In 1970, James Hilbrink of FEN - Tokyo conceived the
idea of a weekly, locally produced, children's program to serve the dependents of
personnel stationed in Japan. Enlisting the assistance of Navy Journalist Tim
Huguenard and the support and approval of John Buey, FEN's production director, Edward
McKean, and Chief of FEN Major Frank Morris, the result was "Sleepy Hollow"
which aired Saturday mornings from 8:05 to 8:30 a.m. and later expanded to a full 30
minutes from 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. The first broadcast came on August 29, 1970.
Hilbrink created the animal voices for Jerky Turkey,
and Grumpy Groundhog, as well as the human voice of Uncle Ed.
Huguenard became known to listeners as the voice of
Timmy Turtle as well as Uncle Luther.
Later, Petunia Polecat joined the cast, voiced by Kay
Coughlin.
Navy Journalist Rodney Fujii used his mastery of the
recording lab to bring it all together on tape.
Promoting the Show
Once the first shows were "in the can," one
of the challenges was to build an audience. Click here to listen to one of the promos that
aired. Click here to listen to a
second promo.
On The Air
In addition to a regular cast of characters, Hilbrink
and his crew developed a set of program elements that provided consistency throughout each
program.
Click here
to listen to the opening segment.
Click here
to listen to the closing segment
Command Spots for Kids
Sleepy Hollow met its obligation to include
"command spots" by creating several especially designed for the show.
Topics such as bike safety, the Boy Scouts, and even general safety tips were designed to fit
comfortably within the Sleepy Hollow format.
Sleepy Hollow Characters Supported the Overall FEN
Mission
In addition to the show itself, the Sleepy Hollow gang
was called upon to help FEN in other ways. This 1970 promotion for the annual FEN Santa Claus call-in demonstrates one way
in which the characters were used.
The characters helped to promote the 25th Anniversary
of FEN and even created a special slide show for visiting youngsters to the FEN studios.
Let's Go Under The Magic Waterfall
Here's the demo episode of Sleepy Hollow
Source
Information on this program was gleaned from James
Hilbrink's 1972 Masters Thesis completed at California State University, Humboldt.
