Marty Sullivan – Super Host
Marty was born in Detroit and his parents divorced before he graduated from high school. His aunt, who was very influential in his life, paid for him to go to boarding school in Canada. He went on to Assumption College (now College of Windsor) but after 2 years, knew he was about to get drafted, so he joined the Navy. He spent the next 4 years on a Guided Missile Test ship on the west coast and Guam.
After the navy, Marty went back to school where it was suggested he take up public speaking to “get out of his shell and build self esteem”. His low, crisp voice soon got him work as a staff announcer at WJR in Detroit, and wasn’t long before he got a call from WGAR. It was 1963 and they were looking for a newsman, and Marty was their guy. After about a year and a half, Marty left to work for an ad agency that didn’t work out for long. He was out of work for a while and heard of a new UHF station opening in a shopping mall in Parma. Sullivan went to the station and was hired to do anything that needed doing at WUAB.
Marty was an announcer and a newsman, a camera man and switchboard operator. During that time he crossed paths often with Fred Griffith and Lin Sheldon, both of whom became good friends and winners of the CAB Award for Excellence in Broadcasting.
It was during that time, that Superhost was born. Superhost was a two-level show. The humor was usually political and directed at adults, but the character himself, was developed for kids. The mix was worked so well, the show lasted for 20 years.
The show ran for 4 hours on Saturday afternoons from noon till 4p. It would start with The Three Stooges, followed by 2 horror movies. Superhost was also famous for his crazy parodies such as his take off on The Bionic Woman, The Moronic Women. Slim Whitman was also a favorite spoof (becoming Fat Whitman), but Sullivan may be most famous for his “Comway” skits.
Marty “tried not to be a gross out artist. I wouldn’t do anything for the shock value and I wouldn’t use foul language or do off color comedy”. “I loved Cleveland! I can’t say one bad thing about it. The people were wonderful.”
It’s a bird—it’s a plane—no, it’s Superhost