My mother always had the radio in our kitchen tuned to WOR and in the evenings every night Jean Shepherd would come through loud and clear. He was a big part of my youth. All before he wrote A Christmas Story.
710 was a clear channel AM frequency. At night (when conditions were right) He could be heard over 13+ states. After Shep's show was over, I'd tune the dial to Long John Nebel's show. Long before Art Bell came along, there was Nebel's show on 570. This was truly the golden age of ny radio.
back in the late 60s, a buddy and I would get out of our hectic jobs 8-9pm, then go for a car ride, driving aimlessly for hours around Jersey while listening to Jean Shepherd tell stories on his WOR AM radio Show. It was cheap, relaxing entertainment, and gasoline was only 29 cents/gallon. Everyone from our college class came to see Jean perform a sell-out show at Seton Hall University. He was absolutely riveting.
He was great in playboy great stories great books listened to him as much as possible on the radio and his Saturday night shows from the limelight in New York City
I grew up in Atlantic County, NJ (South Jersey) and heard the story of the Jersey Devil many times. The Jersey Devil was the "mascot" of my Boy Scout troop, but I don't know anyone who saw the Jersey Devil. I also went into the Pine Barrens a number of times. The pine trees don't grow very tall. I'm 6'2", and I am taller than most of those trees. It is a desolate area, but it has its own type of beauty. They also grow a lot of cranberries near the pine barrens. There was a minor league hockey team called the Jersey Devils before the NHL Jersey Devils.
Oh god the memories....hiding my transistor under the pillow cos I was supposed to be asleep....I was in CT and Jersey was like this foreign place where all the weird stuff happened.
Great memories, listening to this. I've hunted the Pines for almost 40 years. Never saw the Devil, but I do remember walking to my stand before the Sun came up in a deep swamp in Winslow. I'm familiar with the indigenous critters and the noise they make. Well, I heard a shriek like nothing I've ever heard before. Made my blood run cold. Then it was gone. This was a few miles from the Blue Hole. Allegedly the Jersey Devil lives in the Blue Hole. Story goes when the Old Settlers would approach the hole with there dogs the dogs would drop dead.
Shep used to crack me up as a kid in Jersey. He was always funny, even in person. What Shep didn't tell you about this story is that almost HALF of New Jersey is uninhabited. The Pine Barrens stretch from about the middle of the state south. Around a MILLION acres. It's only populated on it's fringes. It's only inhabited by a type of Pine tree that can only reproduce when it's Pine Cones burst open with fire. Consequently, there is always some part of the Barrens on fire. It also sits on top of one of the biggest fresh water aquifers in the country and is either state or federally protected. Nobody lives there. A million acres is a lot of room for a Raptor like creature to hide in. Also if there is one creature, there must be two.
I live there between Ong's Hat and Batsto, off the beaten path, deep in the thick Pines forest. We earn our daily bread in the charcoal ovens and cranberry bogs. I've been to the city, you can have it. So next time you are passing through, keep going ! The Devil is real.
The good old Jersey Devil. If anybody could do justice to such a legend it’s Jean Shepherd. So funny how he speaks of Jersey, especially from the NJ Turnpike between exits 12 and 13. Classic. And spot on, too. I remember those sludge waters ... hell, you could walk on them. I did. A friend of mine wasn’t so lucky, as I at the time was quite thin and light ... he wasn’t. He literally lost a shoe in the attempt.
I remember this as a kid and scared the crap out of me! and was always afraid to go to the Watchung mountains for fear I'd see him! I'd always look out the window of the old chevy belair with the three on the tree shifter and the smell of half and half pipe tobacco going to Harrys all you can eat buffet and they always gave you a grey sport jacket if you didn't have one. If I didn't use brylcreme on my hair the olman would would pull out a tube from the glove compartment and hand me his greasy comb and say here! you don't wanna look like a gawd damn bum do ya! hahahahahhaha.....
+greenteablend Nope. I (among other Jersey "spies", I am sure), sent an article from the Bergen Record to Shep, and low & behold, he read the article, and it was one of his funniest shows ever! See this update, circa 2009: joannemaustin.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/oilyoliver.pdf
+TreeDee71to75 I ran a quick search at FlickLives [www.flicklives.com/index.php?pg=224] on the search words "oily" and "oliver" but came up empty. Try clicking on the CONTACT tab at FlickLives and ask the webmaster for assistance (he has been helpful to me in the past.) Also, about what year did you send this in? I might be able to search my DVD archives given a time frame. Thanks!
Great memories of Shep. I offer the following challenge to the "Flick Lives" minions: find the show that had the "Chicken Manure Automobile" in it. Think it was sometime in the early seventies but not sure. Help!!!
No. The Johnson-Whites were in North West New Jersey. No connection to the Pine Barrens. Also no one ever calls "The Pine Barrens" the "Piney Barrens".
My mother always had the radio in our kitchen tuned to WOR and in the evenings every night Jean Shepherd would come through loud and clear. He was a big part of my youth. All before he wrote A Christmas Story.
You had a very hip mom, my friend.
I heard this show when I was about six and it has haunted me for life! Glad to finally find it
Like tons of New Yorkers of my generation I listed to Shep with my transistor radio under the pillow at night. I loved it, still do.
scott leviton 11pm, 710am Radio WOR , great guy, great memories.
as did i
Me too
so did i
He was special.
710 was a clear channel AM frequency. At night (when conditions were right) He could be heard over 13+ states. After Shep's show was over, I'd tune the dial to Long John Nebel's show. Long before Art Bell came along, there was Nebel's show on 570. This was truly the golden age of ny radio.
Shep Lives!!!!!!!!!!
back in the late 60s, a buddy and I would get out of our hectic jobs 8-9pm, then go for a car ride, driving aimlessly for hours around Jersey while listening to Jean Shepherd tell stories on his WOR AM radio Show. It was cheap, relaxing entertainment, and gasoline was only 29 cents/gallon. Everyone from our college class came to see Jean perform a sell-out show at Seton Hall University. He was absolutely riveting.
He was one-of-a-kind, once in a life time.
I remember him mentioning doing a show at “Fairly Ridiculous” University. Also did gigs at Princeton earlier in his WOR years.
He was great in playboy great stories great books listened to him as much as possible on the radio and his Saturday night shows from the limelight in New York City
Yep, his stories were a great excuse for buying Playboy. “But they have such good articles!!”
New York legend.❤
Little could he have imagined back then that in 1982 the Colorado Rockies hockey team would move to NJ and adopt the name New Jersey Devils,
I grew up in Atlantic County, NJ (South Jersey) and heard the story of the Jersey Devil many times. The Jersey Devil was the "mascot" of my Boy Scout troop, but I don't know anyone who saw the Jersey Devil. I also went into the Pine Barrens a number of times. The pine trees don't grow very tall. I'm 6'2", and I am taller than most of those trees. It is a desolate area, but it has its own type of beauty. They also grow a lot of cranberries near the pine barrens. There was a minor league hockey team called the Jersey Devils before the NHL Jersey Devils.
Oh god the memories....hiding my transistor under the pillow cos I was supposed to be asleep....I was in CT and Jersey was like this foreign place where all the weird stuff happened.
😂so accurate!
I still hear his AM broadcast coming from underneath my pillow.
Great memories, listening to this. I've hunted the Pines for almost 40 years. Never saw the Devil, but I do remember walking to my stand before the Sun came up in a deep swamp in Winslow. I'm familiar with the indigenous critters and the noise they make. Well, I heard a shriek like nothing I've ever heard before. Made my blood run cold. Then it was gone. This was a few miles from the Blue Hole. Allegedly the Jersey Devil lives in the Blue Hole. Story goes when the Old Settlers would approach the hole with there dogs the dogs would drop dead.
Dan, could it have been a bobcat shrieking?
ruclips.net/video/MSyi9AK3gtw/видео.html
I've hunted the Pine Barrens too, for two legged trespassers. They come in but they don't come out.
I remember listening to this particular program.
Under-appreciated , brilliant writer. The Author of the Christmas Story "you'll shoot your eye out!"
Thank you, thank you, thank you for getting these great memories posted up on RUclips.
Amen, Robert Knight!
Shep used to crack me up as a kid in Jersey. He was always funny, even in person. What Shep didn't tell you about this story is that almost HALF of New Jersey is uninhabited. The Pine Barrens stretch from about the middle of the state south. Around a MILLION acres. It's only populated on it's fringes. It's only inhabited by a type of Pine tree that can only reproduce when it's Pine Cones burst open with fire. Consequently, there is always some part of the Barrens on fire. It also sits on top of one of the biggest fresh water aquifers in the country and is either state or federally protected. Nobody lives there. A million acres is a lot of room for a Raptor like creature to hide in. Also if there is one creature, there must be two.
I live there between Ong's Hat and Batsto, off the beaten path, deep in the thick Pines forest. We earn our daily bread in the charcoal ovens
and cranberry bogs. I've been to the city, you can have it. So next time you are passing through, keep going ! The Devil is real.
0pp0
I grew up in NYC and heard nothing but bad stories about NJ. I think those people spreading those rumors were envious bastids.
The good old Jersey Devil. If anybody could do justice to such a legend it’s Jean Shepherd. So funny how he speaks of Jersey, especially from the NJ Turnpike between exits 12 and 13. Classic. And spot on, too. I remember those sludge waters ... hell, you could walk on them. I did. A friend of mine wasn’t so lucky, as I at the time was quite thin and light ... he wasn’t. He literally lost a shoe in the attempt.
I remember this as a kid and scared the crap out of me! and was always afraid to go to the Watchung mountains for fear I'd see him! I'd always look out the window of the old chevy belair with the three on the tree shifter and the smell of half and half pipe tobacco going to Harrys all you can eat buffet and they always gave you a grey sport jacket if you didn't have one. If I didn't use brylcreme on my hair the olman would would pull out a tube from the glove compartment and hand me his greasy comb and say here! you don't wanna look like a gawd damn bum do ya! hahahahahhaha.....
Thanks for posting these great videos (audios).
My pleasure!
I believe in the New Jersey devil!
Thank You!
This is classic Shepherd. His "Jersey" shows are the best. Now someone PLEASE find the show about "Oily Oliver" and post THAT.
Do you mean, "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss"??
ruclips.net/video/AELIemLOIy4/видео.html
+greenteablend Nope. I (among other Jersey "spies", I am sure), sent an article from the Bergen Record to Shep, and low & behold, he read the article, and it was one of his funniest shows ever! See this update, circa 2009: joannemaustin.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/oilyoliver.pdf
+TreeDee71to75 I ran a quick search at FlickLives [www.flicklives.com/index.php?pg=224] on the search words "oily" and "oliver" but came up empty. Try clicking on the CONTACT tab at FlickLives and ask the webmaster for assistance (he has been helpful to me in the past.) Also, about what year did you send this in? I might be able to search my DVD archives given a time frame. Thanks!
Great memories of Shep. I offer the following challenge to the "Flick Lives" minions: find the show that had the "Chicken Manure Automobile" in it. Think it was sometime in the early seventies but not sure. Help!!!
schwartz is alive & well
Love schwartz!
Now we know where the hockey team got their name. Springsteen should write a song about this legend.
Yes, he should, so I can hate ANOTHER song of his. (Nothing personal)
Yes, he should, so I can hate ANOTHER song of his. (Nothing personal)
No. The Johnson-Whites were in North West New Jersey. No connection to the Pine Barrens. Also no one ever calls "The Pine Barrens" the "Piney Barrens".
Weren't the Jackson whites related to the ksllikaks?