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An on-air institution in Iowa, Bill Riley was a pledge pitchman for Iowa PTV and host of an annual statewide talent search. Above: Jessica Keenan, one of many talent contestants who stayed in touch. (Photo courtesy of Bill Riley Jr.) |
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Originally published in Current, Feb. 26, 2007
By Mike Janssen
Iowans are mourning the loss of one of their most beloved stars and closest friends, Bill Riley, who died of leukemia Dec. 15 [2006] at the age of 86.
For decades Riley poured his love of Iowa into his work, and the people returned it many times over. The regional celebrity in commercial and public broadcasting, who hosted Iowa PTV pledge drives for 32 years, launched a statewide talent competition that taught the virtues of perseverance and self-esteem to thousands of youngsters.
Riley was best known as “Mr. Iowa State Fair,” serving as both emcee and impresario, never missing a day at the fair for 60 years.
In 1959, Riley created what was to become his most lasting legacy, the State Fair Talent Search. Each year the competition swept the state for contestants, ages 2 to 21, and culminated at the fair, broadcast on Iowa PTV, with Riley as the endlessly enthusiastic host.
Thousands of frightened young singers, dancers and musicians gave it their best shot after getting a Riley pep talk. Many who are now adults honored him with moving tributes after his death.
“Bill has not only touched tens of thousands of young, impressionable people, he has touched the lives of those they touch,” Kim Sienkiewicz told the Des Moines Register. Sienkiewiczwon the 1970 competition with her singing. “It’s hard to take what’s in your heart and put words to it,” she said. “That’s how I feel about Bill. I love the guy.”
“He was very proud of Iowa and Iowans,” says Duane Huey, an e.p. of special projects at Iowa PTV. “And I think he had a nice way of helping Iowans to feel proud about themselves.”
Riley’s interest in radio began when, at age 14, he saw Ronald Reagan delivering a live sportscast. “I immediately idolized him,” Riley said in a profile on Iowa PTV last year. The young Des Moines radio personality began emceeing state fair events in 1946. He took on more broadcast work, at one point appearing on three radio programs and as many television shows, says his son, Bill Riley Jr. He spent much of his career with KRNT-TV, the CBS affiliate in Des Moines (now KCCI).
“He was like a god to us when we were kids,” Huey says.
Riley parlayed that fame into the talent show, which grew by drawing on a growing web of local contests and July 4th celebrations across the state, many of which Riley visited in person. In 1996, his last year as Talent Search host, Riley covered 7,500 miles of Iowa roads.
He based the contest as much on the losing acts as on the winners, regularly encouraging unsuccessful contestants to try again the next year.
“He was a great builder of self-confidence,” says his son. “He always told the Riley kids something along the lines of, ‘There is only failure if you don’t keep trying.’”
Riley’s son, who inherited the job of hosting the Talent Search, calls his father “an idea guy.” In October he visited Bill Sr. at his Arizona retirement home and left with three pages of ideas for the show.
“Here he is, a month and a half away from dying,” says Bill Riley Jr. “He knows he’s dying. He’s still working on ideas. . . . I started chuckling, and he looked at me and said, ‘What’s so funny, smartass?’ And I said, ‘I just can’t believe we wouldn’t be talking about something a little more serious than the talent show.’”
“Boy, did he love that show,” the son says. “I’ll never attempt to fill those shoes,” he adds. “They’re not to be filled.”
Riley’s friends and colleagues remember him as a consummate showman with almost magical powers. Carla Ault, Riley’s assistant with the Talent Search for 40 years, says the host had “a built-in clock in his head” that served him well on live broadcasts.
“He was a very special man, and anyone who knew him was blessed,” she says.
As a host of Iowa PTV’s big March pledge drives, Riley drew on his deep knowledge of the state’s geography and residents as he named particular towns, counties and people, asking for donations. A sincere appeal from Riley could get dead phones ringing throughout the studio. To kick up the game a notch, Riley could ask for a call and point to a phone, and “bing, it would ring,” says Huey.
Riley is survived by his wife, Anne; three daughters, two sons, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
From years of personal appearances, Riley knew pledgers in every corner of the state.
Web page posted March 19, 2007
Copyright 2007 by Current Publishing Committee