![]() In the 1960s and 1970s, his WOR show ran from 11:15 pm to midnight, later changed to 10:15 pm to 11 pm, so his "Ludlow Kissel" reading was synchronized to many New Jersey and New York local town fireworks displays, which would typically reach their climax at 10 pm. On most of his Fourth of July broadcasts, he did read one of his most enduring and popular short stories, "Ludlow Kissel and the Dago Bomb that Struck Back", about a neighborhood drunk and his disastrous fireworks escapades. During a radio interview, Shepherd claimed that some shows took weeks to prepare, but this may have been in the planning rather than the writing of a script. His friend and WOR colleague Barry Farber marveled at how he could talk so long with so few notes. Throughout his radio career, he performed entirely without scripts. His most scintillating programs, however, were his often prophetic, bitingly humorous commentaries about ordinary life in America. gave his " I Have a Dream" speech, and another program that aired on November 25, 1963, covered the burial day of President John F. One striking program recounted his participation in the March on Washington in August 1963, during which Martin Luther King Jr. In addition to his stories, his shows also contained humorous anecdotes and commentaries about the human condition, observations about New York City life, accounts of vacations in Maine, and travels throughout the world. The show was one of WBAI's most popular of the period. His final radio gig was the Sunday-night radio show Shepherd's Pie on WBAI in the mid-1990s, which had him reading his stories uncut, uninterrupted, and unabridged. His subsequent radio work consisted of short segments on several other stations, including crosstown WCBS, and occasional commentaries on NPR's All Things Considered. His last WOR broadcast was on April 1, 1977. ![]() That was when he started complaining about "too many commercials". That left little time to load the turntables and cue the appropriate cuts. Shepherd preferred the engineer to watch and listen to his stories. Three large turntables were available to play them in sequence. Former WOR engineer, Frank Cernese, adds, "The commercials of that era were on 'ETs'-phonograph records about 14" in diameter. Eventually, he attracted more sponsors than he wanted-the commercials interrupted the flow of his monologues. ![]() His listeners besieged WOR with complaints, and when Sweetheart offered to sponsor him, he was reinstated. When he was about to be released by WOR in 1956 for lack of sponsors, he did a commercial for Sweetheart Soap, not a sponsor, and was immediately fired. Shepherd, Theodore Sturgeon, and Betty Ballantine later wrote the demanded book, with a cover painted by illustrator Frank Kelly Freas, published by Ballantine Books. Fans of the show planted references to the book and author so widely that demand for the book led to claims of it being on The New York Times Best Seller list. During a discussion on how easy it was to manipulate the best-seller lists based on demand, as well as sales, Shepherd suggested that his listeners visit bookstores and ask for a copy of I, Libertine, which led to booksellers attempting to order the book from their distributors. The most famous stunt was a hoax he created about a nonexistent book, I, Libertine, by a fake author "Frederick R. Service), and organizing comedic listener stunts. On an overnight slot in 1956, he delighted his fans by telling stories, reading poetry (especially the works of Robert W. "Shep", as he was known, settled in at WOR radio New York City, New York, on February 26, 1955. After a stint on television there, he returned to radio. From 1951 to 1953, he had a late-night broadcast on KYW in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after which he returned to Cincinnati for several different shows on WLW. He began working in Cincinnati, Ohio, in January 1947 at WSAI, later also working at Cincinnati stations WCKY and WKRC the following year, before returning to WSAI in 1949. Shepherd then had an extensive career in a variety of media.Īfter his military service, Shepherd began his broadcast radio career in early 1945 on WJOB in Hammond, Indiana, later working at WTOD in Toledo, Ohio, in 1946. Shepherd was a lifelong Chicago White Sox fan.ĭuring World War II, he served stateside in the U.S. He sporadically attended Indiana University, but never graduated. As a youth, he worked briefly as a mail carrier in a steel mill and earned his amateur radio license (W9QWN) at age 16, sometimes claiming he was even younger. The movie A Christmas Story is loosely based on his days growing up in Hammond's southeast side neighborhood of Hessville. Born in 1921 on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, Shepherd briefly lived in East Chicago, Indiana, and was raised in Hammond, Indiana, where he graduated from Hammond High School in 1939.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |