Ivar Haglund on KJR
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Ivar
Haglund opened Seattle's first aquarium in 1938 and his first "Acres of
Clams" restaurant in 1946. He was an expert on Northwest folk
music and could sing more than 200 songs from memory. During the early
1930s, he worked hard at developing his image as a Western folk singer
and also became an expert and champion of Northwest folk
music. His radio career was launched by luck in 1940, when
Ivar answered an emergency call from interviewer Morrie Alhadeff to
fill in for a guest who had canceled. Ivar went on the air and sang
some of the shanties he had written and ascribed to the appropriate
tanks in his aquarium. He soon became a regular featured
singer on KJR, KIRO and later on the J.P. Patches show on
KOMO-TV.