Flicklives

Last Summary Update: 10-20-2026

Charisma, Lemmings, Perverts, Pet Pigs
Airdate: Wednesday - January 10, 1973 (Airdate Confirmed)

WOR Show
Original Airing

audio

(NOTE ABOUT TIME REFERENCES: Since there are many different copies of shows out there from different sources, all time references are from the beginning of one single recorded copy, since various copies, depending on when the recordee started recording, had news at the beginning or shortened themes. The times would vary from copy to copy.)

First Spoken Line After Theme Ends

Yes, well of course just one moment please. . .

Show Description

Shep closes by firt humming the Bahn Frei Pola and transitioning to "The Bear missed the Train" music

[ Courtesy: GROK Summary - - ]   
  Shepherd riffs in his classic rambling, observational style, mixing absurd "signs of the times," crime oddities, ads, pet stories, and a long pseudo-scientific bit on charisma.
Key segments
- Opening and cultural notes: 
Jokes about glued-on mustaches, zippered sideburns, and "convertible men of today." Comments on Atlantic City supposedly renaming Monopoly streets (Baltic Avenue, Mediterranean) and the Boardwalk, plus the usual Eastern-establishment digs.
-End-of-the-world clues:
Lemmings in Sweden acting nervous (as they supposedly did before the Black Plague); Maine caterpillars predicting a hard winter; the Colosseum's upper tier looking shaky (medieval legend says its fall means the world's end); nervous tics from Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon; Nixon "hurling thunderbolts."
- Crime reports (presented as public-service "annals of crime"): 
A man punched while giving snow-stuck-car directions; an 11-year-old "human spider" who scaled a school and stole a 350-pound safe with a friend; a Philadelphia bank robber who left his note written on a phone bill and asked if the arrest would interfere with his police-exam plans.
- Ads and asides:
Plug for House of Chan restaurant; long Nat King Cole record-collection spot; guinea-pig ownership letters and a salute to pet owners.  Shep's Guinea Pig is "Conway Tweety"
- Charisma digression (the centerpiece):
Charisma as a real, measurable electrical force field radiating from certain people (detectable with ultra-high-frequency receivers). Dull people have high "resistance" in their nervous systems so messages arrive late; residual interference in the brain; talk of Bell Labs developing an implantable charismatic transmitter/IC; spinal degaussing. Shepherd claims he's radiating thousands of watts.
- Pet story closer:
Arnold, an 800-pound (or larger) house-broken Hampshire pig in California that barks like a dog, eats dozens of donuts, and has his own bedroom.
- Sign-off:
Technical complaints about the transmitter, "the bear missed the train," and handoff to the news.
Overall tone is pure late-period Shepherd: free-associative, gently cynical, full of mock-serious folklore, radio-station self-reference, and escalating comic absurdity.      
  

News Articles Read by Shep During Show

Shep would often read articles he recently read or were sent in by fans

Time	Image	Description
12:06		11 year old human spider
13:19		Play it Cool

WOR ID

Time	Station ID (All times approximate)
15:43	This is WOR New York. . .

Commercials (All times approximate)

Time	Sponsor	Notes
16:36	Lifesavers
18:35	House of Chan
20:17	Longines Syphonette Society	Nat King Cole

Music (All times approximate)

Time	Music Title	Notes
07:20	Slapstix