For Erik Sprowls, entertainment is not only a concept but a way of life.

Sprowls, ’89, ’93, played a critical role in the development of CUTV, PennWest California’s television network, while working as a faculty member during the late 1990s and early 2000s. During his tenure, the television station expanded from a learning station to a full-fledged network picked up on cable providers. Students and professors collaborated to create television programing with a focus to both teach and entertain students.

“Without CUTV, I would have never grown when I moved on to continue learning,” Sprowls said. “It’s like Robert Eberly says on the statue in front of the library. ‘Never stop learning, whether it’s experience or book learning,’ or something to that effect. I’ve never forgotten that phrase. You have to evolve and continue learning.”

With Eberly’s words ingrained in him, Sprowls begun the journey towards developing Dead and Buried Treasures, a riff-style show devoted to celebrating B-horror movies. The show, which has been syndicated across several networks both local and nationally, including CUTV, celebrates the silly parts of horror with riff-style commentary and skits.

At the heart of the show is the host, Captain Calico Drake. Drake, a persona of Sprowls, is devoted to making Dead and Buried Treasures equal parts entertaining and informative about the history of horror.

“Captain Drake is different from me. He’s Captain Drake. I’m Erik Sprowls,” Sprowls said. “The two are completely different in terms of how they view horror and Dead and Buried Treasures.”

“Ye see, there was some type of... occurrence.  A time-travelling, weird incident while we were in battle in the early 1700s, then poof! Here we are,” said “Drake.” “We arrived at an area that I assume your generation refers to as ‘The Bermuda Triangle,’ off the coast of your Americas. When it happened, everything changed. Some of me crew now looked half dead, some skeleton-like. I can't begin to explain that one. Me navigator Davy Bones literally lives up to his name now.”

Bones, a possibly-puppeted character of Dead and Buried Treasures, is one of several larger-than-life characters in the show that pull inspiration of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a classic comedy science fiction show that also riffed on B-movies. Sprowls said that Dead and Buried Treasures also draw from the horror hosts that came before Capt. Drake, such as Elvira and Pittsburgh legend Bill Cardille, who went by “Chilly Billy” on the WPXI-produced Chiller Theater from 1963 to 1984.

“Personally, I have Bill Cardille to thank for everything,” Sprowls said. “He was the original horror host in Pittsburgh. He laid the foundation for me, along with all the other horror hosts to do shows like this.”

Sprowls said that horror hosts like he and Cardille are a fraternity of sorts. Regular horror conventions will see such hosts come together to celebrate B-horror and the genre.

“We’re a family of sorts,” Sprowls said. “Horror hosts have their territories, so to speak, but we all come together to have fun and enjoy horror movies.”

Despite the territorial aspect, the rise in streaming services has allowed horror hosts to have their shows shown all over the world. In addition to channels like CUTV, Bethel Park-based BPTV, and Peters Township-based PTCTV, Dead and Buried Treasures is streamed on DBTV, available through Roku and Amazon Fire.

“You have to always evolve,” Sprowls said. “With streaming, it’s a lot like what we began at CUTV. Without enjoying the experience of CUTV and what the possibilities were of being an electronic artist, I never would have continued with that craft and evolved my own career.”

Still, Sprowls is a Pittsburgh man at heart. He and Captain Drake will be celebrating Halloween with several events, including “Campfire Stories with Captain Calico Drake” on Oct. 17 at the Bradford House Museum in Washington, Pennsylvania.

“I was born in Washington, but I bleed black and gold through and through,” Sprowls said. “It gives the show identity too. All of our rivers connect with the outside world, so to speak. It allows us to go anywhere in the show if we want.”

Captain Drake lives by that mantra too. He is regularly seen at the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival and horror-themed events in western Pennsylvania. And, now with the resurgence of horror hosts, including with a new version of Chiller Theater being produced by WPXI, Drake feels that he will continue to leave a mark on Pittsburgh’s horror landscape.

“I’m hoping to see me show reach new heights, covering all of Pittsburgh,” Drake said. “I see they resurrected Chiller Theater now. You’re welcome, Pittsburgh!”

Sprowls was more diplomatic.

“The art is always evolving. You need to stand out. You need to be different. You need to continue evolving with that twisting and turning of your craft. Someday it will pay off. You just need to get there.”

For more on Dead and Buried Treasures, visit https://www.facebook.com/deadandburiedtreasures or check the show out on CUTV.