WEEKEND RADIO WITH ROBERT CONRAD
Email: wrc@wclv.com
Many radio listeners know Robert Conrad
as the subdued, perhaps even staid and conservative, host of the Cleveland
Orchestra broadcasts. He is, in fact,
the dean of orchestra commentators,
having been the resident of the Severance
Hall announce booth since 1965.
(Research indicates that he has
been a continuous orchestra
commentator longer than anyone
in the history of American radio.)
Since 1982, however, the other side
of Robert Conrad -- the one with the
unique sense of humor and circuitous
imagination -- has been displayed to
the national radio audience via
Weekend Radio, that "curiously
strange and offbeat potpourri of music,
wit and convivial companionship" that
is heard each week over some 80
outlets.
Weekend Radio is the national spin- off
of a local program on WCLV, Cleveland --
where Conrad is President -- that ran
Saturday nights for 27 years until his wife persuaded him that there were other things
to do on Saturday than go to a radio studio.
The hour-long show is a skillful mixture of classical music, cross-over selections and comedy bits, the latter drawing on WCLV's extensive collection of comedy and humor
LPs and CDs that dates back to the late
50s.
Conrad takes his cue for particular
programs from Chases' Calendar of
Events, an encyclopedia of offbeat
happenings, which has resulted in
programs about Mole Day (a mole equals
6 x 10 to the 23rd power), Computer
Learning Month, Weatherman's Day,
and National Chicken Month.
Some of the unique and rare items that
he presents have become so popular that
the audience forces him to repeat them
periodically over the years.
These include Wayne and Shuster's Shakespearean Baseball Game,
What Goes Up, Must Come Down
(a description of how to fly a 747
from England to New York)
and a Freudian explanation of
football.
A popular feature of the program is
This Week in the Media, a contest that
awards prizes to listeners who send in
errors they find in the media.
Also presented each week is Marginal Considerations, humorous audio essays
by Cleveland writer Jan C. Snow on such
topics as The Life Cycle of Socks,
Zucchini Control and The Non-existence
of Rutabagas. Plano, Texas,
commentator Richard Howland-Bolton
chimes in every third week as does
Mark Levy from Binghamton, New York. .
TO GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CARRYING WEEKEND RADIO, PLEASE CONTACT syndication@wclv.com or
complete this Broadcast Agreement.
KEEP SCROLLING DOWN FOR A LIST OF WHERE TO GET SOME OF THE RECORDINGS WE PLAY
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