Jean Shepherd

Jean Parker Shepherd (b. Chicago, July 26, 1921 – d. Sanibel Island, Florida, October 16, 1999) – Radio host, actor, storyteller, and writer. Known in the radio business as “Shep,” Jean Shepherd was born on the South Side of Chicago and grew up in Hammond and graduated from Hammond High School in 1939. After serving in the U.S. Army during WWII, Shepherd got his start on a Cincinnati station in 1948 and bounced around between Philadelphia and Cincinnati before landing on WOR in New York, where he was on the air from 1956 to 1977. In that time, he enjoyed a large following and received critical acclaim for his humor and storytelling. He also incorporated musical antics into his show. During his theme song “The Beat Missed the Train,” he would play along on the kazoo, Jew’s harp, or nose flute. He would also tap out knuckle melodies on his head by opening and closing his mouth to change pitch. His “head thumping,” as he called it, had a range of about an octave. A popular emcee of jazz concerts in the 1950s, Shepherd improvised speech on the title track of Charles Mingus’s The Clown (1957). Today, his talents have been immortalized through his narration of the classic A Christmas Story, which is partly based on his own childhood in Hammond. His storytelling prowess was also manifested in a series of short stories about growing up in steel towns in Northwest, Indiana