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144-409: Jean Parker " Shep " Shepherd Jr. (July 26, 1921 – October 16, 1999) was an American storyteller , humorist , radio and TV personality, writer, and actor. With a career that spanned decades, Shepherd is known for the film A Christmas Story (1983), which he narrated and co- scripted , based on his own semi-autobiographical stories. Shepherd was born in 1921, to Jean Parker Shepherd and Anna, on

288-512: A Kinesthetic learning style would be used, involving the listeners through music, dream interpretation, or dance. For indigenous cultures of the Americas, storytelling is used as an oral form of language associated with practices and values essential to developing one's identity. This is because everyone in the community can add their own touch and perspective to the narrative collaboratively – both individual and culturally shared perspectives have

432-441: A Wayne Booth -esque rhetorical thrust, a dialectic process of interpretation, which is at times beneath the surface, conditioning a plotted narrative, and at other times much more visible, "arguing" for and against various positions; relies substantially on now-standard aesthetic figuration, particularly including the use of metaphor , metonymy, synecdoche and irony (see Hayden White , Metahistory for expansion of this idea);

576-465: A "biographical framework" of exhaustive research. Shep's Army: Bummers, Blisters, and Boondoggles , almost three dozen of Jean Shepherd's radio stories about the army, transcribed, edited, and introduced by Eugene B. Bergmann, is a book of stories by Shepherd. (Opus Books, August 2013) Early in his career, Shepherd had a television program on WLWT in Cincinnati called Rear Bumper . He claimed that he

720-452: A "surface" story, that entails knowing certain information and clues to unlocking the metaphors in the story. The underlying message of the story being told, can be understood and interpreted with clues that hint to a certain interpretation. In order to make meaning from these stories, elders in the Sto:lo community for example, emphasize the importance in learning how to listen, since it requires

864-637: A black nationalist and Marxist perspective. Marksman was profoundly loved by a broad cross section of the WBAI audience and staff. His shocking and sudden death from a massive heart attack on March 23, 1999, was a wound to the station that lasted for years. Over 3,000 people attended his funeral at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan. Shortly before the death of Samori Marksman and following years of complaints about

1008-786: A combination of oral narrative, music , rock art and dance, which bring understanding and meaning to human existence through the remembrance and enactment of stories. People have used the carved trunks of living trees and ephemeral media (such as sand and leaves) to record folktales in pictures or with writing. Complex forms of tattooing may also represent stories, with information about genealogy , affiliation and social status. Folktales often share common motifs and themes , suggesting possible basic psychological similarities across various human cultures. Other stories, notably fairy tales , appear to have spread from place to place, implying memetic appeal and popularity. Groups of originally oral tales can coalesce over time into story cycles (like

1152-504: A commercial for Sweetheart Soap, not a sponsor, and was immediately fired. His listeners besieged WOR with complaints, and when Sweetheart offered to sponsor him, he was reinstated. Eventually, he attracted more sponsors than he wanted—the commercials interrupted the flow of his monologues. Former WOR engineer, Frank Cernese, adds, "The commercials of that era were on 'ETs' — phonograph records about 14" in diameter. Three large turntables were available to play them in sequence. Shepherd preferred

1296-507: A complex collage of sound effects, music, and opera. The participants included Anaïs Nin , Marian Seldes , Alice Playten , H.M. Koutoukas , Leo Lerman , Michael Wager , Novella Nelson , Osceola Macarthy Adams , Owen Dodson , Wyatt Emory Cooper , Michael Higgins , Anne Fremantle , Peggy Cass , Ruth Ford , Earle Hyman and Daisy Aldan. When William Burroughs returned to the United States from Tangier, Ruas invited him to present

1440-410: A dangerous place / he disguises himself / his disguise fools everybody / except for a common person of little account (a crone , a tavern maid or a woodcutter) / who immediately recognizes him / the commoner becomes the hero's ally, showing unexpected resources of skill or initiative. A theme does not belong to a specific story, but may be found with minor variation in many different stories. The story

1584-440: A different lens. Noted author and folklore scholar, Elaine Lawless states, "...this process provides new avenues for understanding and identity formation. Language is utilised to bear witness to their lives". Sometimes a narrator will simply skip over certain details without realizing, only to include it in their stories during a later telling. In this way, that telling and retelling of the narrative serves to "reattach portions of

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1728-621: A fast-tempo piece directed to horses and a race track, principally achieved by opening with a well-known bugle call named " Call to the Post ." When discussing his personal life, Shepherd was evasive to the point of being intentionally misleading about the actual details. Shepherd lived in several New York City locations during his WOR days and for a time in New Milford, New Jersey , and in Washington Township, Warren County, New Jersey . Shepherd

1872-486: A hospital in Fort Myers, Florida, in 1999, of natural causes . To what extent Shepherd's radio and published stories were fact, fiction, or a combination of the two is unknown. The childhood friends included in many of his stories were people he claimed to have invented, yet high-school yearbooks and numerous other sources confirm that many of them, including school buddies "Flick" and "Schwartz", did indeed exist. His father

2016-417: A larger story, thus storytelling can supplement analytical thinking. Because storytelling requires auditory and visual senses from listeners, one can learn to organize their mental representation of a story, recognize structure of language and express his or her thoughts. Stories tend to be based on experiential learning, but learning from an experience is not automatic. Often a person needs to attempt to tell

2160-401: A means by which to precipitate psychological and social change in the practice of transformative arts . Some people also make a case for different narrative forms being classified as storytelling in the contemporary world. For example, digital storytelling, online and dice-and-paper-based role-playing games. In traditional role-playing games , storytelling is done by the person who controls

2304-496: A method to teach ethics, values and cultural norms and differences. Learning is most effective when it takes place in social environments that provide authentic social cues about how knowledge is to be applied. Stories function as a tool to pass on knowledge in a social context. So, every story has 3 parts. First, The setup (The Hero's world before the adventure starts). Second, The Confrontation (The hero's world turned upside down). Third, The Resolution (Hero conquers villain, but it

2448-676: A new medium for a new kind of novel that he writes nightly." In the Seinfeld season-six DVD set, commenting on the episode titled " The Gymnast ", Jerry Seinfeld said, "He really formed my entire comedic sensibility—I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." Seinfeld was interviewed at a tribute to Shepherd held at the Paley Center for Media on January 23, 2012, confirming the importance of Shepherd on his career and discussing how Shepherd and he had similar ways of humorously discussing minor incidents in life. The first name of Seinfeld's third child

2592-432: A number of artistic elements that typically interact in well-developed stories. Such elements include the essential idea of narrative structure with identifiable beginnings, middles, and endings, or exposition-development-climax-resolution-denouement, normally constructed into coherent plot lines; a strong focus on temporality, which includes retention of the past, attention to present action and protention/future anticipation;

2736-1104: A number of previously unknown ones were sold on eBay from the collection of his former wife, actress Lois Nettleton , after her death in 2008. The 1930 Federal Census Record for Hammond, Indiana , indicates that Jean's father did work for a dairy company; his occupation reads "cashier". The 1930 census record lists these family members: Jean Shepherd, age 30, head; Anna Shepherd, age 30, wife; Jean Shepherd Jr, age 8, son; and Randall Shepherd, age 6, son. According to this record, Jean Sr, Anna, Jean Jr, and Randall were all born in Illinois, and Jean Sr's parents (Emmett and Flora) were born in Kansas. However, all other decennial federal and state census records, as well as other official documents such as death certificates, indicate that Emmett and Flora were born in Indiana. Anna's parents, August and Katherine, were born in Germany. The younger Jean Shepherd had two children,

2880-483: A personal narrative serve"? This approach mainly looks at the power, authority, knowledge, ideology and identity; "whether it legitimates and dominates or resists and empowers". All personal narratives are seen as ideological because they evolve from a structure of power relations and simultaneously produce, maintain and reproduce that power structure". Political theorist, Hannah Arendt argues that storytelling transforms private meaning to public meaning. Regardless of

3024-627: A place in the co-creation of the story. Oral storytelling in indigenous communities differs from other forms of stories because they are told not only for entertainment, but for teaching values. For example, the Sto:lo community in Canada focuses on reinforcing children's identity by telling stories about the land to explain their roles. Furthermore, Storytelling is a way to teach younger members of indigenous communities about their culture and their identities. In Donna Eder's study, Navajos were interviewed about storytelling practices that they have had in

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3168-662: A platform for New York's avant-garde in theater, music, performance, art, and poetry. When the downtown avant-garde operas A Letter for Queen Victoria and Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass and Robert Wilson opened at the Metropolitan Opera, the station was right there to tape excerpts in rehearsals for broadcast. Ruas initiated The Reading Experiment, a year-long series on Marguerite Young 's epic novel Miss MacIntosh, My Darling . These readings were transformed into performances by Rob Wynne , who scored them with

3312-526: A professor of literature at the University of Tennessee created the first organized storytellers league of its kind. It was called The National Story League. Wyche served as its president for 16 years, facilitated storytelling classes, and spurred an interest in the art. Several other storytelling organizations started in the U.S. during the 1970s. One such organization was the National Association for

3456-470: A prominent educational and performative role in religious rituals (for example, the Passover Seder ), and some archaeologists believe that rock art may have served as a form of storytelling for many ancient cultures . The Aboriginal Australian people painted symbols which also appear in stories on cave walls as a means of helping the storyteller remember the story. The story was then told using

3600-577: 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. 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. 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

3744-473: A retrospective of all his works. The series consisted of four programs, beginning with Junkie and followed by The Yage Letters , read by Burroughs and Allen Ginsburg, The Last Words of Dutch Schultz , and, finally, Naked Lunch . Bill Kortum oversaw this series as well as retrospectives of the works of Jerzy Kosinski and Donald Barthelme , co-produced with Judith Sherman, the station's music director. A semester of Allen Ginsberg 's poetry seminar held at

3888-462: A solution. Stories are effective educational tools because listeners become engaged and therefore remember. Storytelling can be seen as a foundation for learning and teaching. While the story listener is engaged, they are able to imagine new perspectives, inviting a transformative and empathetic experience. This involves allowing the individual to actively engage in the story as well as observe, listen and participate with minimal guidance. Listening to

4032-571: A somewhat similar format for the New Jersey Network TV show Shepherd's Pie . He wrote and narrated many works, the most famous being the 1983 MGM feature film A Christmas Story , filmed at A Christmas Story House , which is now considered a holiday classic. Shepherd narrates the film as the adult Ralph Parker, and also has a cameo role playing a man in line at the department store waiting for Santa Claus . PBS aired several television movies based on Shepherd stories, also featuring

4176-593: A son Randall, and a daughter Adrian, with his second wife Joan, but he publicly denied this, including in his last will and testament, executed some five months prior to his death. Randall Shepherd describes his father as having frequently come home late or not at all. Randall had almost no contact with him after his parents' divorce. Shepherd's oral narrative style was a precursor to that used by Spalding Gray and Garrison Keillor . Marshall McLuhan in Understanding Media wrote that Shepherd "regards radio as

4320-531: A station operated by City College of New York (CUNY). Lynne Rosen and John Littig, co-hosts of the monthly show The Pursuit of Happiness , were found dead on June 3, 2013, after committing suicide in their Park Slope home. In June 2013, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting suspended payments to WBAI, citing accounting irregularities and a failure by the station to meet its financial obligations. Layoff notices effective July 15 were subsequently issued to

4464-413: A story, who has accidentally broken something that belongs to the ahuaque, does not replace it or give back in some way to the ahuaque, the protagonist dies. In this way, storytelling serves as a way to teach what the community values, such as valuing the environment. Storytelling also serves to deliver a particular message during spiritual and ceremonial functions. In the ceremonial use of storytelling,

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4608-411: A storyteller can create lasting personal connections, promote innovative problem solving and foster a shared understanding regarding future ambitions. The listener can then activate knowledge and imagine new possibilities. Together a storyteller and listener can seek best practices and invent new solutions. Because stories often have multiple layers of meanings, listeners have to listen closely to identify

4752-467: A substantial focus on characters and characterization which is "arguably the most important single component of the novel"; a given heterogloss of different voices dialogically at play – "the sound of the human voice, or many voices, speaking in a variety of accents, rhythms and registers"; possesses a narrator or narrator-like voice, which by definition "addresses" and "interacts with" reading audiences (see Reader Response theory); communicates with

4896-464: A tool to correct inappropriate behavior and promote cooperation. There are various types of stories among many indigenous communities. Communication in Indigenous American communities is rich with stories, myths, philosophies and narratives that serve as a means to exchange information. These stories may be used for coming of age themes, core values, morality, literacy and history. Very often,

5040-501: A weekly poetry program presenting the works of John Ashbery , W.S. Merwin , Maureen Owen , Charles Reznikoff , Rebecca Wright, Ron Padgett , Carter Ratcliff , John Hollander , Anne Waldman , Helen Adam , Audre Lorde , Michael Brownstein, Mary Ferrari, and Muriel Rukeyser . She also produced specials featuring William Carlos Williams , V. R. Lang, Jack Spicer, Louise Bogan, Paul Metcalf, Jonathan Williams, Harry Mathews, and James Laughlin. On alternate weeks, Oppenheimer presented

5184-553: Is "Shepherd." Shepherd's life and multimedia career are examined in the 2005 book Excelsior, You Fathead! The Art and Enigma of Jean Shepherd by Eugene B. Bergmann. Shepherd's 7-step approach to "compassionate humor" in storytelling is described in the appendix to the 2024 book You'll Shoot Your Eye Out! Life Lessons from the Movie A Christmas Story , by writer and communication professor Quentin Schultze, who taught with Shepherd. Shepherd

5328-423: Is a means for sharing and interpreting experiences. Peter L. Berger says human life is narratively rooted, humans construct their lives and shape their world into homes in terms of these groundings and memories. Stories are universal in that they can bridge cultural, linguistic and age-related divides. Storytelling can be adaptive for all ages, leaving out the notion of age segregation . Storytelling can be used as

5472-612: Is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning , liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic music . The station is owned by the Pacifica Foundation with studios located in Brooklyn and transmitter located at 4 Times Square . The station began as WABF, which first went on the air in 1941 as W75NY, of Metropolitan Television, Inc. (W75NY indicating an eastern station at 47.5 MHz in New York), and moved to

5616-471: Is assembled from lines which are repeated verbatim or which use one-for-one word substitutions. In other words, oral stories are built out of set phrases which have been stockpiled from a lifetime of hearing and telling stories. The other type of story vocabulary is theme, a set sequence of story actions that structure a tale. Just as the teller of tales proceeds line-by-line using formulas, so he proceeds from event-to-event using themes. One near-universal theme

5760-832: Is iconoclastic and contentious. Referred to in a New York Times Magazine piece as "an anarchist's circus," one station manager was jailed in protest. The staff, in protest at sweeping proposed changes of another station manager, seized the studio facilities, then located in a deconsecrated church , as well as the transmitter, located at the Empire State Building . During the 1960s, the station hosted numerous anti-establishment causes, including anti-Vietnam war activists , feminists (and live coverage of purported bra-burning demonstrations ), kids lib, early Firesign Theater comedy, and complete-album music overnight. It refused to stop playing Janis Ian 's song about interracial relationships " Society's Child ". Extensive daily coverage of

5904-583: Is mostly syndicated to public radio). John Vernile, interim executive director of the Pacifica Foundation, said the station's fund raising and audience had declined in recent years, to the point where the rest of the Pacifica network was subsidizing WBAI's operations on top of servicing its unsustainable debt load. Within hours of the shutdown, WBAI's staffers filed a lawsuit in New York state court challenging

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6048-510: Is not enough for Hero to survive. The Hero or World must be transformed). Any story can be framed in such format. Human knowledge is based on stories and the human brain consists of cognitive machinery necessary to understand, remember and tell stories. Humans are storytelling organisms that both individually and socially, lead storied lives. Stories mirror human thought as humans think in narrative structures and most often remember facts in story form. Facts can be understood as smaller versions of

6192-451: Is often enmeshed in intertextuality, with copious connections, references, allusions, similarities, parallels, etc. to other literatures; and commonly demonstrates an effort toward bildungsroman , a description of identity development with an effort to evince becoming in character and community. Storytelling festivals typically feature the work of several storytellers and may include workshops for tellers and others who are interested in

6336-524: Is one of the many effective ways to educate both the young and old about their cultures, identities and history. Storytelling help the Navajos know who they are, where they come from and where they belong. Storytelling in indigenous cultures is sometimes passed on by oral means in a quiet and relaxing environment, which usually coincides with family or tribal community gatherings and official events such as family occasions, rituals, or ceremonial practices. During

6480-454: Is repetition, as evidenced in Western folklore with the " rule of three ": Three brothers set out, three attempts are made, three riddles are asked. A theme can be as simple as a specific set sequence describing the arming of a hero , starting with shirt and trousers and ending with headdress and weapons. A theme can be large enough to be a plot component. For example: a hero proposes a journey to

6624-584: Is true. Folklorists sometimes divide oral tales into two main groups: Märchen and Sagen . These are German terms for which there are no exact English equivalents, however we have approximations: Märchen , loosely translated as " fairy tale (s)" or little stories, take place in a kind of separate "once-upon-a-time" world of nowhere-in-particular, at an indeterminate time in the past. They are clearly not intended to be understood as true. The stories are full of clearly defined incidents, and peopled by rather flat characters with little or no interior life. When

6768-475: The Arabian Nights ), cluster around mythic heroes (like King Arthur ), and develop into the narratives of the deeds of the gods and saints of various religions . The results can be episodic (like the stories about Anansi ), epic (as with Homeric tales), inspirational (note the tradition of vitae ) and/or instructive (as in many Buddhist or Christian scriptures ). With the advent of writing and

6912-639: The Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn. On October 4, 2017, the court rejected WBAI's pleadings as ill-founded and granted the Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) a summary judgment, in the amount of $ 1.8m plus attorney's fees, for the monies due through the initial filing date of late 2016. ESRT was awarded with an additional $ 600k for the lease through the date of the court's ruling, with obligations of approximately $ 50k+ per month through lease expiration in 2020 also remaining in place. A further settlement

7056-954: The Naropa Institute in Colorado was presented by Ruas, and for many years the station covered the annual New Year's Eve celebratory poetry marathon at St. Mark's Church. The day the Vietnam War ended, poet Muriel Rukeyser came to the station to read her poem on peace. Ruas inaugurated the Audio Experimental Theater, a series presenting the works of avant-garde artists: Meredith Monk , Yvonne Rainer , Ed Bowes , Ed Friedman , Michael Newman with Joan Schwartz and Benjamin Folkman , Vito Acconci , Charles Ludlum , Jacques Levy , Willoughby Sharp , John Cage , Robert Wilson , Philip Glass , Richard Foreman , and Joan Jonas . In drama,

7200-532: The Odawa Tribe , young boys are often told the story of a young man who never took care of his body, and as a result, his feet fail to run when he tries to escape predators. This story serves as an indirect means of encouraging the young boys to take care of their bodies. Narratives can be shared to express the values or morals among family, relatives, or people who are considered part of the close-knit community. Many stories in indigenous American communities all have

7344-632: The South Side of Chicago . He briefly lived in East Chicago, Indiana , but was raised in Hammond, Indiana , where he graduated from Hammond High School , in 1939. A Christmas Story is loosely based on his days growing up in Hammond's southeast neighborhood of Hessville . 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

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7488-569: The 1930s, and the texts of epics such as the Odyssey . Lord found that a large part of the stories consisted of text which was improvised during the telling process. Lord identified two types of story vocabulary. The first he called "formulas": " Rosy-fingered Dawn ", " the wine-dark sea " and other specific set phrases had long been known of in Homer and other oral epics. Lord, however, discovered that across many story traditions, fully 90% of an oral epic

7632-463: The 1970 reprint of the 1929 Johnson Smith Catalogue . When Eugene B. Bergmann's Excelsior, You Fathead! The Art and Enigma of Jean Shepherd was published in 2005, Publishers Weekly reviewed: This prismatic portrait affirms Shepherd's position as one of the 20th century's great humorists. Railing against conformity, he forged a unique personal bond with his loyal listeners, who participated in his legendary literary prank by asking bookstores for

7776-416: The 99.5 frequency in 1947. In 1955, after two years off the air, it was reborn as WBAI (after then-owners Broadcast Associates, Inc.). WBAI was purchased by philanthropist Louis Schweitzer , who donated it to the Pacifica Foundation in 1960. The station, which had been a commercial enterprise, became non-commercial and listener-supported under Pacifica ownership. The history of WBAI during this period

7920-538: The Bayreuth Festival the year before, and produced live studio performances of emerging artists in its studios. Interviews with prominent figures in literature and the arts, as well as original dramatic productions and radio adaptations were also regular program offerings. In 1970, Kathy Dobkin, Milton Hoffman, and Francie Camper produced an unprecedented, critically acclaimed 4 1 ⁄ 2 day round-the-clock reading of Tolstoy's War And Peace . The epic novel

8064-519: The Bedroom , and A Fistful of Fig Newtons . Some of those situations were incorporated into his movies and television fictional stories. He also wrote a column for the early Village Voice , a column for Car and Driver , numerous individual articles for diverse publications, including Mad Magazine ("The Night People vs. Creeping Meatballism", March/April 1957), and introductions for books such as The America of George Ade , American Snapshots , and

8208-614: The Parker family. These included The Phantom of the Open Hearth (1976), which aired as part of the anthology series Visions ; The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters (1982) and The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski (1985), both as part of the anthology series American Playhouse ; and Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss (1988), a co-production with The Disney Channel . All were narrated by Shepherd, but otherwise featured different casts. Once Shepherd noticed

8352-753: The Perpetuation and Preservation of Storytelling (NAPPS), now the National Storytelling Network (NSN) and the International Storytelling Center (ISC). NSN is a professional organization that helps to organize resources for tellers and festival planners. The ISC runs the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN . Australia followed their American counterparts with the establishment of storytelling guilds in

8496-550: The Saturday night Free Music Store program, he was as interested in performance as dedicated to music. He oversaw Meredith Monk 's performance of Quarry , as well as producing Broadway actress Marian Seldes in Portrait of an Unknown Lady: Eleanor Wylie . He produced Performing Poets in Support of WBAI with the country's most notable poets. His best known production was an evening with

8640-529: The TRO. In Manhattan Supreme Court, Judge Melissa Crane ordered Pacifica to return control of the station back to WBAI. She upheld the October 20, 2019, board vote to annul the decision to shutter WBAI. A lawyer for Pacifica, Kara Steger, said that the company planned to appeal the ruling. WBAI resumed local programming on November 7. In April 2024, WBAI announced it had again fallen into arrears on tower rental and that

8784-619: The UK proposes that the social space created preceding oral storytelling in schools may trigger sharing (Parfitt, 2014). Storytelling has also been studied as a way to investigate and archive cultural knowledge and values within indigenous American communities. Iseke's study (2013) on the role of storytelling in the Metis community, showed promise in furthering research about the Metis and their shared communal atmosphere during storytelling events. Iseke focused on

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8928-564: The Unknown with Jazz Music , featured his short comments interspersed with jazz pieces composed by Mitch Leigh and Art Harris. Shepherd improvised spoken-word narration for the title track on jazz musician Charles Mingus 's 1957 album The Clown . Mingus was a fan of Shepherd's radio show and outlined a concept for Shepherd but encouraged him to elaborate and improvise. Eight record albums of live and studio performances of Shepherd's were released between 1955 and 1975. In 1993, Shepherd recorded

9072-467: The Vietnam war included the ongoing body count and innumerable anti-war protests. WBAI played a major role in the evolution and development of the counterculture of the 1960s and early 1970s. Arlo Guthrie 's " Alice's Restaurant " was first broadcast on Radio Unnameable , Bob Fass ' freeform radio program on WBAI, a program which itself in many ways created, explored, and defined the possibilities of

9216-458: The actions of good or mischievous stock characters while also allowing room for children to make meaning for themselves. By not being given every element of the story, children rely on their own experiences and not formal teaching from adults to fill in the gaps. When children listen to stories, they periodically vocalize their ongoing attention and accept the extended turn of the storyteller. The emphasis on attentiveness to surrounding events and

9360-583: The actors to age out of their roles) featuring an almost entirely different cast from the previous film. On Saturday nights for several years, Shepherd broadcast his WOR radio program live from the Limelight Café in New York City's Greenwich Village , and he also performed at many colleges nationwide. His live shows were a perennial favorite at Rutgers to wildly enthusiastic standing-room-only crowds, and Fairleigh Dickinson Universities (he often referred to

9504-480: The air," effective Monday. She corrected that and announced the final number was 19 out of the station's 29 employees, about 66%. Andrew Phillips, the former general manager of another of Pacifica's five stations, KPFA in Berkeley, California , was appointed WBAI's interim program director. The New York Times reported that the station owed $ 2 million in broadcast fees to Democracy Now! alone, while cash on hand

9648-483: The amount of money he was making from reruns of A Christmas Story (which was slowly becoming a television tradition), he abandoned television; in 1994, A Christmas Story director Bob Clark and he returned to the same working-class Cleveland street neighborhood to film a sequel, It Runs in the Family (later known as My Summer Story ), released by MGM in 1994 and (because the 11-year span between films caused almost all

9792-541: The art form or other targeted applications of storytelling. Elements of the oral storytelling art form often include the tellers encouragement to have participants co-create an experience by connecting to relatable elements of the story and using techniques of visualization (the seeing of images in the mind's eye), and use vocal and bodily gestures to support understanding. In many ways, the art of storytelling draws upon other art forms such as acting , oral interpretation and Performance Studies . In 1903, Richard Wyche,

9936-409: The arts had weekly coverage. Courtney Callender's Getting Around covered the cultural scene. Moira Hodgson was the dance critic. The visual arts critics were John Perreault , Cindy Nemser , Liza Baer , Joe Giordano, Judith Vivell, Kenneth Koch , and Les Levine . Ruas invited poet Susan Howe and CCNY Literature professor Paul Oppenheimer to produce a weekly poetry program. Howe produced

10080-567: The behavior. Parents in the Arizona Tewa community, for example, teach morals to their children through traditional narratives. Lessons focus on several topics including historical or "sacred" stories or more domestic disputes. Through storytelling, the Tewa community emphasizes the traditional wisdom of the ancestors and the importance of collective as well as individual identities. Indigenous communities teach children valuable skills and morals through

10224-450: The book from their distributors. 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 . Shepherd, Theodore Sturgeon , and Betty Ballantine wrote the long-awaited book, with a cover designed by illustrator Frank Kelly Freas , published by Ballantine Books . When he was about to be released by WOR in 1956 for lack of sponsors, he did

10368-411: The children the cultural ways, along with history, community values and teachings of the land. Children in indigenous communities can also learn from the underlying message of a story. For example, in a nahuatl community near Mexico City , stories about ahuaques or hostile water dwelling spirits that guard over the bodies of water, contain morals about respecting the environment. If the protagonist of

10512-424: The context of entertainment, where the narration progresses as a sequence of patterns impressive in quality ... and is part of a thoughtful progress". Some approaches treat narratives as politically motivated stories, stories empowering certain groups and stories giving people agency. Instead of just searching for the main point of the narrative, the political function is demanded through asking, "Whose interest does

10656-482: The current reality, but with different settings and beings such as werewolves, aliens, daemons, or hidden societies. These oral-based role-playing games were very popular in the 1990s among circles of youth in many countries before computer and console-based online MMORPG's took their place. Despite the prevalence of computer-based MMORPGs, the dice-and-paper RPG still has a dedicated following. Oral traditions of storytelling are found in several civilizations; they predate

10800-476: The early 90s and in 1994, and was hired again as WBAI's Program Director. During his five-year tenure, WBAI achieved significant progress in listenership and fundraising. Marksman founded Democracy Now! in 1996, the award-winning program now helmed by Amy Goodman. Marksman was deeply-connected to the Caribbean and African diaspora. His own program, "Behind The News", focused on international and national issues from

10944-429: The earth. In this way, children learn to value their place in the world as a person in relation to others. Typically, stories are used as an informal learning tool in Indigenous American communities, and can act as an alternative method for reprimanding children's bad behavior. In this way, stories are non-confrontational, which allows the child to discover for themselves what they did wrong and what they can do to adjust

11088-432: The engineer to watch and listen to his stories. That left little time to load the turntables and cue the appropriate cuts. That was when he started complaining about "too many commercials". His last WOR broadcast was on April 1, 1977. 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 final radio gig

11232-443: The environment and the non-playing fictional characters, and moves the story elements along for the players as they interact with the storyteller. The game is advanced by mainly verbal interactions, with a dice roll determining random events in the fictional universe, where the players interact with each other and the storyteller. This type of game has many genres, such as sci-fi and fantasy, as well as alternate-reality worlds based on

11376-429: The events in 1977, the station began a shift to a more profound international direction. In 1980, Caribbean immigrant and Marxist activist Samori Marksman was hired as WBAI Program Director and with his ascension, there was more of a focus on international issues and the promotion of people of color to the WBAI staff which caused grumbling among long time white and Jewish progressives who felt they were being pushed out of

11520-546: The events of Hurricane Sandy . The Manhattan offices saw flooding reach the second floor, trapping seven staffers inside, and the telephone systems being disabled. The devastation by Sandy occurred in the midst of fundraising efforts, which ultimately prevented WBAI from acquiring the necessary funds to remain operational. As a result of funding and operational difficulties, WBAI announced in 2013 it would be moving out of those studios to temporary studios of WHCR-FM located in Harlem ,

11664-568: The following year, before returning to WSAI in 1949. 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 . After a stint on television there, he returned to radio. "Shep," as he was known, settled in at WOR radio New York City on February 26, 1955, where he would remain until spring 1977. Beginning on an overnight slot in 1956, he delighted his fans by telling stories, reading poetry (especially

11808-877: The form. The station covered the 1968 seizure of the Columbia University campus live and uninterrupted. With its signal reaching nearly 70 miles beyond New York City, its reach and influence, both direct and indirect, were significant. Among the station's weekly commentators in the 1960s were author Ayn Rand , British politician/playwright Sir Stephen King-Hall , and author Dennis Wholey . The 1964 Political conventions were "covered" satirically on WBAI by Severn Darden , Elaine May , Burns and Schreiber, David Amram , Julie Harris , Taylor Mead , and members of The Second City improvisational group. The station, under Music Directors John Corigliano , Ann McMillan and, later Eric Salzman , aired an annual 23-hour nonstop presentation of Richard Wagner 's Ring Cycle, as recorded at

11952-468: The foundation of the community. Storytelling is used as a bridge for knowledge and understanding allowing the values of "self" and "community" to connect and be learned as a whole. Storytelling in the Navajo community for example allows for community values to be learned at different times and places for different learners. Stories are told from the perspective of other people, animals, or the natural elements of

12096-414: The gender of the narrator and what story they are sharing, the performance of the narrative and the audience listening to it is where the power lies. Therapeutic storytelling is the act of telling one's story in an attempt to better understand oneself or one's situation. Oftentimes, these stories affect the audience in a therapeutic sense as well, helping them to view situations similar to their own through

12240-547: The given story. Therefore, children in the Quechua community are encouraged to listen to the story that is being told in order to learn about their identity and culture. Sometimes, children are expected to sit quietly and listen actively. This enables them to engage in activities as independent learners. This teaching practice of storytelling allowed children to formulate ideas based on their own experiences and perspectives. In Navajo communities, for children and adults, storytelling

12384-412: The idea of witnessing a storyteller as a vital way to share and partake in the Metis community, as members of the community would stop everything else they were doing in order to listen or "witness" the storyteller and allow the story to become a "ceremonial landscape", or shared reference, for everyone present. This was a powerful tool for the community to engage and teach new learner shared references for

12528-556: The importance of oral tradition in indigenous communities teaches children the skill of keen attention. For example, Children of the Tohono O'odham American Indian community who engaged in more cultural practices were able to recall the events in a verbally presented story better than those who did not engage in cultural practices. Body movements and gestures help to communicate values and keep stories alive for future generations. Elders, parents and grandparents are typically involved in teaching

12672-800: The increasing popularity of written and televised media in much of the world. Modern storytelling has a broad purview. In addition to its traditional forms ( fairytales , folktales , mythology , legends , fables etc.), it has extended itself to representing history, personal narrative, political commentary and evolving cultural norms. Contemporary storytelling is also widely used to address educational objectives. New forms of media are creating new ways for people to record, express and consume stories. Tools for asynchronous group communication can provide an environment for individuals to reframe or recast individual stories into group stories. Games and other digital platforms, such as those used in interactive fiction or interactive storytelling , may be used to position

12816-460: The late 1970s. Australian storytelling today has individuals and groups across the country who meet to share their stories. The UK's Society for Storytelling was founded in 1993, bringing together tellers and listeners, and each year since 2000 has run a National Storytelling Week the first week of February. WBAI WBAI (99.5 FM ) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York . Its programming

12960-419: The latter as "Fairly Ridiculous University" on his WOR show). He performed at Princeton University for over 30 years, beginning in 1956 until 1996, three years before his death. He performed before sold-out audiences at Carnegie Hall and Town Hall. He was also emcee for several important jazz concerts in the late 1950s. Shepherd's first known recording, the 1955 Abbott Records album Jean Shepherd... Into

13104-515: The narrative". These gaps may occur due to a repression of the trauma or even just a want to keep the most gruesome details private. Regardless, these silences are not as empty as they appear, and it is only this act of storytelling that can enable the teller to fill them back in. Psychodrama uses re-enactment of a personal, traumatic event in the life of a psychodrama group participant as a therapeutic methodology, first developed by psychiatrist, J.L. Moreno , M.D. This therapeutic use of storytelling

13248-464: The nonexistent novel I, Libertine (when publisher Ian Ballantine had Shepherd, author Theodore Sturgeon, and illustrator Frank Kelly Freas make the fake real, PW called it "the hoax that became a book"). Storyteller Shepherd's grand theme was life itself ... Novelist Bergmann ( Rio Amazonas ) interviewed 32 people who knew Shepherd or were influenced by him and listened to hundreds of broadcast tapes, inserting transcripts of Shepherd's own words into

13392-573: The opening narration and the voice of the Audio-Animatronics "Father" character for the updated Carousel of Progress attraction at Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom . On some of his broadcasts, he played parts of recordings of such novelty songs as " The Bear Missed the Train " (a parody of the Yiddish ballad " Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen ") and " The Sheik of Araby ". Sometimes, Shepherd would accompany

13536-616: The outdated and filthy studios at 505 Eighth Avenue in New York, WBAI moved to new studios at 120 Wall Street in the Financial District in Manhattan in June 1998. After the death of Marksman, there was profound uncertainty and an explosion of pent-up feelings and resentments that was suppressed by Marksman and Mario Murillo, the Public Affairs director. Utrice Leid, a popular Caribbean radio host and producer had expected to succeed Marksman but

13680-526: The owner of 4 Times Square was threatening to remove WBAI "at any time" unless the station paid the $ 150,000 in debt it owed to the building. WBAI, which stated that such a move would mean "the end of WBAI" (a statement the general manager insisted was "not hyperbole") immediately launched a pledge drive hoping to raise the funds. Later that month, Pacifica agreed to a consent decree with the FCC over its pledge drive content containing unlawful calls to action, accepting

13824-480: The past and what changes they want to see in the future. They notice that storytelling makes an impact on the lives of the children of the Navajos. According to some of the Navajos that were interviewed, storytelling is one of many main practices that teaches children the important principles to live a good life. In indigenous communities, stories are a way to pass knowledge on from generation to generation. For some indigenous people, experience has no separation between

13968-576: The performing poets Ed Friedman , Helen Adam and Patti Smith , who performed her first concert. During those years, WBAI became a cultural force as these programs were disseminated nationally through the Pacifica Network. In 1977, there was a major internal crisis at WBAI which resulted in the loss of the physical space of the station. WBAI was located in a former church on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. For many years, WBAI had believed it

14112-441: The physical world and the spiritual world. Thus, some indigenous people communicate to their children through ritual, storytelling, or dialogue. Community values, learned through storytelling, help to guide future generations and aid in identity formation. In the Quechua community of Highland Peru, there is no separation between adults and children. This allows for children to learn storytelling through their own interpretations of

14256-471: The power of the government over broadcast material it calls indecent. Mickey Waldman and Joe Cuomo covered much of the legal proceedings during this time. In 1974, WBAI program director Marnie Mueller asked Charles Ruas to become director of arts programming. Thus the station, already at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement, the counterculture and anti-war protest, under Ruas also became

14400-539: The printed and online press. Storytelling was used to explain natural phenomena, bards told stories of creation and developed a pantheon of gods and myths. Oral stories passed from one generation to the next and storytellers were regarded as healers, leaders, spiritual guides, teachers, cultural secrets keepers and entertainers. Oral storytelling came in various forms including songs, poetry, chants and dance. Albert Bates Lord examined oral narratives from field transcripts of Yugoslav oral bards collected by Milman Parry in

14544-605: The recordings by playing the Jew's harp , nose flute , or kazoo , and occasionally even by thumping his knuckles on his head. The theme song of his show was "Bahn Frei!" by Eduard Strauss . The particular version Shepherd used was a recording by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops , with arrangement by Peter Bodge, released in April 1946 by RCA Victor-Red Seal. This arrangement recast the 19th-century polka from one relating to travel by train to

14688-441: The rougher edges of existing shows. During his tenure, several producers received accolades for their efforts, including Robert Knight, who won a Polk Award for his show "Contragate", and future program director and Station Manager Valerie Van Isler, who won awards for her role in the film, The Panama Deception . Also, award-winning producer and host Amy Goodman began her career under Scagliotti. Samori Marksman returned to WBAI in

14832-503: The senses to bring one's heart and mind together. For instance, a way in which children learn about the metaphors significant for the society they live in, is by listening to their elders and participating in rituals where they respect one another. Stories in indigenous cultures encompass a variety of values . These values include an emphasis on individual responsibility, concern for the environment and communal welfare. Stories are based on values passed down by older generations to shape

14976-580: The show. In late 1960 and early 1961, he did a weekly television show, Inside Jean Shepherd , on WOR-TV (channel 9) in New York, but it did not last long. Between 1971 and 1994, Shepherd became a screenwriter of note, writing and producing numerous works for both television and cinema, all based on his originally spoken and written stories. He was the writer and narrator of the show Jean Shepherd's America , produced by Boston Public Television station WGBH for PBS , in which he visited various American locales, and interviewed local people of interest. He used

15120-573: The shutdown as illegal. A temporary injunction was granted the afternoon of October 8, 2019 ordering WBAI to resume operations and not dismantle the studio until an October 18 hearing, but by the time the injunction had been issued the studio had already been dismantled, preventing the staff from resuming local operations. An appeals court lifted most of the injunction October 10, only enjoining Pacifica from outright firing WBAI's employees. On Tuesday, October 15, 2019, WBAI's attorney, Arthur Schwartz, stated that Federal Judge Paul A. Engelmayer reactivated

15264-530: The station defended Tennessee Williams against his critics during the last years of his life by covering his Memoirs and broadcasting a production of Two-Character Play . Other dramatists whose works were featured included Jean-Claude van Itallie , Richard Scheckner , Andrei Serban , and Elizabeth Swados . Ruas initiated interview programs featuring nonfiction writers discussing their fields of expertise— Buckminster Fuller , Thor Heyerdahl , Ed Sanders , Jonathan Kozol and Nigel Nicholson . Each of

15408-399: The station broadcast comedian George Carlin 's iconic Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television monologue uncensored. WBAI's broadcast of Seven Words became a landmark moment in the history of free speech . In a 1978 milestone in the station's contentious and unruly history, WBAI lost a 5-to-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision ( FCC v. Pacifica Foundation ) that to this day has defined

15552-617: The station's signal on the air. WBAI began airing a national network feed known as "Pacifica Across America" - a curated collection of original content produced by Pacifica stations KPFA in Berkeley, California , KPFK in Los Angeles, KPFT in Houston and WPFW in Washington, D.C., among other sources (the post-shutdown WBAI schedule included commercial progressive talker Thom Hartmann and Native American free-form series Undercurrents , which

15696-488: The station's staff and management. On August 9, 2013, Pacifica management announced that due to financial problems, WBAI was laying off about two-thirds of its staff, effective August 12, 2013. The entire news department was laid off. Summer Reese, the interim executive director of the Pacifica Foundation, which owns WBAI, said that after talks with SAG-AFTRA , the union that represents broadcasting talent, "we will be laying off virtually everyone whose voice you recognize on

15840-461: The station. In 1983, Marksman abruptly left for the Caribbean island of Grenada to participate in a new government – a government that was thwarted by the US invasion of Grenada in October 1983. In 1986, gay activist John Scagliotti became program director. He initiated many program changes; still more long-time programmers left the station. Scagliotti tried to professionalize the programming and smooth out

15984-535: The stories are used to instruct and teach children about cultural values and lessons . The meaning within the stories is not always explicit, and children are expected to make their own meaning of the stories. In the Lakota Tribe of North America, for example, young girls are often told the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman , who is a spiritual figure that protects young girls from the whims of men. In

16128-493: The stories we read, the "neuro-semantic encoding of narratives happens at levels higher than individual semantic units and that this encoding is systematic across both individuals and languages." This encoding seems to appear most prominently in the default mode network. Storytelling in serious application contexts, as e.g. therapeutics, business, serious games, medicine, education, or faith can be referred to as serious storytelling. Serious storytelling applies storytelling "outside

16272-477: The story correspond to each unique situation. Indigenous cultures also use instructional ribbing — a playful form of correcting children's undesirable behavior— in their stories. For example, the Ojibwe (or Chippewa) tribe uses the tale of an owl snatching away misbehaving children. The caregiver will often say, "The owl will come and stick you in his ears if you don't stop crying!" Thus, this form of teasing serves as

16416-471: The story of that experience before realizing its value. In this case, it is not only the listener who learns, but the teller who also becomes aware of his or her own unique experiences and background. This process of storytelling is empowering as the teller effectively conveys ideas and, with practice, is able to demonstrate the potential of human accomplishment. Storytelling taps into existing knowledge and creates bridges both culturally and motivationally toward

16560-609: The supernatural intrudes (as it often does), it does so in an emotionally fraught manner. Ghost and Lovers' Leap stories belong in this category, as do many UFO stories and stories of supernatural beings and events. Another important examination of orality in human life is Walter J. Ong 's Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (1982). Ong studies the distinguishing characteristics of oral traditions, how oral and written cultures interact and condition one another, and how they ultimately influence human epistemology. Storytelling

16704-401: The supernatural occurs, it is presented matter-of-factly, without surprise. Indeed, there is very little effect, generally; bloodcurdling events may take place, but with little call for emotional response from the listener. Sagen , translated as " legends ", are supposed to have actually happened, very often at a particular time and place, and they draw much of their power from this fact. When

16848-414: The telling of the story, children may act as participants by asking questions, acting out the story, or telling smaller parts of the story. Furthermore, stories are not often told in the same manner twice, resulting in many variations of a single myth. This is because narrators may choose to insert new elements into old stories dependent upon the relationship between the storyteller and the audience, making

16992-479: The temporary restraining order (TRO), extending it to close of business on the 17th. On October 15, District Judge Engelmayer (Southern District of New York) extended the New York State Supreme Court's TRO from October 18 through the end of the next hearing, which was scheduled for Monday, October 21. Prior to the hearing, the parties were to submit briefs in support or opposition of the extension of

17136-492: The underlying knowledge in the story. Storytelling is used as a tool to teach children the importance of respect through the practice of listening. As well as connecting children with their environment, through the theme of the stories, and give them more autonomy by using repetitive statements, which improve their learning to learn competence. It is also used to teach children to have respect for all life, value inter-connectedness and always work to overcome adversity. To teach this

17280-595: The unity building theme of the message becomes more important than the time, place and characters of the message. Once the message is delivered, the story is finished. As cycles of the tale are told and retold, story units can recombine, showing various outcomes for a person's actions. Storytelling has been assessed for critical literacy skills and the learning of theatre-related terms by the nationally recognized storytelling and creative drama organization, Neighborhood Bridges, in Minneapolis . Another storyteller researcher in

17424-611: The use of stable, portable media , storytellers recorded, transcribed and continued to share stories over wide regions of the world. Stories have been carved, scratched, painted, printed or inked onto wood or bamboo, ivory and other bones, pottery , clay tablets, stone, palm-leaf books , skins (parchment), bark cloth , paper , silk, canvas and other textiles, recorded on film and stored electronically in digital form. Oral stories continue to be created, improvisationally by impromptu and professional storytellers, as well as committed to memory and passed from generation to generation, despite

17568-404: The user as a character within a bigger world. Documentaries , including interactive web documentaries , employ storytelling narrative techniques to communicate information about their topic. Self-revelatory stories, created for their cathartic and therapeutic effect, are growing in their use and application, as in psychodrama , drama therapy and playback theatre . Storytelling is also used as

17712-434: The values and ideologies of the Metis. Through storytelling, the Metis cemented the shared reference of personal or popular stories and folklore , which members of the community can use to share ideologies. In the future, Iseke noted that Metis elders wished for the stories being told to be used for further research into their culture, as stories were a traditional way to pass down vital knowledge to younger generations. For

17856-442: The vast incommunicable constructs of psychopaths. In contemporary life, people will seek to fill "story vacuums" with oral and written stories. "In the absence of a narrative, especially in an ambiguous and/or urgent situation, people will seek out and consume plausible stories like water in the desert. It is our innate nature to connect the dots. Once an explanatory narrative is adopted, it's extremely hard to undo," whether or not it

18000-460: The works of Robert W. Service ), and organizing comedic listener stunts. The most famous stunt was a hoax he created about a nonexistent book, I, Libertine , by a fake author "Frederick R. Ewing," in 1956. 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

18144-555: The works of Barbara Holland, Ivan Arguelles, Ann Darr, Richard Howard, Karen Swenson, James Emanuel, Siv Cedering Fox, Nelson Canton, Victoria Sullivan, Samuel Menashe, Carol Hebald, Paul Zweig, Gregor Roy and Mary Jane Menuez. He also produced specials on the aesthetics of 20th century poets and the history of the sonnet with contemporary American examples. From 1976 to 1979, poet John Giorno hosted The Poetry Experiment and presented, with Charles Ruas , his eight-part series Dial-A-Poem Poets . When Ira Weitzman became Director of

18288-617: The world. One striking program recounted his participation in the March on Washington in August 1963, during which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his " I Have a Dream " speech, and another program that aired on November 25, 1963, covered the burial of assassinated President John F. Kennedy . Throughout his radio career, he performed without scripts. His friend and WOR colleague Barry Farber marveled at how he could talk so long with so few notes. During

18432-587: Was a cashier at the Borden Milk Company . Shepherd always referred to him as "the old man". During an interview on the Long John Nebel Show — an all-night radio program that ran on WOR starting at midnight — Shepherd once claimed that his real father was a cartoonist along the lines of Herblock , and that he inherited his skills at line drawings. This may well have not been true, but Shepherd's ink drawings do adorn some of his published writings, and

18576-445: Was an influence on Bill Griffith 's Zippy comic strip, as Griffith noted in his strip for January 9, 2000. Griffith explained, "The inspiration—just plucking random memories from my childhood, as I'm wont to do in my Sunday strip (also a way to expand beyond Zippy)—and Shep was a big part of them". In an interview with New York magazine, Steely Dan 's Donald Fagen says that the eponymous figure from his solo album The Nightfly

18720-518: Was announced on April 6, 2018, releasing WBAI from the court judgment and its obligation to continuing leasing the Empire State tower into 2020. They began broadcasting from 4 Times Square on May 31, 2018. A bailout loan from listeners of sister station KPFK eventually covered the remaining fees on the lease. On Monday, October 7, 2019, the Pacifica Foundation announced they were shutting down WBAI's local operations, leaving only two workers to keep

18864-670: Was based on Jean Shepherd. Fagen devoted a chapter of his autobiography, Eminent Hipsters , to Shepherd. Though he primarily spent his radio career playing music, New York Top-40 DJ Dan Ingram has acknowledged Shepherd's style as an influence. An article he wrote for the March–April 1957 issue of MAD , "The Night People vs Creeping Meatballism", described the differences between what he considered to be "day people" (conformists) and "night people" (nonconformists). The opening credits of John Cassavetes ' 1959 film Shadows include "Presented by Jean Shepherd's Night People". In 2005, Shepherd

19008-476: Was blamed for the early death of Marksman. In 1994, Van Isler initially refused to hire Marksman, claiming Marksman had a mediocre credit report, then, later in his tenure, refused to give him a salary increase. The autocratic and unpopular Van Isler also vigorously fought former staffers from obtaining unemployment benefits, including Bill Wells, the former WBAI Chief Engineer, who had a disability. In late 2012, WBAI suffered extensive damage to its offices following

19152-612: Was denied the post by then-general manager Valerie Van Isler. This led to an intense battle between various factions inside and outside the station and with The Pacifica Foundation, the non-profit parent company of WBAI. The culmination of this conflict was the "Christmas Coup" in December 2000 when a faction, led by Leid, padlocked the station and took control of the airwaves, starting an on-air and off-air war that lasted for several years. Some senior WBAI staffers, including general manager Van Isler, were fired immediately. Van Isler, in particular,

19296-432: Was described by Reynolds Price , when he wrote: A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species Homo sapiens  – second in necessity apparently after nourishment and before love and shelter. Millions survive without love or home, almost none in silence; the opposite of silence leads quickly to narrative, and the sound of story is the dominant sound of our lives, from the small accounts of our day's events to

19440-615: Was even younger. He sporadically attended Indiana University , but never graduated. During World War II , he served stateside in the U.S. Army Signal Corps . Shepherd then had an extensive career in a variety of media. After 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. He began working in Cincinnati, Ohio, in January 1947 at WSAI , later also working at Cincinnati stations WCKY and WKRC

19584-578: Was exempt from New York City real estate taxes as an "educational" institution, but in March 1977 the City Tax Commission denied that status and WBAI eventually sold the church (which it owned) to pay the back taxes. WBAI signed a new lease for the 19th floor (the former Caedmon Records office/studio) plus one office on another floor of an office building at 505 8th Avenue on the West Side of Manhattan. After

19728-485: Was incorporated into Drama Therapy , known in the field as "Self Revelatory Theater". In 1975 Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas developed a therapeutic, improvisational storytelling form they called Playback Theatre . Therapeutic storytelling is also used to promote healing through transformative arts , where a facilitator helps a participant write and often present their personal story to an audience. The art of narrative is, by definition, an aesthetic enterprise, and there are

19872-815: Was just $ 23,000. In March 2014, there were assorted rumors that the station would be sold or leased or moved, in whole or in part (including their equipment and antenna at the Empire State Building ), after contentions and firings both at WBAI and at Pacifica headquarters. On December 17, 2014, the California State Attorney General opened a full and formal investigation into the Pacifica Radio Foundation, owner of WBAI, with respect to its alleged irregularities as to its finances, violations of California law with respect to nonprofit organizations, and violations of its own bylaws. In 2015, WBAI moved to new studios and offices at 388 Atlantic Avenue in

20016-423: Was married four times. He was briefly married in 1947 to Barbara Mattoon in Hammond. Shepherd had two children, a son Randall and daughter Adrian, with his second wife, the former Joan Laverne Warner. Randall has said that Mr. Shepherd left his mother shortly before they divorced in 1957. His third wife was actress Lois Nettleton . In 1984, he moved to Sanibel Island , Florida, with his wife Leigh Brown. He died in

20160-576: Was posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame , and in November 2013, he was posthumously inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame. Storytelling Storytelling, intertwined with the development of mythologies , predates writing. The earliest forms of storytelling were usually oral , combined with gestures and expressions. Storytelling often has

20304-505: Was read cover to cover by more than 200 people—including a large number of international celebrities from various fields. Newsweek called this broadcast "one of the more mind-blowing 'firsts' in the history of the media". The complete reading (over 200 audio tapes) was the first Pacifica program to be selected for inclusion in the permanent collection of the Museum of Broadcasting in NYC. In 1973,

20448-507: Was recommended to replace the resigning Steve Allen on NBC's Tonight Show . Shepherd was reportedly brought to New York City by NBC executives to prepare for the position, but they were contractually bound to first offer it to Jack Paar . The network was certain Paar would hold out for a role in prime time, but he accepted the late-night assignment. However, he did not assume the position permanently until Shepherd and Ernie Kovacs had co-hosted

20592-730: Was synchronized to many New Jersey and New York local town fireworks displays, which would typically reach their climax at 10 pm. It was possible, on one of those July 4 nights, to park one's car on a hilltop and watch several different pyrotechnic displays, accompanied by Shepherd's storytelling. Shepherd wrote a series of humorous short stories about growing up in northwest Indiana and its steel towns, many of which were first told by him on his programs and then published in Playboy . The stories were later assembled into books titled In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash , Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories: And Other Disasters , The Ferrari in

20736-519: 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. The show was one of WBAI's most popular of the period. 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

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