The Midnight Special (radio)
Encyclopedia
The Midnight Special is a syndicated radio show broadcast on Chicago
, Illinois
radio station, WFMT
-FM
(98.7 MHz) since 1953. It is a showcase for folk and roots music from historical and contemporary artists. The show also features comedy sketches and show tunes. The official description is: "folk music & farce, show tunes & satire, madness & escape." The show is named after the well known folk song of the same name
, which is often associated with Lead Belly, whose version of the song is used as the show's opening theme. The show title also tied into its time slot, as it was broadcast on WFMT near midnight every Saturday. It now begins at 9 p.m. and ends at midnight.
In 1953, Mike Nichols
(later notable as a comedian, writer, actor, and director) created a Saturday evening folk music program. Early regular guests were local musicians including Fleming Brown
, Win Stracke
and Big Bill Broonzy
. They would play in the station's studio, a converted ballroom on the west side
of Chicago. When Nichols left the program Norm Pellegrini became the host and it evolved to a mix of released and live-performance recordings, with only occasional live concerts. Ray Nordstrand also shared the hosting responsibilities of "The Midnight Special" until 1994. Various celebrities guest-hosted the program over the years, including Tom Paxton
, and theater directors Frank Galati
and Robert Falls
. In 1974, Rich Warren was hired to help produce the program and was invited to help out hosting in 1983. He became the sole host of the program in 1996.
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
radio station, WFMT
WFMT
WFMT is an FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a format of fine arts, classical music programming, and shows exploring such genres as folk and jazz). The station is managed by Window To The World Communications, Inc., owner of WTTW, one of Chicago's two Public Broadcasting Service ...
-FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
(98.7 MHz) since 1953. It is a showcase for folk and roots music from historical and contemporary artists. The show also features comedy sketches and show tunes. The official description is: "folk music & farce, show tunes & satire, madness & escape." The show is named after the well known folk song of the same name
Midnight Special (song)
"Midnight Special" is a traditional folk song thought to have originated among prisoners in the American South. The title comes from the refrain which refers to the Midnight Special and its "ever-loving light" ....
, which is often associated with Lead Belly, whose version of the song is used as the show's opening theme. The show title also tied into its time slot, as it was broadcast on WFMT near midnight every Saturday. It now begins at 9 p.m. and ends at midnight.
In 1953, Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...
(later notable as a comedian, writer, actor, and director) created a Saturday evening folk music program. Early regular guests were local musicians including Fleming Brown
Fleming Brown
Fleming Brown, 1926–1984, born in Marshall, Missouri. He was a banjo player and one of the early teachers at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. As an artist, Brown specialized in traditional songs of the Southern Appalachians. He was influenced by old-time banjo players such as Uncle Dave...
, Win Stracke
Win Stracke
Winfred “Win” J. Stracke was an American Folk Musician and Co-Founder of the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, Illinois. Stracke was a Chicago fixture in music, theater, and television in the 1940s and was known for his booming bass voice...
and Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
. They would play in the station's studio, a converted ballroom on the west side
West Side
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of Chicago. When Nichols left the program Norm Pellegrini became the host and it evolved to a mix of released and live-performance recordings, with only occasional live concerts. Ray Nordstrand also shared the hosting responsibilities of "The Midnight Special" until 1994. Various celebrities guest-hosted the program over the years, including Tom Paxton
Tom Paxton
Thomas Richard Paxton is an American folk singer and singer-songwriter who has been writing, performing and recording music for over forty years...
, and theater directors Frank Galati
Frank Galati
Frank Galati is an American director, writer and actor. He is a member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, an associate director at Goodman Theatre, and a professor of performance at Northwestern University. In 2004, Galati was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame...
and Robert Falls
Robert Falls
Robert Falls is an American theater director and the current Artistic Director of the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.-Early years:Falls was born in Ashland, Illinois to Arthur Joseph Falls and Nancy Stribling...
. In 1974, Rich Warren was hired to help produce the program and was invited to help out hosting in 1983. He became the sole host of the program in 1996.
External links
- midnightspecial.org - Program's website