It's hard to equate him to an equivalent US figure, but given his primetime chat show that ran from 1982 for about ten years - three times a week in it's heyday - you might start with Johnny Carson. Wogan's show didn't run nearly as long as Carson's but the cumulative length of his reign on radio and television means I'd easily put him on par.
On top of that there was Blankety Blank, the knowingly shambolic gameshow, and his wonderful take on the Eurovision Song Contest (Sort of caring, but also jovially taking the piss out of all involved - something Graham Norton has continued since he took over), his TV influence was enormous and he was a much loved broadcaster. He also presented the UK's biggest telethon - Children in Need - only bowing out last year when ill-health prevented him from at least co-hosting. But it was 27 years as breakfast presenter on Radio 2, presenting the single biggest radio show in Europe in terms of audience, that was really where he shone. He was breakfast presenter for 12 years before he began the major part of his TV chat show career. And then when that show ended, he returned to Radio 2 for a probably even more successful stint until 2009. To put this all in perspective, news bulletins today are running long, with obituaries probably larger than they were for David Bowie a couple of weeks ago. And we'll certainly be getting specials in the coming days. One way or another, cancer has claimed a lot of great people this January... Adam On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 5:52 PM, Jim Ellwanger <train...@ellwanger.tv> wrote: > > > On Jan 31, 2016, at 9:15 AM, Diner <bwayst...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > I knew of him from YouTube as the original host of "Blankety Blank," the > UK version of "Match Game" - and the show with the most annoying theme song > ever. > > > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWgR-4dcbc4 > > He's represented in my radio station jingle collection. > > > http://www.ellwanger.tv/collect/jingles/audio/tumblr/20160131-terrywogan.mp3 > > -- > Jim Ellwanger <train...@ellwanger.tv> > <http://www.ellwanger.tv> > > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
