November 29, 2023 • 10 mins
Back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s -- Wichita children hurried home from school during the holiday season to catch "Santa's Workshop" on KAKE-TV. The popular program featured Santa and his helper, KAKE Man. Now "A Home For KAKEman" tells the story of your favorite puppet and his journey to his new home in the North Pole at Santa's Workshop. Get your copy today at www.kakeman.com. All proceeds benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities of Wichita!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Welcome to Wichita Weekend, the weeklypublic affairs program from iHeartRadio Wichita ninety seven,
ninety ninety eight, Well O twowon the Bull Channel ninety six three
and ALT one O seven three andnext on Wichita Weekend. Like a lot
of you, I'm a Wichita nativeand I grew up with Sata's Workshop on
(00:22):
local television here in Wichita, oncake and also on some other stations.
I believe it probably bounced around theairwaves over the years, but I remember
growing up with Santa and especially cakeMan, and that was like the highlight
of my days between Thanksgiving and Christmasgrowing up was coming home from school and
(00:43):
watching Sata and Cake Man. Andthe reason I give you that intro is
we have with us today Cadre Smith. Cadrey's the promotions producer and he's the
executive producer of A Home for CakeMan. Condre's with CAKETV. And I
don't know if you've heard about aHome for Cake Man. I just saw
the TV ad for it the othernight out of the corner of my eye
(01:04):
and went, what cake Man tellme more. Cadre, Welcome to Wichita
Weekend. What's going on with ahome for cake Man, A Home for
cake Man. So originally we werejust wanting to bring back the spirit of
one, the spirit of the holidaysas well as I had the idea of
bringing back cake Man because I justlooked back at the days from the fifties,
(01:26):
sixties and seventies and even the eighties, and I'm wondering, where did
all the fun go? I mean, we have fun in TV, don't
get me wrong. We are alwayslaughing and we're always having a really good
time behind the scenes. But Iwas like, I really want to make
some family programming. So where didall the fun go? And so I
decided that let's bring back Cakeman.Let's try it. And the idea got
(01:47):
pitched, well, why don't webring them back as a children's as a
children's book, and I was like, Yep, one hundred percent, let's
go. And it just kind ofwent from there that one idea. Eleven
months ago, wow, eleven monthsago, and now the book is available.
Tell us a little bit about thebook, Well, A Home for
cake Man is a fun and theVenturos's tale about Cakeman finding his home at
(02:09):
the North Pole with Santa and thechallenge that it took for him to get
there and it's fun, it's cute, it's nostalgic. We made sure and
a lot of the illustration. There'ssome Easter eggs in there that you guys
can find as well. And inthe back of the book a special digit
know section by Rachel Harvey, thegranddaughter of Henry Harvey, who many of
(02:30):
you guys might also know as SantaClaus, the original TV Sata in Wichita
was Henry Harvey portrayed Sata for yearsand years and he did it like a
pro, an absolute pro. Soincredible and part of the fun facts in
the book is the behind the scenesstuff that happened during a Santa's workshop and
(02:53):
things that he might not have knownduring the whole production. And let me
tell you, Hugh Harding Henry Harveywhere a dynamic duo. That's they are.
They were just so incredible for thosewho incredible for those who don't know
the name Hugh Harding. Hugh Hardingwas was he at Cake at the time
(03:13):
or was he with Dylan's I believe, I don't know the history where he
was employed when he said he wasjust with just with Henry, so together
they were able to make it happen. Well. For a long time,
Hugh Harding was like the marketing directorfor Dylan's up in hutch And I don't
know if that was when he wasportraying Cakeman or not. But if you
(03:34):
had known Hugh Harding, Hugh Hardingwas probably six' two, pretty solid
guy. Oh yeah. To dothat tiny little falsetto voice was incredible.
What's crazy is when I met himninety two years old. Oh wow,
I might he might be older today. When we met him, it was
ninety two, he was still tall, he was very and he was very
(03:54):
much. He was so excited aboutthis book. He was is incredibly happy
that we were doing something like this, and he told us about all the
things that we need to know aboutCakeman. We got to talk to Cakeman.
We also got to you got topreview the book a little bit,
give us a little bit tips andtricks on how to make it great.
(04:16):
And it was We're so thankful forHugh. All right, all right,
well you're getting my excitement built uphere. I want to read this book,
and furthermore, I want to readit to a grandchild of mine,
or maybe more than one. Youknow, you know, that was the
original reason behind it all was howdo we reintroduce Cakeman to a new generation,
(04:41):
And what better way to do thatthan through a children's book. That
opportunity to be able to create thatmemory with the kids, because you can
probably pop in a VHS or aDVD to for them to watch Standa's Workshop,
But what a way to be ableto sit them with them in your
lap and be able to hold opena book and be able to to read
read it and smile and laugh alongwith him. Well done, Cadre,
(05:04):
can't wait. What's the exact titleof the book again, It's a Home
for cake Man, A Home forcake Man. And whether or not you
grew up with cake Man like Idid, and lots of our audience did.
Oh man, it brings back suchgreat memories. But even if you
didn't grow up at that time,you'll still get a lot out of the
(05:24):
book. Even if you know you'rea young person never heard of cake Man.
This is a great way to introducethem and kind of get them some
little bit of Wichita history. Possiblythere's a lot of Wichita Eastern egcient as
well. You'll be able to seethat in the illustrations. There's so many
things that we made sure that weplayed to the history of the time as
(05:44):
well, and so you'll be ableto see that in the illustration and artwork.
Is the is the illustrator and shedid such a fantastic job. Who
was also Witchiti native. And thenCassidy Sutton, she is the author and
she works. He's part of theCake family. Big shout out to those
two and huge thanks for creating thiswonderful book. And who knows where it
(06:05):
will come from here, Maybe youget the book and who knows, maybe
something could lead to that. Youknow, we don't know. You never
know. And one thing we neglectedto mention so far, yeah, we've
got a very special charity that's receivingsome of the proceeds from this book,
right Yeah. So part of thereason why we wanted to bring back Cakeman
(06:27):
as well is to be able togive back to the community with him and
to be able to really truly helppeople and those in need. And so
through the help of the Bull Attorneys, we are able to donate all the
proceeds of the book to the RonaldMcDonald House Charities of Wichita. Nice well
done, Ronald McDonald House. Forthose who don't know, and I can't
imagine anybody that still doesn't quite know. But Ronald McDonald House is there to
(06:51):
help the families of critically ill children. You have a place to stay when
they're in the hospital, free ofcharge. A very very stressful full time
for families, but being able toalleviate that stress giving them a place to
lay their head is something that's that'sthat's such an amazing thing to do and
very very thankful that we have charitieslike that in our area that are able
(07:12):
to help families and children and childrenin need. And so I'm happy that
we're able to create something that doesthat as well. Also brings back the
nostalgia, allows families in the communityto make new memories with their kids and
to relate with each other. Andthat back of the Digito section, it
just gives you more insight as towhat was put into make the program of
(07:32):
Santa's Workshop so great. And whenyou read that, you're gonna it's probably
not gonna shock you, but it'sgonna make you go wow, really,
yeah, you get me really interestedin this. Now, let me let
me ask you, is Kate gonnahave any nostalgic video of Santa's Workshop this
season? Are we gonna it?Seems like I've seen a couple of throwback
(07:54):
episodes from time to time. Areyou any plans for that this year?
So yes, we do have nostalgicvideo if you want to follow us on
Facebook at Santa and Cakeman that Facebookpage of Facebook dot com slash zooming around
the Big Wide World right for thosewho don't know, they would start every
episode with Cakeman, how many moredays before we go zooming around the Big
(08:16):
Wide World? And they'd look atthe calendar and they'd do the countdown to
Christmas and uh oh man. It'sone of those things where if you saw
it when you're seven years old,like I did, you'll never ever forget
it and you'll love those guys forever. That defines Christmas. So condre.
Where do we get a copy ofa home for Cakeman? Well, you
can go to Cakeman dot com andpurchase your copy there cakeman dot comcakeman dot
(08:41):
com and that's spelled with a Kk A k E m A n dot
com k A K E m An dot com. There all throughout the
season, if you want to checkback regularly, we'll also be putting more
content up there as well, sofun clips from the show as well as
some motus content from the author andillustrator. Your timing is couldn't be better
on this, Cadre. And Iknow it's been a lot of work.
(09:03):
It represents months and months and monthsof work on your part, but uh,
I think you're going to reap somehuge rewards from this. And let's
hope that everybody buys a copy.Who's listening today, gets out there,
get online, go to Cakeman dotcom, Cakeman dot com, cakeman dot
com order your copy of a Homefor Cakeman. Proceeds going to the Ronald
(09:24):
McDonald House Charities right here in Wichita. Cadre Smith, thank you so much
for being with us today on Wichitaweekend. For those who don't know Cadre,
he's a good friend of ours.He used to work here at iHeartMedia
and Wichita and he's got back inthe day, he's moved onto the video
world and uh he's one of myfavorite people in all the land. And
(09:46):
it's great to see you in personhere at the studios today. So I
don't know if you guys can hear, but I'm blushing now. Well,
hey all, you got to dois Get out there, get online and
go to Cakeman dot com and orderyour copies because I know you're going to
want to get more than one.I've got five grandkids. I might go
one for each one and get thosecopies of a home for Cakeman and celebrate
(10:11):
the holidays and do something good forthe Ronald McDonald House. Thanks Godre,
thank you DJ. Thank you forlistening to Wichita Weekend, a service of
iHeartRadio stations one O two won theBowl, Channel nine sixty three ALT one
O seven three and ninety seven nineB ninety eight. Listen every Sunday for
Wichita Weekend.
Welcome to Wichita Weekend, the weeklypublic affairs program from iHeartRadio Wichita ninety seven,
ninety ninety eight, Well O twowon the Bull Channel ninety six three
and ALT one O seven three andnext on Wichita Weekend. Like a lot
of you, I'm a Wichita nativeand I grew up with Sata's Workshop on
(00:22):
local television here in Wichita, oncake and also on some other stations.
I believe it probably bounced around theairwaves over the years, but I remember
growing up with Santa and especially cakeMan, and that was like the highlight
of my days between Thanksgiving and Christmasgrowing up was coming home from school and
(00:43):
watching Sata and Cake Man. Andthe reason I give you that intro is
we have with us today Cadre Smith. Cadrey's the promotions producer and he's the
executive producer of A Home for CakeMan. Condre's with CAKETV. And I
don't know if you've heard about aHome for Cake Man. I just saw
the TV ad for it the othernight out of the corner of my eye
(01:04):
and went, what cake Man tellme more. Cadre, Welcome to Wichita
Weekend. What's going on with ahome for cake Man, A Home for
cake Man. So originally we werejust wanting to bring back the spirit of
one, the spirit of the holidaysas well as I had the idea of
bringing back cake Man because I justlooked back at the days from the fifties,
(01:26):
sixties and seventies and even the eighties, and I'm wondering, where did
all the fun go? I mean, we have fun in TV, don't
get me wrong. We are alwayslaughing and we're always having a really good
time behind the scenes. But Iwas like, I really want to make
some family programming. So where didall the fun go? And so I
decided that let's bring back Cakeman.Let's try it. And the idea got
(01:47):
pitched, well, why don't webring them back as a children's as a
children's book, and I was like, Yep, one hundred percent, let's
go. And it just kind ofwent from there that one idea. Eleven
months ago, wow, eleven monthsago, and now the book is available.
Tell us a little bit about thebook, Well, A Home for
cake Man is a fun and theVenturos's tale about Cakeman finding his home at
(02:09):
the North Pole with Santa and thechallenge that it took for him to get
there and it's fun, it's cute, it's nostalgic. We made sure and
a lot of the illustration. There'ssome Easter eggs in there that you guys
can find as well. And inthe back of the book a special digit
know section by Rachel Harvey, thegranddaughter of Henry Harvey, who many of
(02:30):
you guys might also know as SantaClaus, the original TV Sata in Wichita
was Henry Harvey portrayed Sata for yearsand years and he did it like a
pro, an absolute pro. Soincredible and part of the fun facts in
the book is the behind the scenesstuff that happened during a Santa's workshop and
(02:53):
things that he might not have knownduring the whole production. And let me
tell you, Hugh Harding Henry Harveywhere a dynamic duo. That's they are.
They were just so incredible for thosewho incredible for those who don't know
the name Hugh Harding. Hugh Hardingwas was he at Cake at the time
(03:13):
or was he with Dylan's I believe, I don't know the history where he
was employed when he said he wasjust with just with Henry, so together
they were able to make it happen. Well. For a long time,
Hugh Harding was like the marketing directorfor Dylan's up in hutch And I don't
know if that was when he wasportraying Cakeman or not. But if you
(03:34):
had known Hugh Harding, Hugh Hardingwas probably six' two, pretty solid
guy. Oh yeah. To dothat tiny little falsetto voice was incredible.
What's crazy is when I met himninety two years old. Oh wow,
I might he might be older today. When we met him, it was
ninety two, he was still tall, he was very and he was very
(03:54):
much. He was so excited aboutthis book. He was is incredibly happy
that we were doing something like this, and he told us about all the
things that we need to know aboutCakeman. We got to talk to Cakeman.
We also got to you got topreview the book a little bit,
give us a little bit tips andtricks on how to make it great.
(04:16):
And it was We're so thankful forHugh. All right, all right,
well you're getting my excitement built uphere. I want to read this book,
and furthermore, I want to readit to a grandchild of mine,
or maybe more than one. Youknow, you know, that was the
original reason behind it all was howdo we reintroduce Cakeman to a new generation,
(04:41):
And what better way to do thatthan through a children's book. That
opportunity to be able to create thatmemory with the kids, because you can
probably pop in a VHS or aDVD to for them to watch Standa's Workshop,
But what a way to be ableto sit them with them in your
lap and be able to hold opena book and be able to to read
read it and smile and laugh alongwith him. Well done, Cadre,
(05:04):
can't wait. What's the exact titleof the book again, It's a Home
for cake Man, A Home forcake Man. And whether or not you
grew up with cake Man like Idid, and lots of our audience did.
Oh man, it brings back suchgreat memories. But even if you
didn't grow up at that time,you'll still get a lot out of the
(05:24):
book. Even if you know you'rea young person never heard of cake Man.
This is a great way to introducethem and kind of get them some
little bit of Wichita history. Possiblythere's a lot of Wichita Eastern egcient as
well. You'll be able to seethat in the illustrations. There's so many
things that we made sure that weplayed to the history of the time as
(05:44):
well, and so you'll be ableto see that in the illustration and artwork.
Is the is the illustrator and shedid such a fantastic job. Who
was also Witchiti native. And thenCassidy Sutton, she is the author and
she works. He's part of theCake family. Big shout out to those
two and huge thanks for creating thiswonderful book. And who knows where it
(06:05):
will come from here, Maybe youget the book and who knows, maybe
something could lead to that. Youknow, we don't know. You never
know. And one thing we neglectedto mention so far, yeah, we've
got a very special charity that's receivingsome of the proceeds from this book,
right Yeah. So part of thereason why we wanted to bring back Cakeman
(06:27):
as well is to be able togive back to the community with him and
to be able to really truly helppeople and those in need. And so
through the help of the Bull Attorneys, we are able to donate all the
proceeds of the book to the RonaldMcDonald House Charities of Wichita. Nice well
done, Ronald McDonald House. Forthose who don't know, and I can't
imagine anybody that still doesn't quite know. But Ronald McDonald House is there to
(06:51):
help the families of critically ill children. You have a place to stay when
they're in the hospital, free ofcharge. A very very stressful full time
for families, but being able toalleviate that stress giving them a place to
lay their head is something that's that'sthat's such an amazing thing to do and
very very thankful that we have charitieslike that in our area that are able
(07:12):
to help families and children and childrenin need. And so I'm happy that
we're able to create something that doesthat as well. Also brings back the
nostalgia, allows families in the communityto make new memories with their kids and
to relate with each other. Andthat back of the Digito section, it
just gives you more insight as towhat was put into make the program of
(07:32):
Santa's Workshop so great. And whenyou read that, you're gonna it's probably
not gonna shock you, but it'sgonna make you go wow, really,
yeah, you get me really interestedin this. Now, let me let
me ask you, is Kate gonnahave any nostalgic video of Santa's Workshop this
season? Are we gonna it?Seems like I've seen a couple of throwback
(07:54):
episodes from time to time. Areyou any plans for that this year?
So yes, we do have nostalgicvideo if you want to follow us on
Facebook at Santa and Cakeman that Facebookpage of Facebook dot com slash zooming around
the Big Wide World right for thosewho don't know, they would start every
episode with Cakeman, how many moredays before we go zooming around the Big
(08:16):
Wide World? And they'd look atthe calendar and they'd do the countdown to
Christmas and uh oh man. It'sone of those things where if you saw
it when you're seven years old,like I did, you'll never ever forget
it and you'll love those guys forever. That defines Christmas. So condre.
Where do we get a copy ofa home for Cakeman? Well, you
can go to Cakeman dot com andpurchase your copy there cakeman dot comcakeman dot
(08:41):
com and that's spelled with a Kk A k E m A n dot
com k A K E m An dot com. There all throughout the
season, if you want to checkback regularly, we'll also be putting more
content up there as well, sofun clips from the show as well as
some motus content from the author andillustrator. Your timing is couldn't be better
on this, Cadre. And Iknow it's been a lot of work.
(09:03):
It represents months and months and monthsof work on your part, but uh,
I think you're going to reap somehuge rewards from this. And let's
hope that everybody buys a copy.Who's listening today, gets out there,
get online, go to Cakeman dotcom, Cakeman dot com, cakeman dot
com order your copy of a Homefor Cakeman. Proceeds going to the Ronald
(09:24):
McDonald House Charities right here in Wichita. Cadre Smith, thank you so much
for being with us today on Wichitaweekend. For those who don't know Cadre,
he's a good friend of ours.He used to work here at iHeartMedia
and Wichita and he's got back inthe day, he's moved onto the video
world and uh he's one of myfavorite people in all the land. And
(09:46):
it's great to see you in personhere at the studios today. So I
don't know if you guys can hear, but I'm blushing now. Well,
hey all, you got to dois Get out there, get online and
go to Cakeman dot com and orderyour copies because I know you're going to
want to get more than one.I've got five grandkids. I might go
one for each one and get thosecopies of a home for Cakeman and celebrate
(10:11):
the holidays and do something good forthe Ronald McDonald House. Thanks Godre,
thank you DJ. Thank you forlistening to Wichita Weekend, a service of
iHeartRadio stations one O two won theBowl, Channel nine sixty three ALT one
O seven three and ninety seven nineB ninety eight. Listen every Sunday for
Wichita Weekend.
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