Chuck Schaden

[Maxwell]

I just read Friday that Chuck Schaden is retiring from radio broadcasting at the end of June after a run of 39 years on the air, which he will be celebrating, appropriately enough, on his May 2 "Those Were the Days" broadcast. As part of the celebration, Chuck is sponsoring and appearance of Eddie Carroll's show in Chicago the following day.

Chuck has been doing his TWTD broadcasts since 1972, starting on a small station in Evanston, IL, later moving to WNIB (a classical music station) until the station was sold, and finally moving to public radio station WDCB in Glen Ellyn Illinois, owned by College of Dupage. He also hosted a half-hour show on WBBM radio for years along with publishing a magazine Nostalgia Digest, which he has subsequently sold. He also was Stan Freberg's replacement on "When Radio Was," hosting that show for a year.

Chuck Schaden has been a Chicago institution and will be missed. Fortunately TWTD will remain on the air, hosted by Nostalgia Digest's publisher Steve Darnall.

Still Chuck's presence on the air will be missed. He is a member of the IJBFC and hosts "Jack Benny Month" every February.

The only connection I have with Chuck Schaden, other than being a huge fan (and I guess really getting me interested in OTR, is something that happened a few years ago. I read on his web site that he was featuring a big band broadcast, and one of the shows would be a remote broadcast of the Bob Crosby band from the '30s. I posted this on the Dixieland Jazz Mailing List, and the current leader of the Bob Crosby Bob Cats, Ed Metz, happened to read it. He contacted Chuck and sent him copies of a couple of their CDs which he then played during the Crosby segment of the show.

Every OTR fan should hear Chuck's show before he retires. You can listen live every Saturday from 1:00-5:00 p.m. CDT at http://www.wdcb.org. Click on "Listen Live." Replays of the previous week's broadcast can be heard at http://www.nostalgiadigest.com. Just click on the old-time radio image. The shows are posted on Tuesday following the Saturday broadcast.

[Mister Kitzel]

I remember picking up Chuck Schaden's show from Chicago radio station WBBM back in the 80's as I worked at my drawing board late at night. Sometimes I could pick it up and other times it would fade in and out. Those really were the days!

[thinkingitover]

I am also a big Chuck Schaden fan. Please see my post regarding the Eddie Carroll show under the "Jack Benny Today" subject category.