TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Naomi McCall laughed out loud as she read the letter she sent to WCTV, recounting her brush with fame in 1955 – or maybe 1956 – on the station’s popular children’s show “Circle 6 Ranch.”
“My siblings and I were excited to huddle around the new black-and-white Zenith television sitting cross-legged on the bare floor,” she read. “The highlight of every afternoon after school was tuning in to watch the Circle 6 Ranch on WCTV.”
Naomi McCall sent a letter to WCTV soon after its 70th anniversary sharing her memories of Circle 6 Ranch.(WCTV)
The memories came flooding back when WCTV celebrated its 70th anniversary last September 15. McCall shared her story with us today as WCTV marked its 71st anniversary.
The little girl from Cairo says her mom won a contest for writing the best Rose Kist Popcorn jingle and the prize was a new bike and an appearance on WCTV’s Circle 6 Ranch.
“It was in my little six-year-old mind that if you were on TV you were a movie star, right? So if I was going to be on TV and everybody saw me I would be a movie star just like them. Shirley Temple style,” McCall said with a laugh.
McCall says as luck would have it, she got sick with the mumps two days before her television debut and her brothers got to go on Circle 6 Ranch instead.
She says they did hold up her first-grade picture though, showing off her brand new Lilt home perm.
Naomi McCall holds up her first grade picture from 1955.(WCTV)
McCall said while she didn’t get to make her Circle 6 Ranch debut that day she “enjoyed my yellow Schwinn bicycle for many years … and I still watch WCTV.”
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