Don Pardo
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Dominick George Pardo, born February 22, 1918 in Westfield, Massachusetts, is a legendary radio and television announcer. Since the 1950s, Pardo has been an in-house announcer for the NBC television network. He and Bob Hope are the only two people to have been offered lifetime contracts by the network. His best known announcing work is for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC and the television series Saturday Night Live; he has been with the show since it premiered in 1975, except for one season (1981-1982).
On one memorable SNL episode in December 1976, Pardo participated in a musical performance by Frank Zappa, reciting a verse of the song "I'm The Slime". Pardo subsequently reprised this role on the live-recorded version of the song for Zappa in New York album (it was, however, not featured on the first release in 1978, but it appears on the 1993 CD re-release). He also provided narration for the songs "The Illinois Enema Bandit" and "Punky's Whips" (an ongoing business dispute between Zappa and his then-record company led to "Punky's Whips" being removed from the 1978 album, but the song was reinstated on the 1993 CD).
Prior to SNL, Pardo made his mark on game shows for NBC as the booming voice of The Price is Right from 1956 until it moved to ABC in 1963. He quickly moved over to Jeopardy!, which he announced from 1964, until the original version of the series ended in 1975. He reprised that role with a cameo voice-over in "Weird Al" Yankovic's 1984 parody song, I Lost on Jeopardy. He also announced numerous lesser-known New York-based NBC games such as "Three on a Match" and "Jackpot!"
In addition, Pardo has also been the announcer for WNBC-TV's Live at Five news program, NBC Nightly News and Wheel of Fortune (during special on-location weeks, when the show originated in New York). Pardo was also the live booth announcer for WNBC-TV and NBC on November 22, 1963 who announced to NBC's viewers that President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas, Texas.
Pardo's voice is also heard during the open and close of Len Berman's "Spanning the World" segments on WNBC and Today. His close goes as follows: "Tune in next time for "Spanning the World"...if there is a next time."
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