Johnny Forrest, Radio Broadcaster, Playwright and Songwriter

John R. Forrest, known as Johnny (born in 1908, died in 1971), was a multi-talented Northwest celebrity. He was an anchorman, newscaster, sportscaster, announcer (and program director) of KOL and producer of a free-lance newscast on KIRO.  He was also a newscaster at KFKF radio in Seattle, Washington. Upon graduating from the University of Southern California, John played repertory stock for two years and attended the Pasadena Playhouse.  Former professional radio experience include KNX and KFI-Hollywood, radio plays for Lux Radio Theater, Creeps by Night and Suspense.

His achievements include two plays written for old time radio Suspense Theater; "Mission Completed," aired in 1949, starring James Stewart and "The Daisy Chain," aired (circa) 1960.  A songwriter, he composed "Blue Tears" (sung by Lola Sugia) and  "Weathervane" (Lola Sugia), recorded and engineered at Joe Boles Recording Studio in Seattle and released on the Golden Crest Record Label.  (Johnny wrote musicals, tunes and songs that were never published /copyright.) He composed popular Northwest radio jingles, including a long airing, catchy tune (also sung by Lola Sugia) for "G.O. Guy Drugs," and a musical, produced by the Glenn Hughes Seattle Repertory Playhouse (circa 1949), called, "Johnny Appleseed." His musical review, "It's in the Air," was produced in Hollywood during the war.  Johnny was also a member of the American Society of Composers and was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

John moved to Seattle from Wyoming in (circa) 1935 and was hired by the Seattle Broadcasting Company (KOL) in 1936. Sometime during the late 30's or early 40's John also worked at Lux Radio Theater in Hollywood. (During its years on CBS in Hollywood, Lux Radio Theater was broadcast from the Lux Radio Playhouse located at 1615 North Vine Street in Hollywood, one block south of the intersection of Hollywood and Vine.)

Throughout the 40's, 50's and early 60's John Forrrest remained at Seattle's KOL radio, and from (circa) 1968 through 1970 his voice was heard as the morning anchor, broadcasting on KFKF radio in Bellevue (owned by Kemper Freeman Sr.). 

In 1960 Johnny married vocalist Lola Sugia, sister of well-known Northwest musician, jazz accordionist, club owner and bandleader, Frank Sugia. Lola sang with the popular dance bands and orchestras throughout the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's, including bands led by Wyatt Howard (at downtown Seattle's Town and Country Club), Max Pillar, Clyde Jensen, Don Anderson, Gordon Greene (at the Spanish Castle), Ken Cloud, Pep Perry, Jackie Souders, Frank Sugia, Curt Sykes and Norm Hoagy. Some of the musicians that Lola performed with are Dave Tuttle (father of Seattle drummer, Marty Tuttle), Marv Thomas (father of well known Seattle trumpeter, Jay Thomas), Terry King, Ralph St. John, Kenny Nelson, Ken Cloud, Dusty Kneely, Tiny Martin, Earl Taylor, Dave Stetler, Don Anderson (father of Don Anderson, Jr), Sal Carraba, Stan Keene, Red Kelly, Wayne Saxe, Bob Winn, Ronnie Pierce, John Wittwer, Mike Hobi, Dave Coleman (father of Tim Coleman and Dave Coleman, Jr.), Gene Sargent (father of Molly Sargent), Don Ober (father of Sean Dj-Dab Ober), Joe Venuti, Hayden Shaner, Dick Krafft (father of Ed Krafft, Roni Krafft and Debbie Krafft), Bob Winn, Joe Adams, Phil Odle, Frank Sugia (uncle of Maia Santell), Benny Witte, Al Turay, Carle Rising, Gordy Challstedt, Rollie Morehouse (father of Robin Morehouse), Floyd Standifer, Jack Hyde, to name a few.

Together, Johnny and Lola composed songs and radio jingles. Some of John's notable friends and associates were Don McCune (Seattle's "Captain Puget"), George Peckham (musician, pianist and well-known vocal coach), Howard Hall (KING host of talk show called "Telescope"), Bill Munson (KOL), Ivar Haglund ("Ivar's"), Ron Bailie (Ron Bailie's School of Broadcasting, Seattle), Pat O'day (KJR), Jerry Holzinger (KFKF), Bill O'Mara (KFKF), Frank Roberts (KOL and KIRO), Martin Tobin (KOL), Dick Stokke (KFKF), Kearney Barton (recording engineer) Joe Boles (recording engineer), Archie Taft, Sparky Taft, Jimmy Linden (audio engineer at KOL's Northern Life Tower and son of Adolph Frederik Linden), Dalton Trumbo (Novelist and Hollywood screenwriter), Larry Nelson (KOMO), Robert O. Smith (Bob Liddle, KIXI), Dick Keplinger, Bill Taylor and Dan Niles (KOL), to name a few.  You might recall hearing John Forrest broadcasting the Seattle Seafair Hydroplane Races in the late 50's, as one of KOL's leading sportscasters, in the KOL boat, called "The KOLROY", owned by Bob Gilliam.

Many people, including relatives and descendents of John Forrest, have asked about my quest for Johnny. Here is my story:

Two years ago, before I started the "Johnny Forrest Project," there was no mention of him on the Internet, not even for the songs or plays that he wrote, let alone any mention of his long history on radio. (I knew I would have a long road of "sleuthing" ahead of me!)

Besides librarians, historians, journalists, media people (radio and television), I contacted every living radio disc jockey, broadcaster and newscaster that had worked in the Northwest. I also posted comments and questions on every single blog I could find that had anything to do with "Old Time Radio" and Suspense Theater. I hit lots of dead ends, but I was determined. (My mother gave me bits and pieces of information, but she had lost track of John's daughters, Debbie, Suzanne and Bonnie. We eventually found them, but it wasn't until I was done with my research and had created this page for Johnny on “Foonote.”)

I was frustrated that I couldn't find anything on the Internet about Johnny's achievements. It indicated to me that very little was documented in those days! (What had happened to his family, wives and cohorts?) He was, for all intents and purposes, a “GHOST.” He had no history….he never existed. Because I believe strongly in promotions, the press, the power of the written word AND that everyone with talent should be given credit, I knew that I had to make this happen....

I knew that the very first thing that I needed to do was to get Johnny's name to appear in an Internet search. Since I had my own web site, I realized a way that I could make this happen. To accomplish it, my very first task was to include his photo on my own web site, in my "photo gallery" at: www.MaiaSantell.com

With that addition, Johnny made his first "appearance" on the web----in a Google search. It took a while, but it worked!  My next step was to develop a time line on his life. I sent away for his original Social Security records and found documentation of his Seattle addresses from the library. I had the necessary bits and pieces of information about his songs, plays and radio days to continue my quest, so I persisted, knowing that I still needed more data to complete the project. The hardest challenge was to find anyone that was still alive that had known or remembered John.  Most of his cohorts in the business were deceased.

During my months of sleuthing I made "friends" with prominent people, including Northwest historian and author, Peter Blecha and the owner of Golden Crest Records, John Broven. The end result was amazing! Johnny and Lola's hit record (“Blue Tears”) was re-released last year on "The Best Of Golden Crest," solely due to my connection with this particular piece of the puzzle, and Peter Blecha wrote an amazing piece about my mother, Lola Sugia (including mention of Johnny Forrest).

After that, Johnny became “ALIVE!” He began to have mention on the Internet for a variety of his achievements and accomplishments. I also got in touch will the website creators of Suspense Theater productions, and told them to add John’s name as the writer. They were very appreciative of the information. This, too, was very gratifying!! Below is a sample of one of my many "letters of inquiry:" This was one of the first letters I wrote, to a newspaper columnist.

After writing this (and receiving a favorable response), I got up the courage to get in touch with other prominent people in the recording industry, the radio industry and other media, as well as librarians, authors, journalists and historians. (I sent a total of eight-six emails to people from all walks of life.)

Dear Mr. Kossen (The Seattle Times):

My name is Maia Santell. I have been a performing musician, vocalist and bandleader in the Northwest music scene for twenty years. I am writing a book about my history, which includes my uncle, Frank Sugia, my mother, Lola Sugia and my father, also a musician, named Floyd Tebelman. (They have been briefly written about in Paul de Barros's book, "Jackson Street After Hours.")

The missing link in my memoirs is my step father, John R. Forrest (Johnny), who married my mother in 1960. Johnny passed away in 1974, and sadly there is no information about him on the Internet. He was a KOL radio broadcaster during the 60's and also broadcasted the Hydroplane Races for KOL during the 60's. He was a composer and a playwright, and at one time taught classes at Ron Bailie School of Broadcasting. His radio jingle, sung by my mother, was the popular,  “G.O. Guy, G.O. Guy, here’s another super buy, super buy, super buy…” He wrote two plays that were aired on Suspense Theatre and composed a musical that was produced in (circa) 1949 at Glenn Hughes Seattle Repertory Playhouse called "Johnny Appleseed,” but unfortunately there is nothing on the web about any of his achievements. He and my mother had a hit record in 1960, called “Blue Tears,” which was aired on Seattle pop radio stations. My Internet search led me to an article that you wrote about Pat O'Day, broadcasting the Hydroplane races. Your wonderful article made me realize that I need to find broadcasters that were on the air during the 60's. (Johnny was a dear friend of Don McCune, "Captain Puget".)

Can you recommend anyone that I could contact that might steer me in the right direction? (I searched KOL radio history and could find no record of him.) If I can gather enough information I would also like to write an article to submit to "Historylink.org". I would also like to create a “Footnote” web page for him. Any help or references you could give me are much appreciated.

Sincerely, Maia Santell