What is Wonderama?
{{italictitle}} '''''Wonderama''''' was a long-running [[children's television]] program. It appeared on [[Metromedia]]-owned stations from 1955 to 1986. The show was made at [[WNYW|WNEW-TV]] in [[New York City]]. ''Wonderama'' also was run in five other markets in which Metromedia owned television stations, including [[WTTG]] in [[Washington D.C.]], [[KMBC-TV]] in [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], [[KTTV]] in [[Los Angeles]], [[WXIX-TV]] in [[Cincinnati, Ohio|Cincinnati]] and [[KARE|WTCN-TV]] in [[Minneapolis – Saint Paul]]. The show ran three hours long, and later two hours on Sunday mornings. ==Hosts== *[[Al Hodge]] (as [[Captain Video]] 1955 - 1956) *[[Jon Gnagy]] (mid late 1950s) *[[Sandy Becker]] (1955–56) *[[Pat Meikle]] (co-hosting from 1955 to 1956) *[[Herb Sheldon]] (1956–1958) *[[Bill Britten]] (best known as New York's [[Bozo the Clown]], co-host in 1958) *[[Doris Faye]] (co-host in 1958) *[[Sonny Fox]] (1959–1967) *[[Bob McAllister]] (1967–1977) * A documentary hosted by teens (1980–1985) ==The Bob McAllister years== Despite the frequent turnover of hosts throughout the 1950s, ''Wonderama'' experienced its greatest viewership by way of one-time [[Baltimore, Maryland|Baltimore]] kids' show host Bob McAllister, who replaced Sonny Fox as host in 1967 and remained host until 1977. Each show's taping included ''(but was not necessarily limited to)'' education, music, audience participation, games, interviews and cartoon shorts. Each week, audience members received a package of parting gifts with some items, including: *An [[Oral-B]] toothbrush *An issue of [[Dynamite Magazine]] or Golden Magazine *A supply of [[Good Humor]] ice cream *A box of [[Twinkies|Hostess Twinkies]] *A 6-pack of [[RC Cola]] *A tube of Hold! cough lozenges *A package of [[Fruit Stripe]] Gum *A gift certificate for [[Burger King]] or [[McDonald's]] *A pack of Lender's Bagelettes.<br>''(Each child also got a necklace made from a Lenders Bagelette which had either their name or their last initial painted on it.)'' *A [[45 r