Topic: PERSONALITIES
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Ed McMahon's Horatio Alger story is a significant one. In his youth, his family moved from town to town, and by the time he settled permanently with his grandparents in Lowell, Massachusetts, he had attended 15 different schools. He sold pots and pans door to door to make a living. He became entranced with radio, and by age 11 he was practicing his announcer techniques by reading Time magazine aloud into a flashlight. After working on the sound truck for a traveling carnival, he landed his first job at age 17, as a radio announcer with a local station. McMahon defended our country in both World War II and the Korean War, in which he earned six air medals. His determination to have a career in communications earned him his degree at Catholic University. He soon became "Mr. Television" at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia while he hosted, wrote and produced more than a dozen television shows. He went on to become the host of "Who Do You Trust?" starring Johnny Carson, and four years later hosted Carson's "The Tonight Show," which lasted 30 years and 5,000 episodes. The show earned four Emmys.
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