Radio Syndication Beyond New York and WOR. . . Last Update: 12-02-2022

Over the years there were several attempts to syndicate the Jean Shepherd Radio Show. This was at a time before national syndication was as common as it is today. The stations that picked up the syndication usually played the WOR shows which would be edited for commercials. In the case of stations like WHEC in Rochester, NY 'all new' shows were recorded by Shep and provided through Hartwest Productions. These never aired on WOR.

WBJC - 91.5 FM Shep fan Lee Rotter, who lives in Maryland says "at one time both the Baltimore WBJC?FM & the Wash. DC station WETA FM were both broadcasting 2 different Shepherd shows on the same day. WBJC used to play Shepherd every weeknight at 11 pm and WETA would play a different Shep show at 6:30 pm on Mon, Wed, and Fridays. WBUR - 90.9 FM A Boston FM station, used to broadcast the shows about 1 week after the original WOR airing. WETA 90.9 FM Shep fan Lee Rotter, who lives in Maryland says "at one time both the Baltimore WBJC?FM & the Wash. DC station WETA FM were both broadcasting 2 different Shepherd shows on the same day. WBJC used to play Shepherd every weeknight at 11 pm and WETA would play a different Shep show at 6:30 pm on Mon, Wed, and Fridays. WHEC WHEC in Rochester, New York was possibly the only station to have carried the Hartwest syndicated shows but it is not certain for how long. An ad for WHEC is from November 9, 1964 and a March 15, 1965 Hartwest ad indicates at least a 4 month stretch. WKAT - 1360 AM Pomo after shows: "You've been listening to Jean Shepherd here on WKAT the talk of Miami. Jean Shepherd is heard 1 to 4 am Sunday mornings here on WKAT and Tuesday through Saturday from 3 to 4 am. We hope you enjoy him." KRAB - 107.7 FM A deal was struck with KRAB in Seattle to have them rebroadcast some of the shows over a period from 1964 to 1976. Shep announces the first of these during his October 30, 1965 Live at the Limelight broadcasts. The earliest listing in the KRAB program guides is August 17, 1964. Guide #43. The KRAB website discusses the arrangements. They mention in their July 1976 guide:"KRAB's last Jean Shepherd. Apparently someone else has come up with the money to buy these programs. According top the website there was an interview of Shep by Lorenzo Milam, Greg Palmer, Helen Norton, and Lee Brown, that was aired March 7, 1979. WNAC - 680 AM Saturdays 12:15 to 2:00 PM - Shep did his WOR Radio show in this time slot from March 26, 1960 to September 16, 1961. It is assumed this was a simulcast Hartwest Productions Shep recorded a group of shows (200-300) in the mid 1960s (Late 1964-65) for Hartwest Productions. An effort was made in 1964-65 to distribute them nationwide. These shows were never aired on WOR or released to the public until 2005 when they were licensed to Choice Ventures who began releasing them on sets of CDs. Images Communication Arts Not much is known about this effort other than a small article in Broadcasting Magazine on July 24, 1989 where it talks about Images efforts on many projects. "The syndicated programming offered by Images includes The Jean Shepherd Show, a one-hour series selected from recordings of the original New York broadcasts, available next fall." It is not known who was behind this effort, who was supplying the shows, and if it ever got off the ground. International Jawbreaker Formed by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown, Laurie and Herb Squire. They distributed a syndicated version of "The Jean Shepherd Show" from April 76 through about April 1, 77. Leigh Brown was Shep's producer and later in life became his wife. Herb Squire was an engineer for WOR and was Shep's engineer from the late 60's to 1977 when Shep left WOR. Herb's wife Laurie was Shep's producer for a couple of years, initially just the syndication duties, and then she produced the WOR show until its conclusion in 1977. These were 30 minute formats of earlier 45 minute WOR shows. The commercials were removed and some of Shep's dialog edited to make the 30 minute package. According to the contract stations would receive 2 30 minute tapes per week at $8.00 / week for the first 13 weeks and $10.00 / week thereafter. Lost tapes would have to be paid for by the stations at a rate of $3.50 per tape and $9.50 per mailing container. WINR - 680 AM Not sure when this began and how long it lasted. Also not sure of the time delay between original broadcast and the WINR rerun WNHV - 95.3 FM Sunday and Wednesday 10:15pm