Royal Parker

He died of congestive heart failure on January 8, 2016 in Pikesville, Maryland, a Baltimore suburb, at age 86.

Parker remained at WBAL-TV until his retirement in 1994. Reflecting on his varied roles in the early pioneering years of commercial television, Parker recalled in 2008 that when he started at WAAM in 1951, earning $45 per week, "We just figured things out as we went along. In six months, you did everything. I could run a control board, or put on a cooking show".

In 1962, Parker moved to WBAL-TV, where he hosted such popular televised bowling programs as Pinbusters and Bowling for Dollars in the 1970s. While at WBAL, he played P. W. Doodle, a newsboy character he created based on his own experience selling newspapers in Baltimore as a youth. On November 22, 1963, he was called upon to broadcast the news flash of U.S. President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

Parker served in diverse roles during his more than four decade career in television (1951–1994), including newscasts, sports events, children's programs, announcing duties, and commercials. As a television newscaster with WAAM-TV in Baltimore, Parker covered the 1952 elections, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected U. S. President and J. Glenn Beall was elected U.S. Senator from Maryland. He created a children's television character, Mister Poplolly, in which he would don an oversized hat and glasses, along with a clown's nose, for a daily show. Later, he portrayed a Popeye-like sailor hosting a daily cartoon show. Parker also did commercials, including The Buddy Deane Show between 1957–1962 (by then, WAAM had been sold to Westinghouse and its call letters changed to WJZ-TV).

Royal Parker was born on April 8, 1929 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA as Royal Pollokoff. He was married to Phyllis Gordon.