Chris and Jerry toast to a new year and reflect on 2025. Chris gives an update on his mother-in-law who has taken up residence in his home since August.
Recent Posts
01-01-26 006 – Reflections on 2025 and the Hope of the New Year
09-13-25 005 – America’s Turning Point
08-02-25 004 – Nightmare in London
03-23-25 003 – The Days of Adolescence
01-20-25 002 -Inauguration Day
01-19-25 001 – Inaugural Episode: A New Beginning
11-10-24 000 – Pilot Episode: The Way Forward
11-02-24 178. A Great Run
10-09-24 Last Call…The Smorgasbord Is Closing Its Doors
09-14-24 177. Reflections: Finding a Way Forward
The SmorgShow Podcast (Smorgasbord Radio)
The SmorgShow Podcast originates from the Chris and Dave Smorgasbord radio show which aired on suburban Chicago high school radio station WDGC-FM between 1982-1984. The show was known at the time for its edginess for a high school radio program. Chris and Dave’s all-talk format broke the mold by deviating from the station’s rock genre and often pushed the boundaries of acceptable community standards.
In 2010, we dusted off the Smorgasbord brand name and Chris paired up with his daughter, Ally to create a new podcast series staying true to the original spirit and variety format of the old radio show.
smor·gas·bord\ˈsmȯr-gəs-ˌbȯrd\: a luncheon or supper buffet offering a variety of foods and dishes.
The term ‘Smorgasbord’, as used here, is not meant to imply the show is related to food in any way and is certainly not a cooking show. Instead, the term used to suggest that we are ‘serving up’ a variety of programming elements, crossing many genres and formats – comedy, news, drama, current events and occasionally even stepping into the conspiracy realm. While Seinfeld was said to be “a show about nothing”, the SmorgShow Podcast is a show about anything.
After serving as co-host and contributing to nearly 100 episodes, Ally grew up and flew the coop, leaving Chris to fend for himself. Subsequently, Chris rejoined with original Smorgasbord Radio Show co-host Dave Jackson as well as Jerry Malauskas who currently serves as the show’s Chief Conspiracy Correspondent (CCC). And let’s not forget ‘Master of the Wide Open Spaces Between the Ears’, Baba Gonesh – who after 40 years of being featured on our show, still serves as our International News Correspondent, sending his views and breaking news directly from his homeland of India.
With the unexpected passing of Dave in 2024, the show entered unchartered territory. In October 2024, Chris made the difficult decision to end the show after 42 years. Although Dave likely would have wanted us to continue on without him, the Smorgasbord brand name does not hold up without one of its co-founders. Instead, Chris and Jerry have launched a new spin-off podcast series called ‘Chris and Jerry’s Supper Club’. It promises to follow in the traditional spirit of the Smorgasbord show, but gives the hosts a bit more license to venture into a different creative territory.
178. A Great Run
As we discussed in the last episode, we determined it would be extremely difficult to continue forward with the Smorgasbord Radio Show in its current form following the passing of co-founder Dave Jackson earlier this year. Have no dispair though, because Chris and Jerry will be launching a new podcast in early 2025.
In order to finish this podcast series properly, it only felt right to return to how it started in January 2010 – with Chris and his daughter Ally teaming up on the mic. In this final episode, Chris and Ally discuss all the life stages we have moved through and the milestones that we have achieved over these past 15 years. A lot of ground was covered during this time. After all, Ally was only 11 when we started the show and now she is only a couple weeks away from closing on her first home. We reflect upon how the podcast format began and all the challenges and learnings that we faced as we tried to get the show off the ground with the relatively primitive technology. From our first episode recorded in our kitchen, to seeing the show evolve over the next 15 years, we believe we hit all of the main highlights in our retrospective.
As mentioned in the show, we reserve the right to occasionally add an episode here and there to the catalog, but this episode essentially marks the end of our 42 year run (15 years in podcast form and the years 1982-1984 when the Chris and Dave Smorgasbord was heard on high school radio station WDGC-FM). We would like to thank everyone who has been on this journey with us at one point in our timeline or another. We certainly had fun bringing our creativity to you and we appreciate all your support and encouragement over the years.
It truly has been a great run!
11/02/2024
09/14/2024
06/28/2024
06/15/2024
03/09/2024
02/25/2024
12/08/2023
11/19/2023
11/12/2023
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Chris and Jerry’s Supper Club
It started over 40 years ago at suburban Chicago high school radio station WDGC-FM as the Chris and Dave Smorgasbord. The program broke the mold at the time for what you would expect to hear on high school radio airwaves. Chris and Dave were among the first to explore the conversational talk show format. In 2010, Chris dusted off his old recording equipment to re-launch the show in podcast form with his daughter Ally. Over the next 15 years, the SmorgShow Podcast continued forward in the old spirit of the program by featuring co-hosts Dave Jackson and Jerry Malauskas. In 2024, Dave passed away leaving Chris and Jerry to determine what to do with the show moving forward. Dave would want them to continue on but how does the Smorgasbord brand name work without one of the original co-founders? The answer was to create a new spin-off series. Here we bring you Chris and Jerry’s Supper Club. It will be very familiar in style as the Smorgasbord Radio Show, but gives us a bit more freedom to explore topics often avoided on the SmorgShow Podcast.
006 – Reflections on 2025 and the Hope of the New Year
Chris and Jerry toast to a new year and reflect on 2025. Chris gives an update on his mother-in-law who has taken up residence in his home since August.
09/13/2025
08/02/2025
03/23/2025
01/20/2025
01/20/2025
11/10/2024
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The Baba Gonesh Podcast – Lessons in Indian Culture and Breaking News from the Homeland
Listen to the Wisdom of Baba Gonesh and understand why he is known worldwide as ‘The Master of the Wide Open Spaces Between the Ears’.
Baba’s Observations From The Street: The Fashion-Conscious Monkey
A Fashion-Conscious Monkey is cited on the streets of India and Baba Gonesh was there to capture it all.
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SmorgShow Theater (Recreated Radio Dramas from the Golden Age of Radio)
SmorgShow Theater is a collection of classic, old-time radio dramas from the golden age of radio. Sit back and relax, turn off your lights and let us transport you to a world where your imagination takes over. If you have a favorite radio show that you would like to hear us present, email us at feedback@smorgshow.com. Check out Smorgasbord Radio (The SmorgShow Podcast) for more of our creative antics.
SmorgShow Theater: Knock at the Door
In our 11th installment of SmorgShow Theater, we re-enact ‘Knock at the Door’, which originally aired in 1942 on the ‘Lights Out’ radio drama series that centered around horror and the supernatural. This tale is narrated by Ella who describes her descent into madness – how she married a nice fellow and mama’s boy Jay who adores his mother to the point of Ella feeling pushed out of the way. Our narrator, after hearing some convincing voices in her head, pushes her poor mother-in-law down a well and seemingly doesn’t have to deal with her anymore. But how wrong she is when the couple hears a knock at the door while eating dinner one night…
The SmorgShow Players are: Ally Bockay (Ella), Chris Bockay (Jay), Kim Bockay (Mrs. Kruger)
07/06/2019
11/24/2017
12/23/2016
04/11/2015
09/02/2014
12/18/2011
12/09/2011
05/01/2011
08/28/2010
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