FRIDAY NIGHT DEAD

ALBERT SAHLEY - "FAT DRAC"

<>"Friday Night Dead" was a hosted horror movie show with Al Sahley as "Fat Drac" presenting movies on Friday nights on WVAH-TV, Fox Channel 11 Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia in the early 1980s. From E-gor's Chamber of TV Horror Hosts: "Friday Night Dead featured the talents of veteran radio personality Al Sahley as "Fat Drac, the King of Corpuscular Corpulence. The biggest name in Mountain State monsters!" Sahley was a self-professed "ham" with a talent for vocal characterizations and imitations, who had always wanted to do a Dracula character (white face, fangs, slicked back hair, cape, over-the-top Transylvanian accent). The show's debut was broadcast live but was subsequently taped on Wednesdays to allow time for editing and refinement. Sahley and production manager Steve Utt pulled together the costume and set, which included a plywood backdrop of castle walls and bats and a shipping coffin (a wooden box lined with felt)". Albert, a Lebanese-American, was a graduate of Charleston High School and attended WVU and Morris Harvey College (now University of Charleston). He was a well-known Radio Broadcasting personality who woke up the Charleston area every morning. Albert loved his family, his church and was a very proud Charlestonian. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2006. While most of Sahley's radio career took place in the Kanawha Valley, mainly at stations WKLC and WCHS, he hosted a morning show for a Miami, Florida, station in the early 1960s that lasted until the station's format changed from Top-40 to Big Band, and management replaced all on-air personalities. Sahley's morning show was given to Larry King, the future host of "Larry King Live" on CNN. Sahley returned to Charleston, hosted "Charleston at Night" on WCHS, and branched into television, first as Bozo the Clown at WCHS-TV, and later as "Fat Drac", the vampire-costumed host of "Friday Night Dead,". In the early 1990s, Charleston Mayor Mike Roark appointed Sahley to serve as the city's parking director, and in 1996, he was asked by the Kanawha County Republican organization to run against Democrat Phyllis Gatson, who was unopposed, for the county assessor's post. He lost that race, left the field of radio, and turned his attention to developing real estate in the Teays Valley area with his brother. He was married to Charlotte until his death on 16 July 2016 in Charleston, USA. There are no known clips from the show or photographs of "Fat Drac".

LINKS

Internet Movie Data Base "Albert Sahley"

Internet Movie Data Base "Friday Night Dead"

E-gors Chamber of TV Horror Hosts "Fat Drac"

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