Dale Kay's Spookshow

Dale Kay is a Horror Host on a local public access channel on Amherst City Cable in Ohio. A few weeks ago I watched one of his shows that was streaming on Alternative Realities. The movie he was showing was The Eye Creatures. The movie was really bad, but his show was really fun. I've been "talking" to Dale through email recently. Here's his history cut together from several emails --

"Well....let's start with a brief history...my childhood doesn't sound much different than yours in areas of interest. I used to make clay dinosaurs come to life on my old 8mm and Super 8 cameras that had single frame capabilities and I used them for special classes, but mostly my own enjoyment.

In 1980, The Ghoul announced he would come back to the (then) new channel 61 in Cleveland, which later became the shopping network channel. He was also doing radio on 108 FM on Saturday nights. I sort of "crashed" the radio station with my finance, at the time, and surprised Ron Sweed and his then wife Barbara. Queen Barbara was very gracious and let us come into the production room out back while Ron did his show live. They learned very quickly I had a knack for character voices and timing and I learned to use the recording equipment equally fast. I made some promos with impressions of famous people for Ron's show and we were promptly invited to the TV station, as well where we played Blanche Figmeyer and I was Spike (who rides a bike) as well as other characters.

After about a year of appearing weekly on both shows, I discovered through one of the other characters on the show that one could make pretty good money as a DJ in bars and weddings.....it was like a dream come true for me....to be able to be paid to drink and act like an ass (well....maybe I wasn't acting). I utilized my TV and radio appearances to obtain nightclub work and had a fairly successful run for the next 15 years. As our family began, I gravitated to a more conventional method of earning a living and drifted away from my hobbies and entertainment, except for an occaisional DJ gig.

Late in 2006, my son and I were collecting soundtracks for horror and sci-fi movies. As I searched more and more online, I discovered a website hosted by Doktor Goulfinger (Michael Monohan) that was dedicated to horror hosts across the country which got the horror host bug to bite me on the heiny. The site also explored the old Spook shows or Ghost shows that were popular in the 40s and 50s in movie theaters. It was then, that Dale Kay's Spookshow was......hatched? I approached our local cable station who at first seemed very interested in the project and the local office manager said "go ahead and film it with the cameraman". In 48 hours, an entire show which includes a cartoon, movie (with comic sound bytes inserted), original comedy skits and hosted studio segments was completed save for editing. The finished product was presented to the "big shots" at the cable company who informed me they don't do public access.

I was given a copy of that "pilot" show and went next to Amherst City Cable at the suggestion of the cameraman, Bob Schlenbaker. He said Amherst is always looking for new shows. From there we've been doing one show a month during the school year, typically, with 28 shows completed. Issue 29 is in post-production, now slowed by a heavy sports schedule there. Spookshow is family-friendly and my own two children Mike and Rachael co-write and co-produce some of the skits, at times.

We've been regular guests at Ghoulardifest...they usually show an Issue of Spookshow and in 2008 I was asked to be on a panel with other hosts and local celebs to discuss the genre. We post the best skits on YouTube....www.youtube.com/dkspookshow.

I get a lot of positive feedback. I'm also hoping to host for 100ymm.com (for one hundred years of monster movies if you accept Edison's 1910 Frankenstein as a first). A company called Fearwerx in NY created a website and every Friday night a different horror host is featured hosting two cheesy horror flicks on a webcast....complete with a chat. Dozens of horror hosts across the country...some well known in the genre and some "newbies" like myself join in the chat.....it's almost like an expanded version of Mystery Science Theater 3000, in a way. I get to use more of my adult humor....A nice outlet for a former nightclub DJ!!

As far as my character....not too far from my DJ persona, which isn't a far cry from the real me. I used my last initial when I started as a DJ and people got to thinking "Kay" was my last name, so I used it, since my real name is a bit ethnic...ski. The best compliment I received so far, was someone who said.....gosh....it's SO much like Big Chuck and The Ghoul without copying either. I tend to be a wise guy and my kids are equally sarcastic, picking at my age and weight while I bust on them to do chores or be respectful. I like to say Spookshow is a cross between the Addams Family and Married With Children....but not really, yet....it's a direction we want to head in.

The first Spookshow aired Apr 15, 2007. We get some interesting guests...the most well known is Uncle Vic from old G98, who is a good friend of mine.

Dale Kay's Radio Spookshow will be on Sat Oct 30 from 7-9 pm on Kool Kat Oldies 1380 AM in Oberlin and then it's over to the Oberlin Inn's bar, Brewster's, for a live Halloween DJ Show."

Thanks for the info Dale. If anyone is in the area, be sure to check out his show. For more info, click on the links below.

Dale Kay's Spookshow on YouTube

Dale Kay's Spookshow on Facebook

Dale Kay's Spookshow on MySpace

Dale Kay's Spookshow on Blogger