If Jean Shepherd was alive today, he'd be spurning the blogosphere. A bunch of "noise and hoopla," he'd say. "A gaggle of half-wits who think they've got something important to say." I might disagree, but I'd hang on the man's every word.

Throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s, Jean Shepherd broadcast weeknights a 4-hour (and later, 45-minute) show between midnight and 4:30am. He was once dubbed the first "radio novelist," weaving together elaborate stories each night with little-to-no preparation. Shep's nightly improv inspired a generation of comedians and storytellers, including Andy Kauffman and Jerry Seinfeld. It amazes me that so few know him today, and of the ones that do, most know him for his film, A Christmas Story--based on a mishmash of Shep stories, including, Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Kid.

1. "Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Kid" - Jean Shepherd, Sheperd's Pie Slice #1 

Growing up, Jean Shepherd's familiar, fireside chat persona would stream from my grandparents' bedside radio in the middle of the night, trickling down the hallway like a lonely beacon cutting through the quiet of that large Victorian house. My grandmother, who had listened to Shep for decades, was accustomed to keeping her radio on all night. Of the many summer nights I spent in Long Island, I can only recall the reruns of Cheers, the smell of mothballs, and the rebroadcasts of ole Shep on the AM radio.

Later, in college, I would rediscover Shep's broadcasts on an NPR special by Harry Shearer. As I listened to clips from Shep's stories of army code school and Christmas in Indiana, I realized that it was the same voice I had heard decades before, in that tiny bedroom in Long Island. It was then that I began collecting mp3s of the radio legend, finding most works on the Shep Net Juke Archives.

2. "Scout Balloon" - Jean Shepherd, 1973, EPRN

Jean was a master of storytelling, and I hope you'll enjoy his broadcasts as much as I do. He was one of the most celebrated radio personalities of his day, and while many of his anecdotes and commentary have not aged well (especially when he discusses travelling to "foreign lands"), it remains that Shep's good-natured, fiercely independent character is timelessly American.