Studs Terkel On Air - WFMT-FM, Chicago
Pictured: Studs speaking with beat poets Gregory Corso, Allan Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky in a program originally broadcast in 1960.
WFMT-FM, Chicago | The Best of Studs TerkelBest of Studs will air on Saturday at 7:00 pm. Studs Terkel, 98.7WFMT's "Free Spirit" worked at this station from 1952 to 1997 and The Studs Terkel Program was broadcast daily. Terkel interviewed Chicagoans and national and international figures who helped shape the past century. The program included guests who were politicians, writers, activists, labor organizers, performing artists, and architects among others. Terkel is remarkable in the depth of his personal knowledge of the diverse subjects explored on his program and his ability to get others to talk about themselves and what they do best.
For access to select audio archives, visit The Chicago History Museum's online Studs Terkel Exhibit.
Louis "Studs" Terkel's rich life began on May 16, 1912 in New York City. He moved with his family to Chicago at age 10.
During Studs' teen years, his father Samuel and mother Anna ran a rooming house which attracted tenants from all walks of life. Studs noted that this early experience was one which sparked a life-long interest in the personal stories of diverse people.
Studs married Ida Goldberg in 1939. They had one son, Daniel.
Though he received a law degree from the University of Chicago, Studs never pursued a career in law. Instead, he joined the Works Progress Administration Federal Writer's Workshop, working in radio.
Studs' radio days took him from news to sports to soap operas...to presenting programs of recorded music. Studs' WFMT radio show The Studs Terkel Program was his best known. It ran from 1952 to 1997.
Studs is perhaps best known nationally for his 1970 book Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression. He won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for another oral history, The Good War.
Studs Terkel's love of all music from jazz to classical to folk and rock...his life as an author, a radio host, actor, activist and Chicago icon...will be celebrated all weekend on WFMT.
This episode of Studs Terkel's TV program is in RealVideo, but there's a YouTube one below the fold.
