The Midnight Special premiered fifty years ago today

[DJ Porkchop]

The Midnight Special was an American late-night musical variety series originally broadcast on NBC during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Burt Sugarman. It premiered as a special on August 19, 1972, then began its run as a regular series on February 2, 1973; its last episode was on May 1, 1981.

The series was canceled by NBC at the request of Dick Ebersol as part of a deal for him to take over the then-ailing Saturday Night Live. Because there was no time for NBC to develop a new show from scratch in light of the urgent SNL situation, The Midnight Special was replaced by SCTV, a weekly Canadian sketch comedy series performed by members of the Toronto satellite of Chicago's The Second City improvisational troupe. That program, in turn, would later be replaced with another music show, Friday Night Videos, in 1983, also produced initially by Ebersol.

Fifty years ago tonight!

[CottonBear]

1. 1977 Jennifer Warnes

https://m.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Excellent. NT

[Crazyleftie]

3. the original Midnight Special

is still running

The Midnight Special was established in Chicago on 98.7 WFMT-FM in 1953, and went national in 1971. It has stayed current through decades of change, rich in tradition and history while retaining its timeliness, delighting listeners throughout the world with gentle irreverence or touching them with candid observation.

https://exchange.prx.org/series/33697-the-midnight-special

[bahboo]

5. yes indeed....listened to it a lot back in day...

[rsdsharp]

4. In 1975, four radio nerds (OK three radio nerds and one wife)

went to Chicago on Spring break to visit the big Top 40 stations WCFL and WLS. We called ahead to try to set up tours. CFL said OK as long as we were there and gone before 2PM when Larry Lujack went on the air. WLS said we could show up anytime before 5PM.

We went to Marina City to tour WCFL, then had lunch at Gino’s East, and on to the Stone Container Building and the Big 89. When we got there, about 3:30, theysaid “no tour.” 😢 We retreated to the view room to gawk at the gold records on the walls, and watch Bob Sirott on the air, while our budding salesperson pled our case.

They finally threw up their hands and told us SOMEBODY would be out to give the tour. 🤗 By this time it was 4:00 PM, and we were standing in the lobby. Sirott had come out of the studio during the news break, and was standing nearby talking to a large guy in a big floppy hat, a blue denim suit and a flowered shirt.

What does this have to do with this thread? The big guy was Wolfman Jack. He was there to talk to Sirott about hosting one of a series of Midnight Special Summer concerts. We got to go on the station tour, and got to see Sirott and Wolfman on the air, as we watched over the shoulder of the board op in the control room. And our tour guide? Tommy Edwards, who would soon become known as Little Snot Nosed Tommy on Animal Stories.

[highplainsdem]

9. How cool that you were there at a perfect time!

[ProfessorGAC]

6. Attended A Taping

Pretty sure it was 1975. They used the pavillion at University Of Chicago.
Went on consecutive nights.
It was very slick.
They had a stage at each end, and while one band was playing the other stage was set up.
It was 6 acts, 3 songs each, both nights.
They only made one episode of the night itself, but all the bands ended up edited into various other episodes.
Mayall, Strawbs, Black Oak Arkansas, Bob Welch, and others. I don't remember all of them

[highplainsdem]

8. What a great experience!

[highplainsdem]

7. Really enjoyed that show.