Trivia tripping

Howdy.

A columnist in the motorcycle magazine I subscribe to (Cycle World) wonders if he’s the only one old enough to remember the TV program “Sea Hunt.”
I don’t remember it, but the reason is because Sea Hunt is after my time.
What I do remember is -a) “Plunk yer magic twanger, Froggy”, -b) the Katzenjammer Kids, -c) Clarabell spraying Buffalo Bob with seltzer in Howdy-Doody, and -d) Jay Silverheels addressing Clayton Moore as Kemo-sabe in “The Lone Ranger.”
(The “Plunk yer magic twanger, Froggy” link is not the original; it’s Andy’s Gang — looks like Andy Devine.)
The audience of children in Howdy-Doody was the Peanut Gallery. Clarabell was played by Bob Keeshan.
Silverheels played “Tonto,” the Lone Ranger’s sidekick. His horse was a pinto named “Scout.”
Moore played The Lone Ranger. His horse was “Silver,” white and fast.
The bullets from his pistol were made of silver.
Their theme-song was Rossini’s William Tell Overture.
Hopalong Cassidy was played by William Boyd.
Another TV-western icon from those hoary days was Gene Autry, the first singing cowboy.
His sidekick was Smiley Burnette, and his horse was named “Champion.”
Their theme-song was “Back In The Saddle Again,” sung by Autry.
He was soon followed by Roy Rogers, who married Dale Evans.
Their sidekick was Pat Brady, who drove a cantankerous Jeep named “Nellybelle.”
It had a habit of starting and leaving undriven if Brady kicked the tires.
Rogers’ horse was “Trigger,” and his dog was named “Bullet.”
How many times did Rogers jump from Trigger into Nellybelle to stop it?
Sea Hunt is much later, well after TV was established.
I’m a child of the ‘50s, when TV was first starting.
I think the first TV news program was “Camel News Caravan,” with John Cameron Swayze. (Actually it was the first news program to use TV news footage instead of movie newsreels.)
My father, who was anti-smoking, used to turn down the ads by Camel cigarettes.
This was well before remotes and muting. You used to have to go up to the TV and turn down the volume knob.
Soon everyone in our family was doing it.
That was our family’s first TV, a 1949 RCA console with a round 12-inch black & white picture-tube.
The first TV I ever saw was my paternal grandparents, a giant box with a tiny flickering 8-inch circular picture-tube.
We used to watch Jack Benny and Bing Crosby.
My grandfather loved Bing Crosby. He’d whistle along.
Back then there was no such thing as cable. You got your TV via broadcast.
And there were only three TV channels out of Philadelphia, ABC (WFIL, Channel-6), CBS (WCAU, Channel-10), and NBC (WPTZ, Channel-3).
Your TV came through a twin-sparred antenna atop your house.

• I grew up in south Jersey, east of Philadelphia.