As we head into the Labor Day weekend, I thought I would submit my first post on the topic of our fast-approaching milestone date. It’s really hard to believe that in just a couple of weeks, we will hit the 25th anniversary of the first Chris and Dave Smorgasbord show. I didn’t realize until recently while going through some old scripts of the old shows that our first broadcast as a radio duo was actually on September 11, 1982.
It was about this time 25 years ago when I was finishing up my last summer broadcast before heading into my junior year at Downers Grove North High School. I was still trying to find my voice and style during that summer when I had my first solo radio show. I had the afternoon time slot and Dave Jackson followed me on the broadcast schedule. I believe I had just finished up some wacky bit when Dave said he enjoyed listening to me all summer and thought it would be good to do a show together with me in the fall. I was shocked. Dave was a year older than I was. No one at this stage of my high school radio career wanted anything to do with me, let alone actually compliment me on my show. Dave was a respected member of the WDGC staff, so I knew this would be a good move for me to be paired up with him. I quickly accepted and we submitted our request to management. The next big shocker was that we were slotted in the enviable timeslot of Saturday nights from 8-10pm.
We had less than two weeks to prepare for our first show. We quickly consulted Peet McCain on what we should call the show. He coined the name “Smorgasbord” to reflect a hodge-podge of things, where we could pretty much do anything and it would fall nicely within the scope of the name. And so the Smorg show was born.
Check back often as I submit more memories as we reflect on the start of it all.
-Webmaster Chris
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