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Royal Pollokoff (April 8, 1929 – January 8, 2016), better known by the stage name Royal Parker, was an American television personality. In a broadcasting career spanning the 1940s–1990s, he appeared in various roles, becoming a staple on television screens in the Baltimore, Maryland, area.
In 1962, Parker moved to WBAL-TV, where he hosted such popular televised bowling programs as Pinbusters and Bowling for Dollars in the 1970s. While at WBAL, he played P. W. Doodle, a newsboy character he created based on his own experience selling newspapers in Baltimore as a youth. On November 22, 1963, he was called upon to broadcast the news flash of U.S. President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
Later on his career, Parker broadcast the resignation of Richard Nixon, economic disasters facing the United States, the Iran hostage crisis and the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.
Parker remained at WBAL-TV until his retirement in 1994. Reflecting on his varied roles in the early pioneering years of commercial television, Parker recalled in 2008 that when he started at WAAM in 1951, earning $45 per week, "We just figured things out as we went along. In six months, you did everything. I could run a control board, or put on a cooking show".
After leaving broadcasting, he ran for a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates in 1994, but lost in the Partisan primary. He later took a job as an inspector for the Baltimore City Liquor License Board, retiring from that position in 2006.Michael Dresser, Royal Parker Pollikoff, Baltimore TV pioneer, dies, Baltimore Sun (January 9, 2016). Retrieved on January 9, 2016.
In his retirement, Parker remained active in local charitable work, which included frequent benefit appearances for the Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital.
He died of heart failure on January 8, 2016, in Pikesville, Maryland, a Baltimore suburb, at age 86. Longtime Baltimore TV Broadcaster Royal Parker dies at 86, WBAL-TV. Retrieved on January 8, 2016.
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