6ABC: We lost a dear friend and TV legend today. Captain Noah truly was magical, and he helped shape the foundation of what Channel 6 is today. What we remember about Carter was he loved to make children smile, and he maintained a deep faith in the human spirit. For three decades, Carter and his wife Pat delighted viewers in Philadelphia, and across America. “Captain Noah and His Magical Ark” was produced here at 6abc, and syndicated to more than 20 television markets. At its peak, Captain Noah was one of the most watched Children’s television shows in America.Our condolences go out to the Merbreirer family, his Channel 6 family, and all fans of Captain Noah. MORE
WIKIPEDIA: Captain Noah and His Magical Ark was a television program for children and was generally broadcast around the Philadelphia area. The series aired from 1967 to 1994.[1] It was filmed and produced at the WPVI-TV, Channel 6 (then called WFIL when the program began) studios in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1] Captain Noah and His Magical 
Ark, was created by W. Carter Merbreier, an ordained Lutheran minister and former Philadelphia police chaplain, and produced by the Philadelphia Council of Churches.[1] The show initially aired as a religious program beginning in 1967 before switching to a children’s program in 1970.[1] The show starred Merbreier as Captain Noah and his real life wife, Patricia Merbreier, as Mrs. Noah.[1] At its height, Captain Noah and His Magical Ark was syndicated to twenty-two television stations in markets throughout the United States.[1] During the early 1970s, Captain Noah and His Magical Ark attracted a larger local audience in the Philadelphia region than Sesame Street and Captain Kangaroo combined.[1] MORE
REVERED W. CARTER MERBREIER: We rode into children’s lives on skates, bicycles, tricycles, and trains—and sometimes on horseback, though the galloping was only heard, never seen. We worked our wonders against canvas backdrops depicting ocean waves, Western plains, and snowy mountains, using homemade props of sails and saddles, teepees and storefronts. And now we are all gone. The hosts of locally-produced daily children’s TV shows are a vanished tribe. We are gone from our stations, most of which have not a shred, not a prop, not even an old tape as evidence we were ever on the air. And we are gone from all the other places our small-scale celebrity once tried to enrich: the store openings and telethons for special-needs kids, the birthday parties and hospital wards—where any child could simply stand in line for an autographed picture or a quick, but real, conversation with Skipper Chuck, Cowgirl Sally Star, Mother Moose, or, yours truly, Captain Noah. These men and women were indeed pioneers. I was truly lucky to be one of them. MORE