Two broadcasters with WDAF ties pass on

Two well-known alumni of WDAF, Channel 4 - including the man credited by his peers with making it a powerhouse - have passed away in recent days. Dick Peabody, an actor and announcer best known for his role as Littlejohn on the war drama "Combat," which aired on ABC from 1962 to 1967, died Dec. 27 in El Camino, Calif., of prostate cancer. He was 74. Peabody graduated from Westport High School in 1943 and, on his return from a four-year stint in the Navy, held down several jobs in Kansas City. One was at the educational and industrial film giant Calvin Company at its Troost Avenue facility, where he was hired by Robert Altman. In the 1960s, when Peabody arrived at Altman's doorstep in Hollywood seeking a movie role, the director hired him again. Peabody had studied to become an engineer but gave it up because, as he later told The Star, "I couldn't find anyone who could name a famous electrical engineer." In 1951 Peabody joined WDAF as a director and announcer. His on-air name was Dick Gillham, a famous name in his family (Gillham Road is named for his grandfather). He was remembered as having a good voice, but at 6-feet-6 he may have been too outsized for early local television. Peabody left Channel 4 the next year. He married Kansas City's first "weather girl," Essie Campbell, in 1955 and wound up in Denver producing radio commercials. In 1962 Peabody rolled the dice and moved to L.A., and got a one-episode deal on "Combat" in 1963. But the big actor proved popular as Littlejohn and he stayed on through the end of the series. Peabody eventually appeared in more than 120 TV shows and six feature films, including "Support Your Local Sheriff." In the 1970s he had a radio interview show in Los Angeles and later wrote a column for the Placerville (Calif.) Mountain Democrat, near his home in El Camino. Bill Bates, 86, who passed away Jan. 6 in Prairie Village, was Channel 4's first program director and its second general manager from 1949 to 1964. At the time of the station's sign-on, Bates faced the unenviable task of filling a four-hour schedule without the aid of a television network or a film library, and with the notoriously shallow pockets of The Star, which owned WDAF until 1958. Bates wheeled and dealed with film wholesalers - the big Hollywood studios would not negotiate with TV stations, so traveling salesmen offered him everything from Army training films to Western matinees - and he never stopped needling his bosses at The Star for more money. His efforts paid off, and WDAF became immensely profitable. A subsequent owner, Taft Broadcasting, promoted him to an executive position in 1964. "I've not known anyone in the broadcast industry I've admired as much as Bill," said Murray Nolte, who was hired by Bates in 1952 and worked at WDAF until 1970. "He looked out for everyone." Familiar face at 4 You may recognize the newest addition to Channel 4's lineup of news anchors: Tom Lawrence, the former 6 and 10 p.m. co-anchor at KSHB, Channel 41, appears on WDAF's weekend newscasts beginning this weekend. Lawrence, who is working free-lance, also will do some reporting. Moving off weekends is Toby Cook, who started this week as Brad Harvey's replacement on the WDAF early morning news. The Independence, Kan., native joined Channel 4 in 1998 as a reporter. Harvey is now at WEWS-TV in Cleveland. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com