Millard Ireland papers, 1946-1994

Millard K. Ireland, born May 24 1913 in Kansas, was a Seattle-area news editor, and TV and Radio host from the 1940s to 1970s. He hosted multiple popular shows and segments including Quizdown and Youth Views the News.

Ireland graduated High School in 1930 and attended the University of Chicago. His early radio career included announcing the flooding of the Kaw River at KCKN, the news in Lawrence Kansas, and football games at the University of Kansas in 1939. He married Rose Marie Banister in 1940 and had two daughters, Carrie Rose, born in 1946 and Lindsy Louie, born in 1950. In 1943 Ireland volunteered for military service, serving as a scout for the first battalion of the 28th infantry regiment during the European Campaign. While there he wrote a personal history of his battalion which was then published in Germany. In 1945 he returned and began his radio and television career at KOMO, Seattle’s commercial news radio station, where he stayed until 1964 and eventually became a senior news editor. While at KOMO he announced the daily news, covered Gold Cup hydroplane races, and did interviews for the NBC network. He was also the broadcaster in Anchorage Alaska when Alaska became a state, and the broadcaster for the first telecast in anchorage, as well as the opening of the Lake Washington bridge. Ireland was the host of two children’s programs, Youth Views the News (YVN or YVtN) and Quizdown. For YVN, he traveled across the northwest with Lloyd Bloom interviewing high school students on their opinions of current events. Quizdown was the first and longest-running locally produced TV show in Seattle and was sponsored by the Book of Knowledge, Encyclopedia Americana, and Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Students were asked academic questions; which Ireland wrote based on the student’s strengths. In 1964 he took a job as a Public Information Officer with the officer of Civil Defense in Everett and was not allowed to continue his role on Quizdown, A new host was appointed but the show was canceled one season after Ireland left. He worked as an officer of Civil Defense until his retirement in 1979. He died on July 12, 1994.