Three Degrees of RI: This bumbling sitcom newscaster got his start on local airwaves

Rhode Island is a great place to be from.

The scenery and the history, the food and the culture, the manageable size and the people — we could go on.

But not everyone is lucky enough to be from here. Even so, the Ocean State has had an out-sized impact on popular culture and world events, knitting a web of influence around the world.

To celebrate this great locale, The Providence Journal is beginning a series, "Three Degrees of Rhode Island," to challenge ourselves to connect famous personalities to Rhode Island in three steps or less.

A reader suggested we look into Ted Knight's connection to the Ocean State.

Ted Knight, born Tadeusz Wladyslaw Konopka in Plymouth, Connecticut, is perhaps best known as bumbling newscaster Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

One degree of separation separates Ted Knight from Rhode Island

This one was not much of a challenge.

First degree: Ted Knight worked at Channel 10

After his discharge from the Army at the end of World War II, Knight starred in a children's show on Channel 10, WJAR-TV, in Providence. A ventriloquist, he starred in the five-day-a-week "Children's Theater" with Bernard, a boy puppet, and Duncan, a stuffed dog.

Knight, who Anglicized his name when he became a DJ before coming to Providence, also was the ringmaster on WJAR's "Tip Top Circus."

In a profile published in The Providence Journal in 1955, Knight recalled what was, to that point, the highlight of his career: performing in Madison Square Garden during a New York stint before coming to Rhode Island.

“You know, even though there may be a million people watching you over TV," Knight said, "it’s not like standing up before 10,000 real, live people. It’s a tremendous feeling, really.”

While in Providence, Knight lived at 143 Carr St., with his wife, Dorothy, and young son, Teddy.

Who else has a Rhode Island connection?

Three Degrees:What's Stevie Nicks' connection to RI? We found out

Three Degrees:Do the Three Stooges have a Rhode Island connection? We found one through Westerly and Lucille Ball.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Ted Knight worked for WJAR Providence before Mary Tyler Moore Show