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"Variations on a Theme"
On December 10, 1962 something strange happened.
Shep and his engineer Bob got ready to go on the air when they
suddenly realized that the tape with the theme had been erased! They
tried to sneak onto the air without the theme but Shep laughingly
told the listeners what had happened. Being a resourceful engineer,
Bob quickly found a tape of a previous show and they played the
theme from it. They closed the show probably with the same copy
cutting it off before it played completely. The next day Shep came
on the air without any fanfare with the now famous variation of the
Bahn Frei theme. As the final notes played
out, a sound like Shep saying "Ahhhh" was added as the final beat.
It is uncertain why this was done, but Shep said on an interview
with Alan Colmes in 1998 that it was done that way because "it felt right."
You can hear Shep's explanation on
the 12-10-62 show:
and some further explanation on the 1-10-63 show:
On the September 3, 1960 show he quietly said "the end" at the final
beat, then went on with the show.
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