When I was a kid growing up in New Hampshire, there was this show on PBS called “Jean Shepherd’s America”, which was this guy’s “Travels with Charlie”-esque journey through contemporary 70’s America.
He was hilarious, a wonderful speaker and raconteur, and my Dad loved his show.
A few years later, he would narrate a movie based on stories of his life as recounted in his book “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash” called “A Christmas Story”, about a kid in the 30s who, more than anything, wanted a BB gun for Christmas.
If you haven’t seen this movie, I’d like to know the address of the cave you live in…
… so I could send you the movie.
Anyway. He earned his fame through his writing, but also for an hour radio show he used to do weekly nightly(!!!) for WOR in New York back in the 60s and 70s. He never prepared for his shows; it’s just an hour of him talking and telling stories — like his story of the famous civil rights-era March on Washington. Or his stories about being in the Army.
I could, and do, listen for hours — and there’s no better way to fill an iPod. We look back to the 50s, 60s and 70s as through a glass, darkly. Here’s how it really was.
Max Schmid at WBAI has been putting some of these old shows on the air, exactly as they were first broadcast thirty to forty years ago. Listen to the one on the march on Washington first. It’s incredible.
3 thoughts on “Jean Shepherd’s WOR radio hours”
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You’ll put an eye out!
Good to see your glorious response to Shep. A little more info: He was on the air overnight in NYC for 6 months in early 1956, then Sunday nights for 4 hours until 1960. Then until April 1977 five nights a week for 45 minutes (these are rough times, with other variations). Although very well known for his writing, his genius lay in the 21 years of extemporaneous radio work (Posthumous Radio Hall of Fame induction, fall, 2005.) See the great site on which Max has his page as you note above (www.flicklives.com). Also, for a real, honest to goodness book on Shep’s art, see my EXCELSIOR, YOU FATHEAD! THE ART AND ENIGMA OF JEAN SHEPHERD (Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, published 3/05).
Excelsior,
Gene Bergmann
Thanks for the heads up. I love Jean Shepherd’s voice–always put me at ease to hear him narrate–and naturally, “A Christmas Story” has been one of my seasonal favorites since it came out in the early eighties.