With Doppler at the Dump
Airdate:
Thursday - April 28, 1966
WOR Show Original Airing
First Spoken Line After Theme Ends
superb . . .that's night right. . . .
Show Description
Shep begins the show by 'remembering' nursery rhymes such as "Humpty Dumpty" to the tune of honky-tonk music. This is interrupted on occasion by a mysterious thumping sound in the studio. Shep calls for an investigation using a scope and caller feedback.
Discussion of leading a sheltered life and going to the city dumps to rummage for treasures. He asks if there was anyone else out there who did this secretly without their families knowledge, and in a RARE moment he actually takes a phone call and the caller is heard on the air. The caller had been to the dumps just 3 weeks previous.
The main story unfolds about the time he and another kid from school named Dopler went on a bike ride one afternoon and visited the city dump. Dopler had been there before, but it was Shep's first time and he was in awe of the things he saw. He talks of families that live there, the rats, and a man with a derby who watched the dump and lived in a shack made up of old Coke and Pepsi signs. It sported license plates and toilet seats for décor. Living with the old man, who sold worms and dough balls for bait on the side, was a huge black crow that had a vocabulary better than many humans. The boys visited often and sat with the old man and the crow on the bank of the river that ran through the property. Eventually they stopped going and Dopler moved away never to be seen again, but the visits to the dumps remain a fond memory in Shep's mind even today as he recounts the story.
Comments
• This is one of those rare times that Shep spoke to a caller on the air and one of the fewer times that you heard both sides of the story.
