Former Television Academy governor spent more than
40 years
working with Price Is Right, among other programs
Los Angeles, CA – Raymond V. Angona, a respected technical director who worked at CBS Television City for four decades, has died.
In addition to his lengthy tenure with CBS, Angona was an active member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. He served five terms as a governor of the Academy’s Electronic Production peer group and was a member of the Engineering Awards Committee.
As a young man growing up in Los Angeles, Angona collected phonograph records and was a fan of big band music, which he followed closely on the radio. This inspired his early interest in broadcasting.
Following military service during World War II, Angona began his career in the late 1940s at Los Angeles radio station KNX.
He moved to CBS Television at its Vine Street headquarters, and continued on to Television City, at Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, upon its opening in 1952. He started in the Telecine department and in the late 1960s became a technical director, a position he held until his retirement in 1993.
Angona’s credits earliest CBS credits included such series as The Jack Benny Show, Burns and Allen and Playhouse 90. Over time, he found a satisfying niche working on game shows. Although he worked on several productions, including The Young and the Restless, he is best known for his thirty-year association with The Price Is Right.
From 1978 to 1993, Angona worked on over 3,500 consecutive episodes of The Price is Right, a record he jokingly likened to the consecutive-game streak of baseball star Cal Ripken.
On one occasion, Price Is Right host Bob Barker asked Angona what a technical director does, to which Angona quipped, “Bob, when I find out, you’ll be the first to know.”
Other productions he worked on include Gambit, The $10,000 Pyramid, Match Game and the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
A lifelong audio enthusiast, Angona recorded one of the first demo albums of stereo effects in the mid-1950s, along with his friend Jack Wagner, the official park announcer for Disneyland.
While working for CBS, he also earned a master’s degree and a teaching credential.
Angona, who was also a member of the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters, is survived by his daughter Karen.
He was interred at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills on March 28.