Ned Locke

Who was Ned Locke?

Norbert Locke, better known as Ned Locke, was an American television personality and radio announcer, best known for the role of "Ringmaster Ned" on WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus from 1961 - 1976.

Locke, who was from Red Wing, Minnesota, got into radio quite young, appearing on a program in Minneapolis-St.Paul when he was only nine years old. Locke performed in various theater companies after his high school graduation and became a radio announcer for WHO in Des Moines, Iowa.

By 1950, he was appearing on WMAQ radio in Chicago, on a program called Uncle Ned's Squadron. It was his appearance here that led him to substituting for longtime Chicago children's host Johnny Coons on his Noontime Comics series on WNBQ in 1951. An avid pilot who both operated two Des Moines area airports and trained pilots, Locke initially commuted to Chicago for his weekly radio program. Locke also served as the director of aeronautics for the state of Iowa for seven years. His substitute television appearance led to other children's shows: Sunday Funnies, where Locke read the newspaper comics on television and Captain Hartz and His Pets, sponsored by Hartz Mountain. He worked there and at local ABC affiliate WENR appearing in teledramas, musicals, commercials and even writing a teleplay called Jet Pilot. He wrote over 2,500 radio and television shows during the course of his career.