I was the Floor Manager for that outdoor concert behind the mill in Clinton, NJ and still have the NJPTV T-Shirt with "Bad Owl" drawn by "Shep" in my Magic Marker! The Leaning Tower of Pizza" is now a bad Japanese restaurant and the Flag Ship still sails to nowhere on Rt-22. Thanks for the memories.
@optikdave I was there a few times in Clinton. You had to be early to park and seat front row. Shep said he could electrocute everyone front row in aluminum chairs...this referred to b'cast about how he used pops beer glasses for electrolyctic rectifiers that leaked KEY DOWN and burned through carpet to floor. What few know is the number of kidz..no lidz...that engaged a career in electronics because of him. I graduated from RCA institutes in 1974. WB2SGT
We listened to Shep on WOR in the car at night coming home to our Copiague, Long Island suburban home after visiting family and friends in Brooklyn or Staten Island. He woven fantastic tapestries of stories from childhood, as a teen and as a young adult that are a part of my life where I seemed to experience those things he talked about.
Glad this was posted. I had the opportiunity to met Shep as a kid in Princeton (Alexander Hall) and at Princeton Airport where (where he flew in regularly) and told stories to the staff there. Lots of Good Memories!
Shep was Theatre of the Mind in the mid-'60s. In bed under the covers with the transistor radio, waiting for the bugle call and the Bahn Frei Polka, and the mix of hilarious stories and social commentary with musical complements (e.g Les Preludes). First time I heard the term "hippies," but with a different meaning then. Had a huge poster of him at the mic. Shep was a subversive minstrel who could riff like jazz. I miss him.
mrjewts: I had that same poster, and I also used to listen in bed on school nights, with a transistor radio under my pillow! I have several hours of Shep on reel-to-reel tape.
Brings back memories of Shep during the first week of April in 1970. Three Clifton High School students and myself drove down to see Shep perform. There was an Army story in which Shep describes days that were so hot and humid that his outfit decided to play baseball in the raw. Unexpectedly the General drives up in a jeep with his wife sitting beside him.
Do a simple search for WB2SGT and you can be linked to ARRL archives.....'Jean Shepherd, K2ORS, SK.' 'SK' is old telegraph term for 'silent key'.....an operator no among us any more.
I'm a kid see, and its nine o clock. I get into bed, turn the radio to WOR, its as low as it can go and still be heard and my ear is right next to the tiny speaker. Then those first notes come on of that Edwuard Strauss march, and I knew that all was right with the world.
Yah get hooked. 'I was stationed in a isolate pacific island and we buried fruit with sugar in bottles buried in the sand. I was up on the antenna structure with a radio and heard a stateside ham I was able to talk to. When was a kid I drove a car with three carbourators and a generator in the trunk. You people sitting in aluminum chairs here in Clinton could all be electrocuted connected together by one of my ham radio high voltage power supplies.' Shep is remembered. Flick Lives.
@RossM3838 Mom got me into Shep and Long John...evil mom..evil mom who worked for AT&T Long Lines. I had those Japanese SW radios and got a pillow speaker. Oh those evil thoughts like burying fruit in a jar on the beach. Long John wasn't no better..he broadcast that there was a secret underground civilisation you could visit by punching elevator buttons in a sequence. At twelve I got a National NC-33 radio and branded by someone in Post Office for QSL'ing b'cast stations as a spy. WB2SGT
I've got hours of reel-to-reel tapes of Shep's radio shows from about 1967-68, which I made in high school. If anyone is interested, I'll upload them to you for free, once I get the time to digitize them. But it will be in private e-mails, because Youtube doesn't support this format. Contact me.
I remember taping ol'shep on cassette tape with my grandfather, from wamc out of Albany N.Y. when I was very young. We would make up titles for each broadcast, and grampa would go down to his basement and type up a label to stick on the cassette. I still have most, if not all of the tapes we did! What a great story teller! fact or fiction? Nobody really knows, but it didn't matter. Every moment of his story was gold! We stayed glued to the radio!
Thank you deeply for posting this wonderful clip. After reading Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss in an early 1970s Playboy, I've been hopelessly addicted to Shep. I just keep going back and reading those wonderful stories over & over again. And I sit and giggle like a school girl....over & over again. God Bless Jean Shepherd!!
Thank you, thank you for posting this! Who said his radio shows don't stand the test of time?! Listen to some of the shows from '64, '65, '66,and see if his observations about society don't hold up. And so do his predictions!
I met Shep once, and he autographed two of his books for me, and I recall the night Shep wasn't on WOR at his usual time. I called to ask why. I was told, "He doesn't work here anymore."
Shepherd's old radio shows don't stand the test of time, but he was a genius when I was 14, and A Christmas Story is a very funny and fun movie. As is much of his written work.
It's true that Shep left his first wife and two children, and apparently had no further contact with them.
He was autographing my book and I wanted to say something. The jacket said he was one of the best "underground" comedians. So I asked him, Shepard, if you're so good, and I think you are, why are you underground?. He was caught off guard, and mumbled something about the best parts of potatoes are underground. Omigod! I thought, my purpose was not to embarass him. Finally, he said "We're living in a world of Chevy's, kid" Ahh, nice comeback, Shepard! All's right with the world.
I was in Clinton during a rainstorm and concert cancelled as we sat in rain. Re-sked in Hunterdon HS and asked if he was interested in ham radio. Response was disappointing...he was speaker at DaytonHamvention banquet. Anyone remember broadcast about pops beerglasses housing electrolyctic capacitors that leaked on hot key that burned the carpet? 'K2ORS here is WB2SGT' Shep inspired me to get my Novice license and go to RCA Institutes. Peter, ck 73. WB2SGT real radio extra class.
I ended up with a bunch of Shepherd radio shows on mp3 from Ebay. Didn't know much about him before. Heard he walked out on his wife and kids on an NPR show when Shep died in 99. They had his son Randell on talking about his dad. Complicated guy I guess.
Also heard he almost got Carson's job on the Tonight show. Maybe he was C.I.A or something.
A CHRISTMAS STORY is a small part of Jean Shepherd's creativity. He was a genius of radio, TV, film, stage, recordings, written word. These people and many others were inspired by him: Billy Collins, Andy Kaufman, Jack Kerouac, Keith Olbermann, and Jerry Seinfeld who said: "He really formed my entire comedic sensibility. I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." (RE: "The Gymnast" Seinfeld Season 6) Read the book: EXCELSIOR, YOU FATHEAD! THE ART AND ENIGMA OF JEAN SHEPHERD
Garrison Keilor, although similar to Jean Shepherd in some respects, probably didn't listen to Jean very much. St. Paul MN was well out of the range of WOR radio back in the 50s-70s when Jean was on the air.
I stayed up all night every weekday night listening to Shep on WOR from midnight to 4 a.m. Then I had to get up and go to high school. It's a wonder I survived. Excelsior indeed!!!
This has been flagged as spam show
I was the Floor Manager for that outdoor concert behind the mill in Clinton, NJ and still have the NJPTV T-Shirt with "Bad Owl" drawn by "Shep" in my Magic Marker! The Leaning Tower of Pizza" is now a bad Japanese restaurant and the Flag Ship still sails to nowhere on Rt-22. Thanks for the memories.
RSBSTEADICAM 2 months ago
Comment removed
RSBSTEADICAM 2 months ago
Seltzer Water!
tjarey 7 months ago
I use to see him out there in Clinton, NJ
I listened to him on my crystal radio...
josephdupont 1 year ago
Comment removed
ERROLCUSTERFLYNN4EVR 1 year ago
@ERROLCUSTERFLYNN4EVR
Not even close!
bkaye 1 year ago
I was there !!!!
optikdave 1 year ago
@optikdave I was there a few times in Clinton. You had to be early to park and seat front row. Shep said he could electrocute everyone front row in aluminum chairs...this referred to b'cast about how he used pops beer glasses for electrolyctic rectifiers that leaked KEY DOWN and burned through carpet to floor. What few know is the number of kidz..no lidz...that engaged a career in electronics because of him. I graduated from RCA institutes in 1974. WB2SGT
peterann1 1 year ago
Your the man! Saw Shep in Clinton in 1982
ibriveadus 1 year ago
We listened to Shep on WOR in the car at night coming home to our Copiague, Long Island suburban home after visiting family and friends in Brooklyn or Staten Island. He woven fantastic tapestries of stories from childhood, as a teen and as a young adult that are a part of my life where I seemed to experience those things he talked about.
john91722 2 years ago
Glad this was posted. I had the opportiunity to met Shep as a kid in Princeton (Alexander Hall) and at Princeton Airport where (where he flew in regularly) and told stories to the staff there. Lots of Good Memories!
DoctorJK3 2 years ago
Someone may still have the tapes that went from Shepherd's show at WOR-AM to WMHT-FM in Schenectady in the 1970s.
Bobchai, you should put those old tapes on YouTube.
tourguideStan 2 years ago
Shep wasn't a comedian he was a humorist in the American tradition of Mark Twain.
Hemthorne 2 years ago
gold
pigtailsboy 2 years ago
1977 not 1972
whovian1971 3 years ago
I just saw the movie "A christmas story" starring - jean sheperd, narrorater....
I didnt know he was a comedian
bluebutterfly567 3 years ago
Shep has a cameo appearance in that movie, telling the boys to go to the end of the line in the mall to see santa...that's him, the bearded fellow.
davidh0187dc 2 years ago
In hoc agricola conk! In est spittle haec!
mrjewls 3 years ago 2
Shep was Theatre of the Mind in the mid-'60s. In bed under the covers with the transistor radio, waiting for the bugle call and the Bahn Frei Polka, and the mix of hilarious stories and social commentary with musical complements (e.g Les Preludes). First time I heard the term "hippies," but with a different meaning then. Had a huge poster of him at the mic. Shep was a subversive minstrel who could riff like jazz. I miss him.
mrjewls 3 years ago
mrjewts: I had that same poster, and I also used to listen in bed on school nights, with a transistor radio under my pillow! I have several hours of Shep on reel-to-reel tape.
Excelsior You Fathead!
Bobchai 3 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
two old fags u two are..probably still hiding under the covers u two pussies
HumanBozoBoy 3 years ago
Brings back memories of Shep during the first week of April in 1970. Three Clifton High School students and myself drove down to see Shep perform. There was an Army story in which Shep describes days that were so hot and humid that his outfit decided to play baseball in the raw. Unexpectedly the General drives up in a jeep with his wife sitting beside him.
newjerseybt 3 years ago
FLICK LIVES
mightybisons 3 years ago 9
Yeah, Flick lives!
melvinfurd 3 years ago
Do a simple search for WB2SGT and you can be linked to ARRL archives.....'Jean Shepherd, K2ORS, SK.' 'SK' is old telegraph term for 'silent key'.....an operator no among us any more.
peterann1 3 years ago
Anyone remember 'FRAGILE'? It was the leg lamp.
peterann1 3 years ago 3
Thanks so much for the clip. Too bad there aren't any of him doing his shows at the Limelight at the Village in 1960's.
Just remember, Bolivia exports tin.
rojmant 3 years ago 3
See my private message to you. I will definitely do it, and you and all the many other people who have written me will be contacted. Excelsior!
Bobchai 4 years ago 2
I'm a kid see, and its nine o clock. I get into bed, turn the radio to WOR, its as low as it can go and still be heard and my ear is right next to the tiny speaker. Then those first notes come on of that Edwuard Strauss march, and I knew that all was right with the world.
RossM3838 4 years ago 18
Yah get hooked. 'I was stationed in a isolate pacific island and we buried fruit with sugar in bottles buried in the sand. I was up on the antenna structure with a radio and heard a stateside ham I was able to talk to. When was a kid I drove a car with three carbourators and a generator in the trunk. You people sitting in aluminum chairs here in Clinton could all be electrocuted connected together by one of my ham radio high voltage power supplies.' Shep is remembered. Flick Lives.
peterann1 3 years ago
@RossM3838 Mom got me into Shep and Long John...evil mom..evil mom who worked for AT&T Long Lines. I had those Japanese SW radios and got a pillow speaker. Oh those evil thoughts like burying fruit in a jar on the beach. Long John wasn't no better..he broadcast that there was a secret underground civilisation you could visit by punching elevator buttons in a sequence. At twelve I got a National NC-33 radio and branded by someone in Post Office for QSL'ing b'cast stations as a spy. WB2SGT
peterann1 1 year ago
He was such an interesting guy. He would have been a blast to hang out with :)
scalliwagrx8 4 years ago
I've got hours of reel-to-reel tapes of Shep's radio shows from about 1967-68, which I made in high school. If anyone is interested, I'll upload them to you for free, once I get the time to digitize them. But it will be in private e-mails, because Youtube doesn't support this format. Contact me.
Bobchai 4 years ago 2
i hope you're working on those tapes!
BlockChordsRed 4 years ago
He's the Best. Flick Lives!!!
positivecashflow 4 years ago
Many thanks for the great clip. Flick lives.
zoldack 4 years ago
we lost a good person...
UncleBrM
Schrodinger2equation 4 years ago
Excelsior! You FatHeads! *grin*
UncleBym 4 years ago
test
gratefu1frog 4 years ago
One of the few friends at WOR.
Master of story, and a true gentleman.
TheAtocha 4 years ago
I remember taping ol'shep on cassette tape with my grandfather, from wamc out of Albany N.Y. when I was very young. We would make up titles for each broadcast, and grampa would go down to his basement and type up a label to stick on the cassette. I still have most, if not all of the tapes we did! What a great story teller! fact or fiction? Nobody really knows, but it didn't matter. Every moment of his story was gold! We stayed glued to the radio!
doug900S 4 years ago
Thank you deeply for posting this wonderful clip. After reading Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss in an early 1970s Playboy, I've been hopelessly addicted to Shep. I just keep going back and reading those wonderful stories over & over again. And I sit and giggle like a school girl....over & over again. God Bless Jean Shepherd!!
ctaesque 4 years ago
That is soooo great to see such rare footage of Shep. Can I get a copy of the entire recording? Thanks! Bill9189hotmail
Billy9189 4 years ago
Flick lives!
xxxMIDNITExxx 4 years ago
Thank you, thank you for posting this! Who said his radio shows don't stand the test of time?! Listen to some of the shows from '64, '65, '66,and see if his observations about society don't hold up. And so do his predictions!
Philcoman 5 years ago
I met Shep once, and he autographed two of his books for me, and I recall the night Shep wasn't on WOR at his usual time. I called to ask why. I was told, "He doesn't work here anymore."
Shepherd's old radio shows don't stand the test of time, but he was a genius when I was 14, and A Christmas Story is a very funny and fun movie. As is much of his written work.
It's true that Shep left his first wife and two children, and apparently had no further contact with them.
socratesdream 5 years ago
socratesdream says the old shows dont stand the test of time. lol, dude, you need help.
JimHarmatz 4 years ago
He was autographing my book and I wanted to say something. The jacket said he was one of the best "underground" comedians. So I asked him, Shepard, if you're so good, and I think you are, why are you underground?. He was caught off guard, and mumbled something about the best parts of potatoes are underground. Omigod! I thought, my purpose was not to embarass him. Finally, he said "We're living in a world of Chevy's, kid" Ahh, nice comeback, Shepard! All's right with the world.
toobyu2859 4 years ago
"a world of greasy hamburgers and Chevy IIs," he'd say. Those were especially tinny boxes when
they first came out in ? '62 or '63 and I remember wondering why he wasn't sued. There were about 5 of us in my h.s. class ('65) who'd
review his show of the night before at lunch every day. I'd love to see a dramatization of
some of his Army stories....
whizbang47 4 years ago
I was in Clinton during a rainstorm and concert cancelled as we sat in rain. Re-sked in Hunterdon HS and asked if he was interested in ham radio. Response was disappointing...he was speaker at DaytonHamvention banquet. Anyone remember broadcast about pops beerglasses housing electrolyctic capacitors that leaked on hot key that burned the carpet? 'K2ORS here is WB2SGT' Shep inspired me to get my Novice license and go to RCA Institutes. Peter, ck 73. WB2SGT real radio extra class.
peterann1 3 years ago
I ended up with a bunch of Shepherd radio shows on mp3 from Ebay. Didn't know much about him before. Heard he walked out on his wife and kids on an NPR show when Shep died in 99. They had his son Randell on talking about his dad. Complicated guy I guess.
Also heard he almost got Carson's job on the Tonight show. Maybe he was C.I.A or something.
ufoengines 5 years ago
That's some outfit, Shep.
wontonton 5 years ago
A CHRISTMAS STORY is a small part of Jean Shepherd's creativity. He was a genius of radio, TV, film, stage, recordings, written word. These people and many others were inspired by him: Billy Collins, Andy Kaufman, Jack Kerouac, Keith Olbermann, and Jerry Seinfeld who said: "He really formed my entire comedic sensibility. I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." (RE: "The Gymnast" Seinfeld Season 6) Read the book: EXCELSIOR, YOU FATHEAD! THE ART AND ENIGMA OF JEAN SHEPHERD
ebruceb 5 years ago
garrison keilor stole his whole act from shepherd.
xnerg 5 years ago
Garrison Keilor, although similar to Jean Shepherd in some respects, probably didn't listen to Jean very much. St. Paul MN was well out of the range of WOR radio back in the 50s-70s when Jean was on the air.
Great clip!
Fender1980 5 years ago
Excelsior!
Burankhan 5 years ago
I stayed up all night every weekday night listening to Shep on WOR from midnight to 4 a.m. Then I had to get up and go to high school. It's a wonder I survived. Excelsior indeed!!!
jeffcox 5 years ago
Thanks so much for posting this clip. Indeed, Shep lives.... Excelsior, you Fathead!!!! Thanks again.
raborlin 5 years ago
For all you fatheads out there. The quality (and sync) is better and the clip is a bit longer.
Excelsior!!
bkaye 5 years ago