Earth, Wind & Fire‘s lyrics ask “Do you remember, The 21st night of September?” and, this Thursday, the morning after, we’ll remember that night and a lot more as we do the first of our two consecutive days filling in for John Williams (10AM-2PM, Central) on WGN Radio.
Among the pieces of our Thursday game plan are a conversation with Apalachicola, Florida, pilot John Bone, who just returned home from a two-and-a-half month stint flying supplies from Germany to the Ukrainian border.
We’ll also check in with our long-time, VERY talented friend, who just happens to be a 2-time Grammy award-winning pianist, diatonic harmonica player and composer, Howard Levy.
Howard Levy
We’ve got a lot more surprises planned, but if we told you they wouldn’t be surprises. So, you’ll just have to tune in to 720AM.
We hope you will.
But, don’t forget, if you’re not in the Chicago area, you can still listen by clicking this link to WGN Radio’s live stream.
Just a heads up that this coming Thursday & Friday, 9/22 & 9/23, John Williams is taking a couple of days off so, from 10AM-2PM (Central), we get to man (and woman) the controls on the main deck of the legendary Speed Joke Operations Center and share some pithy thoughts and other things with you on WGN Radio.
We’ll be posting updates to our game plan as soon as we get all the i’s crossed and t’s dotted.
Of course we hope you’ll tune in to 720 AM but, if you’re not in the Chicago area, you can still listen by clicking this link to WGN Radio’s live stream.
Rumor has it that August 20th is National Radio Day.
That started us talking about some of the radio stations we’ve worked at and got us looking up some old photos. A couple of stations from our respective resumes are missing because we couldn’t find photos, but we thought we’d share a few of the ones we did find from our adventures inside your speakers.
First, a couple of baby disc-jockey photos from our very early days.
Steve at WLTH, in Gary
Johnnie at WMRO, in Aurora
And then, a couple from our “FM (No Static at All)” days.
Steve at WNAP-FM, in Indianapolis and Johnnie at WAUR-FM, in Aurora
One more FM stop was on Steve’s journey before he segued over to the AM band.
We think you can probably guess who this next one is and what the station was.
The above survey photo was taken lying down on a median on Chicago’s Dan Ryan expressway, because the photographer liked the location and thought it would make for a cool photo.
And then there was WIND, where Him and Her first met and became HimNHer.
Her at WIND thanking Kevin for listening.
Him at WIND
And then, at WGN, the pairing of HimNHer on the air, as a duo, became a permanent thing.
HerNHim
And, as most of you know, while we no longer face the demands of a daily radio show, we still do the occasional “radio drive-by” at WGN and some other locations inside your speakers.
HimNHer at WKGC-FM, in Panama City, FL.
Looking back through our radio photo scrapbook on our 101 years combined experience hanging out inside your speakers, we can absolutely agree with The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, who once said, “What a long strange trip it’s been.”
Tuesday was an absolutely beautiful day driving in to downtown Chicago.
And when we got to WGN radio’s 18th floor studios, the view from there didn’t disappoint, either.
But, we did force ourselves to look away from the windows long enough to have some pretty interesting conversations with some pretty interesting people. Podcasts have now been posted and we thought they should be shared with the class, so we are.
On a day this beautiful, we wondered just how many more we might be treated to. So, of course, we turned to our long time friend, WGN-TV meteorologist Tom Skilling, for the answers. To hear what he had to say about that and a whole lot more, just click here.
Another long-time friend, Spike O’Dell joined us with news about how he’s donating one of his paintings to raise funds for charities including the Field of Big Dreams charity and Cubs Charities. You’ll find that conversation right here.
And we had a follow up conversation with “Chicago’s Picture Poet,” Barry Butler about helping to save the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse and how you can help. To listen in, just point your browser here.
Those are just some of the goodies from Tuesday’s adventures in your speakers but, if you’d like to hear the whole show, just take a listen right here.
Our Monday fill-in for Lisa Dent on WGN Radio covered a lot of territory. Here are some links to just a few of the places we went.
During the show, we got the sad news that we lost Olivia Newton-John. We contacted our friend Skip Griparis, who played guitar in Olivia’s band and he was nice enough to share some memories of his friend. To hear that conversation, just click on this link.
Skip & Olivia
We talked with Consumer Guide’s Publisher, Tom Appel about all things automotive and, in particular, what happens when your OnStar button stops working. If you’d like to find out, just point your browser here.
Anne Fogel’s brother, Marc, is in a Moscow prison with a sentence of 14 years of hard labor for having medical marijuana, and being convicted of drug smuggling and drug possession. Unlike basketball star Brittney Griner, you probably haven’t heard much about Marc. Well, now you can with this podcast link.
Legendary sports broadcaster, Vin Scully, who passed away at the age of 94, cast a long shadow over the broadcast industry and the memories of his fans. WGN Radio sports anchor Andy Masur was among them and joined us to share some thoughts about Vin’s life and legacy. You’ll find that podcast right here.
Those were just some of our Monday adventures.
Hope you’ll tune in to 720 AM to see what Tuesday has to offer. And, of course, if you’re not in the Chicago area, you can still listen just by clicking this link to WGN Radio’s live stream.
2PM-6PM (Central) — While Lisa Dent enjoys a well-earned week off, we’ll be popping back into her space inside of your speakers on WGN Radio.
Her & Him with Lisa Dent
In no particular order, here are just some of the people who’ll be jumping into your speakers with us.
How about a reunion with a legend from Steve’s rock & roll radio past at WLS, “Li’l Tommy,” Tommy Edwards? Yep, that’s gonna happen.
Tommy Edwards, Steve, Yvonne Daniels, Larry Lujack, Bob Sirrot & John Landecker
Speaking of rock radio legends, long-time friend and Beatles expert, Terri Hemmert will be stopping by.
Terri Hemmert Photo credit photo by: Mary Rafferty
Since we’re on for a full week, you know there will have to be an afternoon edition of “Website Wednesday” with our former Website Wednesday Night Cybersquad chief, Patrick Crispen.
Patrick Crispen
Patrick is now the Director of Educational Technology and Assistant Professor of Clinical Medical Education, Keck School of Medicine of USC.
Consumer Guide Automotive‘s Publisher, Tom Appel, will share his thoughts on some of the new vehicles he’s been testing and help us explain what hundreds of thousands of drivers should expect a few months from now when their OnStar buttons no longer work.
Tom Appel
Oh we’ve got a lot more planned, but you’ll just have to tune in to 720 AM to hear how it all plays out.
We really hope you will!
But, remember, if you’re not in the Chicago area, you can still listen just by clicking this link to WGN Radio’s live stream.
Sorry we didn’t get this posted sooner. Blame the delay on a technical snafu, because that’s what we’re doing.
It was a misty, rainy day as we drove in to WGN and, as we approached Chicago’s downtown, it was unusual to NOT see the tops of some of the city’s iconic structures.
A rainy view of, what we hoped was, downtown Chicago, as seen from DuSable Lake Shore Drive
So, of course, we had to document the strange looking metropolis we were approaching.
We thought these buildings used to be taller.
Once we landed at The Mighty 720 complex, things returned to a much normal vibe and we shared a little pre-show conversation with one of our favorite humans, Lisa Dent.
HimNHer with Lisa Dent.
If you’d like to hear our conversation with Lisa just click this link.
As is usually the case, this Friday WGN “radio drive-by” seemed to race by but, as we look into the rear view mirror, here are just a few of the highlights we see.
Getting photography tips from “Chicago’s Picture Poet,” Barry Butler was a great way to start off the show. Plus, he took a selfie with us.
A Barry Butler selfie with HimNHer
You’ll find our conversation with Barry right here.
We had a ton of fun revisiting childhood memories with our friend, noted cartoonist, illustrator, and designer Jim Engel, who is also the children’s television curator at Chicago’s Museum Of Broadcast Communications. If you’d like to hear what we talked about and, maybe, revisit some childhood memories of your own, just point your browser right here.
Any excuse to spend some time with Josh Solomon and Erika Brett from The Empty Pockets. is always a good thing as far as we’re concerned. They’ve got a new album coming out and they were nice enough to share some of their new and old creations in live performances with us.
HerNHim with Josh & Erika
They always sound good and, boy, did they ever. If you want to hear just how good, just click here.
We’ve been fortunate enough to know legendary roadhouse party pianist, songwriter, and vocalist Marcia Ball for many years. When we found out that she was coming back to perform in the Chicago area, we had to get her on the show. We did and it was fun! You can join in the fun just by clicking right here.
As we said at the outset, it ended too soon. So, maybe we’ll have to do it again sometime. If and when that’s gonna happen, you’ll be the second to know.
As always, thanks to Dave Plier for inviting us back into his space.
And, of course, thank you for hanging out with us.
6PM-10PM (Central) — Dave Plier is taking another night off and, since we didn’t trash the studio too badly the last time, he asked if we’d like to hang out in his space again. So, once again, we’ll be sliding back into your speakers from the main deck of the Mighty 720, WGN Radio.
Among our guests will be the man who has been called “Chicago’s Picture Poet,” our friend, Barry Butler, the internationally published landscape and cityscape photographer. We can’t wait to see how that conversation “develops” (Sorry, couldn’t resist!).
It’s been much too long since we spent time with legendary roadhouse party pianist, songwriter, and vocalist Marcia Ball. Fortunately, the planets have aligned and so have our schedules, which means she’ll be joining us Friday night.
Marcia Ball
Of course, this is all just part of the game plan so, you’ll have to listen to see what other surprises we have in store and how it all plays out.
It was back in March when we first introduced you to Lyudmila Dulenko. We were doing several days of shows filling in for Lisa Dent on WGN Radio and a part of each day’s show was spent documenting the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine.
While doing some research, we came across a Facebook post from Lyudmila Dulenko, a woman who was posting pictures from her front window which happened to look out on Kyiv. We contacted Lyudmila and, after a few back and forth messages, she agreed to join us and share her story on the air.
If you’d like to hear that conversation with Lyudmila, just click this link.
She and her husband, Vitaly, like many in Ukraine, are extraordinarily brave people. We continue staying in touch with them.
Vitaly and Lyudmila Dulenko
We had to share this most recent post from Lyudmila with you. However your day starts out, we doubt it begins … or continues … anything like this.
Here is what Lyudmila wrote.
There is no fear. Waking up to the howling of the sirens for the second time. Unlocking the smartphone, the war is watching me from the screen, whispering “explosions in Kyiv “. Going to the balcony – over the right bank there is a black cloud of smoke.
There’s no fear, not even hate, nothing’s inside, just emptiness. And out of this wasteland comes the voice of my autopilot, which turned on in the morning of February 24. He says go and do it.
And I go into the kitchen to pick the morning crop of pastillas that I put out to dry yesterday before bed. Taking thin elastic bands out of the dryer that smell of jam and summer and thinking about this pastila going to the front. This is what I can do, this is my control zone, this is my answer to missiles – thin strawberry pastillas.
Then I mix dry soups. They will also go to the front. This is also my answer to rockets – little bags full of flavor, color and aroma, lunch or dinner for those standing between me and death.
Next, I’m rolling cans of canned pickles according to my mom’s recipe. I made them yesterday, and by all rules, I left them to grow until the morning under a warm pillow. And this too is my tiny glass shield from Russian missiles – my connection to my childhood, my way not to lose myself forever.
Kiev, Ukraine
In the photo – my district, filled with hot evening rays from the right bank of Kiev. From the shore that I look at every night from the balcony across the river, enjoying the sunset. Where did the Russian rockets fly today. Where the black cloud of smoke hung today.
There was a cloud of smoke over the buildings in the picture, too, three weeks ago, when I woke up to the explosions.
“Go and do it,” says my autopilot.
Going and getting it done. · ·
The gift of Lyudmila and Vitaly’s friendship has been one of the positive results of social media communication. Please keep them and the incredibly brave people of Ukraine in your hearts.
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