Anchorage Varsity Show
Memories

Remember when as these Anchorage Varsity Show memories take you back to those fun times when Anchorage teens danced on TV to the latest hit songs.

At one time, all across America, many cities had local teen dance shows on TV, and Anchorage was no exception.

Saturday afternoons from September to May. Anchorage teens could tune to KTVA channel 11 to watch area high school kids dance to the latest hits, talk about what was happening in their local high schools and even catch a performance by local teen bands.

It was a lot of fun to go to the studios of KTVA to dance on live TV. Your family and friends could watch while you were out there on the dance floor showing off your best moves. And it was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon with your friends.

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Sylvia Smith

Anchorage Varsity Show crew

1963–1964

Anchorage Teens

Dancing on Live TV

Circa 1968

Host Jim Roach and

West High Cheer Leaders

1963–1964

Anchorage Varsity Show

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This one-of-a-kind TV dance show featured Anchorage area teens dancing to the latest hit songs of the day.

But that's not the whole story.

Anchorage high school students earned scholarships by becoming staff interns on the show.

Anchorage Teens

Dancing to the Latest Hits

1963–1964

The Anchorage Varsity Show

ran from 1959 to 1971

on KTVA channel 11

Show host Jim Roach

with Jon Carter behind the camera

1963–1964

A live Alaskan teen dance show with a “twist”

KTVA and Augie Hiebert had a great idea.

Create a live local TV dance show for Anchorage teens and give Anchorage teens the opportunity to work in front of and behind the scenes on the show.

Did you dance on the program?

Did you watch The Varsity Show?

Or, did you work on the show?

Show host Mike Ray

with a visiting

recording session guitarist

circa 1968

Show crew, circa 1968

David Michael in the foreground

Tom Dougherty and

Ray Malott behind the cameras

Show host Ron Moore

Behind the Scenes

Show Crew

1963–1964

Around Spring time each year, the Anchorage Varsity Show held auditions for high school teens that wanted to be on the show's crew in the fall.

Chosen teens would spend the summer learning their crew position. Camera, directing, sound, stage manager, “Go Go Dancers”, or commercial models – just to name a few.

When school began in the fall, the show went live each Saturday from the studios of KTVA Channel 11 in the McKinley building near downtown Anchorage (later the McKay building following the 1964 earthquake). And then from the KTVA studios in Spenard.

The show ran from the 1950s to the early 1970s.

Anchorage Varsity Show

For so many years, having a live TV dance show for local Anchorage area teens, meant fun, music and having your friends watch you dance on TV.

Parents could drop their teens off at the KTVA channel 11 studios, go home and watch them dance on the show, then pick them up at the studio.

And because of the show on KTVA, lots and lots of people who still live in and around Anchorage, and those who now live in other places around the world, have great memories.

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The Show Crew

The show was set up so that Anchorage Alaska high school students could audition to work on the show in front of and behind the camera. For those who became crew members, scholarships were available at the end of each season.

Because of Augie Hiebert, the President of Northern Television, many Anchorage high school teens who wanted careers in radio or television, were given a great opportunity by working on the show.

Show alumni have worked in local Anchorage radio and television, for national television networks and in the Hollywood motion picture industry both behind and in front of the cameras.

A live studio band entertains

circa 1967

Show host Ron Moore

wearing the

white coat

in the picture below

Host Mike Ray with Staff Dancers

circa 1968