Long Beach Cable Television Personality John Craig Dies

By Kurt Helin
Editor

John Craig, Long Beach’s most recognized cable television personality, died Monday of a heart attack. He was 65.

Craig was a familiar face to many Belmont Shore residents as the broadcast host for many years of the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade.

In the last two decades, he had hosted “Talk of the Town” and “Pep Talk” two of Charter Communications’ locally produced shows.

“He was very much a natural on television,” said Ron Petke, who had been Craig’s producer and director at Charter since the beginning. “The person you saw on the television was the person you saw off it.”

Craig was born in Newark, N.J., but was raised in the Houston area. He had a bachelor’s degree in history.

Craig and his wife settled in Los Alamitos and owned an antique store in Seal Beach named after her — Joanne’s.

His shows were his passion, and Craig often had representatives from various community groups on to talk about upcoming events.

“John loved the shows, whether they were community ones or ones where we had authors or celebrities on,” Petke said.

What the fans liked was the combination of Craig’s gregarious personality and the unpredictability of the show.

For many years, Craig’s shows were aired live, and viewers could call in, Petke recalled. Some nights that meant few calls, and some nights the unexpected happened, he said.

For example, one night there was an older performer on and there was a call from a man who now lived in Belmont Shore but had played drums in the performer’s backup band in Shanghai back in the 1930s, Petke said. Moments like that kept viewers coming back.

And the guests too.

“A lot of our guests came back two or three times because they had so much fun on the show,” Petke said.

A lot of those guests and other people around the city became Craig’s friends, as well.

“He was like a big brother to me,” Petke said. “If I needed advice, he would offer something from his personal experience.”

Plans for a memorial service were not available at press time.

Craig is survived by his wife Joanne, two children and two step-children.