(CLICK TIME COUNTERS TO ADVANCE AUDIO)

HAPPY HOLIDAY (12-25-1971) Schaden hosts a special two-hour program of holiday music and memories broadcast on Christmas morning from station WLTD, Evanston. Includes popular seasonal tunes, comedy recordings and personal Christmas nostalgia. (2 hours)

Part 1 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

 

Part 2 11 a.m. to 12 Noon

WGN – 60 YEARS OF RADIO (6-30-1984) From WGN’s Pierre Andre Studio and “an abandoned master control room,” Chuck Schaden presents a special program commemorating the 60th anniversary of the legendary Chicago radio station. This informal “documentary” includes comments from WGN veterans Quin Ryan, who was the station’s first staff announcer; Henry Selinger, who became the station’s first musical director and later program director; and early musician Leon Lichtenfeld. Featured clips of local and Mutual programs carried on the station, include Captain Midnight, Lone Ranger, The Shadow, Franklin MacCormack, Jack Armstrong, Chicago Theatre of the Air. Also memories of detective and audience participation shows plus a band remote from Chicago’s Blackhawk Restaurant with announcer Jack Brickhouse. The special program is preceded by five minutes of WGN News with Marty McNeeley.

WGN Radio, 6:30 p.m. to 8:35 p.m.

THE WEEK THAT WAS (1972) Schaden takes listeners through a week from the mid-1940s with an abundance of the sounds that were heard each day of the week. Filled with personal memories and clips from the Golden Age, this presentation was prepared for United Airlines as an in-flight audio choice.

1 Introduction (30 seconds)

 

2 Remember Sunday? (7 minutes)

 

3 Remember Monday? (7 minutes)

 

4 Remember Tuesday? (6 minutes)

 

5 Remember Wednesday? (3 minutes)

 

6 Remember Thursday? (5 minutes)

 

7 Remember Friday? (3 minutes)

 

8 Remember Saturday? (10 minutes)

HECTOR Q. PEABODY SHOW (1954) Dan McGuire and Chuck Schaden produced and hosted this 13-part series for broadcast on station WLEY, Elmwood Park and offered to stations around the country. The idea was that the program starred Hector Q. Peabody, but he never showed up in time to do the broadcast, so McGuire and Schaden had to come up with something at the last minute. Dan and Chuck were life-long boyhood pals who idolized Bob and Ray, Bob Arbogast and Stan Freberg, which is very much in evidence in this series. Don’t miss it if you can! (Each program runs about 26 minutes, with the final show running 54 minutes)

Program 1 Madison Square, Painter

 

Program 2 “Shamrock Bones”

 

Program 3 “Buck Corbett, Space Academy Senior”

 

Program 4 Schaden and McGuire Contest

 

Program 5 Bank Robbers School of America

 

Program 6 “Make A Round Circle”

 

Program 7 Live Fire Drill Report

 

Program 8 Snipe Farm Offer

 

Program 9 “May I” Game

 

Program 10 “The Brown Family”

 

Program 11 “Truth or Your Life”

 

Program 12 Shamrock Bones’ “Case of the Missing Monkey”

 

Program 13 Final show: “What’s My Wine?” Cosmo Collins

CHUCK SCHADEN’S HALL CLOSET (11-27-72) Chuck Schaden produced and hosted this daily morning broadcast on station WLTD, Evanston. Old-time radio and comedy records were played from 7 to 10 a.m. Aired from 11-27-72 to 2-24-75. To purchase download copies of our Hall Closet rebroadcasts, visit Hall Closet rebroadcasts.

 

Program 1 First Daily Show

WBBM RADIO CLASSICS (9-13-1987) “Commercials.” Chuck Schaden with a Sunday Nostalgia Night broadcast. Guests are Bruce DuMont, president of the Museum of Broadcast Communications, and Hooper White, advertising consultant and producer of radio and television commercials. In conjunction with an exhibit and events at the broadcast museum in Chicago, this program features vintage commercials, how they were produced and who produced them. Plus behind-the-scenes stories and fond memories. (2 hours)

 

WBBM Chicago, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

WBBM RADIO CLASSICS (7-26-1987) Chuck Schaden with a Sunday Nostalgia Night program featuring special guest Tommy Bartlett, legendary radio announcer, host and entrepreneur. Mr. Bartlett, whose career included a long-running stint as a staff announcer at WBBM, talks about his days in radio. Program features two complete broadcasts from Mr. Bartlett’s personal collection: “The Tommy Bartlett Show” from March 6, 1947 and “Welcome Travelers” from April 12, 1953. Plus listener calls and comments. (2 hours)

 

WBBM Chicago, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

CELEBRITY TIME (6-29-1970) Host Del Clark with guests Chuck Schaden, newspaper editor and old-time radio fan, and Dorothy Jordan, actress. They talk about the vintage radio days in this remote broadcast from Jimmy Wong’s North Restaurant at Lincoln and Peterson Avenues. This program, billed as “Chicagoland’s longest-running live remote talk show” was one of the first radio broadcasts on which Schaden appeared as a guest after beginning his Those Were The Days series. (60 minutes)

 

WRSV-FM, Skokie, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

CROMIE CIRCLE (7-17-1970) Audio excerpt from the late-night television panel show hosted by Robert Cromie, columnist, book editor and radio-TV host. Guests speaking about the golden age of radio are radio actors Paul Barnes (Captain Midnight), John Gannon and Sarajane Wells (Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy) and Norman Gottschalk plus Chuck Schaden, host of the new radio series, Those Were The Days. Lots of informal conversation and memories of Chicago broadcasting history. (46 minutes)

 

WGN-TV Chicago, following the late movie and news

KENNEDY AND COMPANY (7-31-1970) Audio excerpt from the early morning television talk and variety program hosted by Bob Kennedy with Jenny Crimm. This segment features a look into the good old days of radio with guest collector and radio host Chuck Schaden (Those Were The Days), actress Shirley Bell Cole (Little Orphan Annie), and actors Paul Barnes (Captain Midnight) and Harry Elders (Curtain Time). Includes a short news report at the top of the program. (30 minutes)

 

WLS-TV Chicago, 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATRE RE-CREATION (11-14-1992) Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Suicide Club”, written for radio by George Lowthar, was originally broadcast on May 7, 1974 and was presented as a benefit for the Radio Hall of Fame at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago. This “live” re-creation before an audience of 300 at the Chicago Cultural Center was produced and directed by Himan Brown and starred Les Tremayne with Ken Nordine as narrator and a distinguished cast of radio professionals including Jack Bivans, Jim Dolan, Sondra Gair, Curt Mitchell, Russ Reed and Dick Thorne. Chuck Schaden was Master of Ceremonies. (2 hours)

 

Part 1 Pre-show introduction with Himan Brown (29 minutes)
Part 2 “The Suicide Club” Re-creation (55 minutes)
Part 3 Post-program Q & A with cast (33 minutes)

EXTENSION 720 (11-28-2003) Host Milt Rosenberg invites guest Chuck Schaden to talk about his new book, “Speaking of Radio” and the good old days of broadcasting. Schaden presents excerpts from a number of his interviews with past radio stars and the programs on which they appeared. WGN, Chicago (105 minutes).

 

WGN, Chicago, Illinois

MILT ROSENBERG SHOW (7-24-2015) Chicago’s legendary radio host is joined by Chuck Schaden to talk about programs from the golden age of radio and listen to a number of clips from those shows. Broadcast live from WCGO, Evanston, Illinois, it’s the same studio and the same frequency (1590-AM) where Schaden started his Those Were The Days program in 1970 (when the station’s call letters were WNMP and were changed, shortly thereafter, to WLTD). (99 minutes)

 

WCGO, Evanston, Illinois

THE WAR IS OVER! (8-15-2015) Nearing the conclusion of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Newsman Ray Steele of WIBC, Indianapolis, Indiana interviews broadcast historian Chuck Schaden, who describes how Americans learned of the Japanese surrender via radio coverage in 1945. Introduced on Mr. Steele’s WIBC blog, this includes the interview as it was broadcast, complete with audio clips of WW II coverage. (43 minutes)  

 

WIBC, Indianapolis, Indiana