|
|
|
 |
|
Show Preparation
|
In the April 8,1971 Overseas Press Club
Conference, Shep told his audience that it took from 5 to 10 hours a
day to prepare each show.
|
At the Friends of Old Time Radio
convention in October 2000, Herb Squires and Barry Farber both
commented on how Shep would never use a script. He would come to the
studio only with a few notes, letters from fans or newspaper
articles.
|
Marc Spector (Associate Producer for Shep at WOR from 1974 to
1974) writes:
Did Jean spend hours preparing the show or did he write a couple of
words on a scrap of paper on his way into the studio? The answer
is really: both of the above. Jean lived his show--it was really
him. Therefore, his prep was just living and remembering and
recalling things from decades or minutes before the 10-inch machine
started rolling. But, in truth, the latter was what really
happened. I remember Jean asking me what I thought of something
right before we walked to the studio. He would write my answers
down on a scrap of paper and that would be the basis of the show. He
would do the same with the studio engineers who he used regularly for
such material. He wanted to make sure the show was about what real
people wanted to hear--not ivory tower stuff. It was his blue
collar background, I suppose. Most of those guys really never
'got' Jean but they played along. Only a couple, like Herb
Squires, really knew that they were a part of something very special.
The show was absolutely, 98% unscripted. Don't let anyone tell
you otherwise. Jean could never have done what he did with a
script. He wasn't a radio star--he was a monologist. He
loved to talk about what was on his mind--although it was 1974 and
still a very G-rated broadcast world. As for the clock--it was
my job (or Leigh's if she sat in on the session) to keep Jean
informed of the time remaining for the show. This was a VERY
important component of the job. He wanted a '5 minutes
remaining' visual and one a bit sooner (although I cannot remember
if it was 2 or 3 minutes). He would seamlessly and flawlessly
(most of the time, anyway) wind it down to perfection right at the
close of the theme. Listen carefully to how far out the show
would be just 2 minutes from the end and how it wound up so
perfectly only 120 seconds later. He was good. I
will say, though, that we did mis-time a couple of shows while I was
there. Ended it a minute early. Big problem. Oh,
well it could have been too long which would have been a bigger
problem. While I did the show, it was most often broadcast in
a 9:15 slot. As you know, WOR did a 15-minute live newscast
from the studio across the hall every hour up until the beginning of
our show. I do believe that this (the 9 PM show) was the last
live news show of the day and that they did not do one following our
show, so timing was really important as they had no live announce to
make up for errors. WOR did broadcast an hourly BEEP and shows ended
right on that beep. The News would immediately follow the
BEEP. Anyway, the mis-timed show was a rare event but it did
happen. |
|
Made in USA
|
 |
Custom Search
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Best deals for Movies |
|
|
|
