Obituaries : Merrill (Murray) Bolen; Radio, TV Pioneer

Merrill (Murray) Bolen, 90, pioneer announcer and advertising executive for radio and television. A native of West Concord, Minn., who grew up in Montana, Bolen graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. He began his career as a vaudeville performer and then worked as an announcer and monitoring engineer at radio stations in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Working for the Young & Rubicam advertising agency, he helped produce radio perennials such as “The Jack Benny Radio Show,” “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” “Lum and Abner” and “The Railroad Hour.” As television emerged, Bolen became director of KTTV. Moving to the Benton & Bowles advertising agency, he produced such television series as “The Loretta Young Show,” “December Bride,” “Father Knows Best” and “The Rifleman.” He was active in Pioneer Broadcasters and was a founding member and former governor of the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences. A lifelong ham radio operator, Bolen was known for his hobby of building electronic equipment from salvage parts. A television camera he made for $800, when a conventional one cost $14,000, was exhibited at the 1949 National Television-Radio Exposition in Los Angeles. On Sunday in Rancho Mirage, Calif.