Long before Jean Shepherd wrote "A Christmas Story" - the movie about Ralphie wanting a Red Ryder BB Gun, despite his mother's fears he'll shoot his eye out - the humorist got his start a DJ on three Cincinnati radio stations.
He worked for three (WKRC, WSAI, WCKY) because they kept firing Shepherd for talking too much, and not playing enough records, from 1947 to 1951. That's what I learned researching Jean Shepherd's Cincinnati for our Sunday history page.
"I developed my style here, but it wasn't easy," Shepherd told The Enquirer during a visit in 1982, a year before "A Christmas Story" premiered in theaters. Shepherd died in 1999 at age 78. ("A Christmas Story" airs 6 p.m. Sunday on TNT, and there's the TBS marathon Christmas Eve & Christmas Day)…
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