Buffalo Bob Smith

Robert Emil Schmidt (November 27, 1917 – July 30, 1998), nicknamed Buffalo Bob, was an American television personality and television host; he was well known as the host of the children's show Howdy Doody. Born in Buffalo, New York, as Robert Emil Schmidt, he attended Masten Park High School.

Schmidt got his start in radio in Buffalo at WGR (AM) though he switched from WGR to WBEN's late morning radio slot in 1943, as part of a move which also brought Clint Buehlman's early morning show over from WGR to WBEN at the same time. (The WBEN morning slot had opened when its host, future NBC-TV personality Jack Paar, was drafted into the military.)WBEN was seeking to break WGR's #1 position in local popularity; shaking the position of network-fed Don McNeill's Breakfast Club and its grip on ratings for the 9 am time slot was an important part of the plan. WBEN first poached (from WGR) Clint Buehlman's popular early morning show, which ended at 9am, followed by 15 minutes of local news. Then, Buffalo Bob appeared at 9:15 am. Within a period of time, Smith had won the #1 spot in late mornings for WBEN, and McNeill dropped to second in the Buffalo market. Smith's popularity in Buffalo won the attention of NBC, which brought him to New York after the war to host early mornings on flagship station WNBC, a post he held through the early 1950s before concentrating on television. For a time between 1947 and 1953, he appeared mornings on WNBC while hosting and producing the daily Howdy Doody show.