Radio Pick: The Midnight Special

If not out partying on Saturday nights, I listen to or record my all time favorite radio program, "The Midnight Special", broadcast for 60 years now on WFMT, Chicago's Fine Arts Station (98.7 FM). Started and hosted by famed movie and theater director Mike Nichols, then a student at the University of Chicago in 1953, only 3 others have hosted TMS with current host Rich Warren holding forth since 1996. Its subtitle tells you all that's needed to begin enjoying its weekly 3 hour romp that ends at Midnight: "Folk music and farce; show tunes and satire; madness and escape". It's where, since becoming a fan ten years into its 60 year run when I started college, I was first introduced to folkies and comedy artists such as Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, Judy Collins, Joan Baez and countless others. Some of the show's more famous songs and comedy bits have been replayed numerous times during its long run. They reappear like old friends. The feature, "The Midnight Special" is the traditional prison song by Huddie Ledbetter (1888 - 1949) which the show is named for and which begins each broadcast.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu7gafphe9M