March 1 Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Feder reports:
As Chuck Schaden prepares to celebrate his 35th anniversary as host of Those Were the Days, he has no plans to step down any time soon from his weekly showcase for old-time radio. For that, his legion of fans can be grateful. …But one way that Schaden, 70, is edging toward semi-retirement is by giving up publication of his Nostalgia Digest and Radio Guide. Starting with the summer issue, he will turn over the role of editor and publisher to Steve Darnall, a longtime fan of Schaden’s show and a frequent contributor to the quarterly magazine.
March 5-26 TWTD presents “Mayberry Folks on Radio” featuring radio performances by supporting players from TV’s Andy Griffith Show. Ken Alexander hosts this month-long, four-week series, which is accompanied by a feature article in the winter, 2005 issue of Nostalgia Digest.
April 1 Chuck’s final issue as editor and publisher of Nostalgia Digest as he enters another “semi-retirement” phase of life.
April 27 TV appearance: Chicago Tonight WTTW Channel 11, Chicago. Host Bob Sirott with guest Chuck Schaden on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Chuck’s Those Were The Days radio program.
APRIL 30, 2005 A large-scale, “all-star” nostalgic production with memories, music and comedy marked the Thirty-fifth anniversary celebration of Those Were The Days, broadcast live on WDCB from the LaSalle Bank auditorium.
April 30 Thirty-fifth anniversary of Those Were The Days is a four-hour live remote broadcast from the LaSalle Bank (formerly North West Federal) auditorium on Irving Park Road in Chicago. Featured guests are the Steve Cooper Orchestra with a re-enactment of a Your Hit Parade broadcast from 1944 and a Tribute to Big Bands from Coast-to-Coast; the West End Jazz Band with a salute to the Coon-Sanders Nighthawks; a medley of nostalgic songs from the Skylarks Unlimited; a re-enactment of a scene from a Jack Benny program from 1953 featuring the Beverly Hills Beavers, portrayed by members of the Northlight Theatre Academy; and an Abbott and Costello “Who’s On First?” routine starring Larry Youngberg and Randy Larson; plus TWTD regulars, announcer Ken Alexander, big band historian Karl Pearson and movie historian Bob Kolososki.
May 7 As TWTD begins its 36th year, it has been on the air longer than two extremely long-running classic shows from radio’s Golden Age: Amos ‘n’ Andy (31 years); Breakfast Club (35 years).
May 9–16 TWTD sponsors a 35th anniversary listener trip with a Riverboat Adventure from New Orleans, Louisiana. Chuck and Ellen Schaden and the group board the American Queen in New Orleans for several days of luxurious “steam-boating” with meals and activities on the way to Natchez, Mississippi and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Upon returning to New Orleans there is sightseeing in and around the city, the French Quarter, a Jazz Brunch, and a visit to the National D-Day Museum.
July 1 The Summer Issue of Nostalgia Digest becomes Steve Darnall’s first issue of the magazine as editor and publisher. Schaden is honored by being named “Editor Emeritus.”
October 1 TWTD observes the 50th Anniversary of NBC’s long-running Monitor radio series.
December 31 With this TWTD broadcast, the program has been on the air for 35 years and 8 months, thereby outliving Don McNeill’s Breakfast Club, which had a radio run that lasted 35 years and 6 months.
