboree, Major Magic's (except for some stores that were converted from SPP's), and the aforementioned Bullwinkle's vacated the area, Arnold acquired and converted several venues in Pennsylvania and New York. After the show was cancelled, all of the Bozo's Pizza Circus venues closed. The original Bozo's Pizza at Kroger Plaza was among the strip of stores that were destroyed in a 3-alarm fire in 2004.
=== Locations ===
* Kroger Plaza in Harrisburg (had the Rock-afire Explosion show with clown theming, Mitzi's mask was repainted to resemble the face of a mime. The show from this location went to a fan who runs a tribute page on Facebook.)
* 1025 Love Street in Pittsburgh (had the Rock-afire Explosion show set up exactly like Showbiz, replacing the Bullwinkle's animatronic show)
* Child World Center in Ambridge (had the Wolf Pack 5 show due to size restrictions, came from Fame City at Memorial City Mall in Houston, Texas, which in turn came from Man & His World in Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
* Timms Plaza in Bear Creek Village (had the Rock-afire Explosion show with clown theming, largest location at 110,000 sq. ft., in a circus tent-like building)
* 98 Viola Street in State College (had the Rock-afire Explosion show set up exactly like Showbiz on a Major Magic's Rock 'n Roll Rebellion stage, the platform for Major Magic, the Major Magic bot (hidden by the curtains, which were duct-taped shut), and Major Magic's curtains were still in place when the location closed)
* 22 Pontiac Street in Windsor Farms (had the Rock-afire Explosion show set up exactly like Showbiz, except the side stages were reversed)
* 400 Alan Wood Road in Conshohocken (had the Rock-afire Explosion set up exactly like Showbiz, center stage and center stage background was reused from tenure as Tex Critter's Pizza Jamboree. Building was demolished and parking for IKEA Conshohocken was built on site. Bots sold to the Whitehall Chuck E. Cheese's for parts (save from Rolfe, who is owned by a former employee, yet the bot now has Mitzi cosmetics and a Mitzi left arm in place of Earl))
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Category:Kids shows