|
|
Fan Comments
|
| [ Courtesy: Steve Glazer - 07-08-2016 ]
Shep often spoke of his early days in radio broadcasting in Toledo, Ohio, without ever mentioning the station's call letters or when he worked there (although he said it was only for several months). He said the station was a "poor" one located on the 6th floor of a building having a bank on the first floor. Most often, however, Shep told of announcing the baseball play-by-play action for the Toledo Mud Hens (a St. Louis Browns farm team). During one show at the Village Limelight, Shep said he worked in Toledo when the Mud Hens had baseball's only one-armed outfielder. Shep also told how he had been a "combination man" at the radio station, performing several different jobs, while living at the Lorraine Hotel, from where he would walk to the station. He said he got the job at the "lousy little station on Lake Erie" during one "hot, stinking summer" by answering an ad when attending college after his Army discharge. He added that he began working there just after getting out of school in June. The WOR broadcasts where Shep spoke of his early radio days in Toledo include those of 4/8/63, 6/20/64, 9/28/65, and 7/9/73.
***********************************************************************************
Shep in fact withdrew from Indiana University during the summer semester of 1946, after completing the spring semester and registering for a summer course in applied psychology. At the time, a new radio station was just licensed in Toledo by Edward Lamb, Ohio labor rights attorney and president of Unity Corporation. The 1000-watt northern Ohio station took to the air on June 15, 1946, at 1560 kc. With the call letters WTOD -- "Top of the Dial." According to contemporary accounts, it was staffed mostly by returning wartime veterans, like Shep.
A few blocks from WTOD's offices and studio -- located on the 6th floor of the Lucas County Bank Building at the corner of Madison Avenue and Huron Street -- was Toledo's Lorraine Hotel, a nondescript, brick structure (now calling itself a "motor hotel," although it is 8 stories high).
Shep was indeed WTOD's "combination man" in its first year on the air. During 1946, he concurrently served as the station's chief announcer, record MC and sportscaster. As such, he called the games for the Toledo Mud Hens, whose home field -- Swayne Field -- was located nearby. During the summer of 1946, Pete Gray -- professional baseball's only one-armed outfielder -- played one season for the Mud Hens.
Shep did not remain long at WTOD. By January 1947, he began working at WSAI in Cincinnati, while making his home in Covington, Kentucky, with his first wife. |
|
|
