• What is The Midnight Special?
  • Click HERE for an expanded answer.
• Can you tell me the history of the show?
  • Click HERE for the history page.
• Did The Midnight Special ever begin at midnight?
  • To the best of our knowledge, the program never began at midnight, just like the train. The train called "The Midnight Special" ran on the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio (GM&O) Railroad, and it departed Chicago at 11:00 PM. However, we doubt this was on Mike Nichols' mind when he named the program. WFMT kept very short hours back in 1953, and would have normally signed off by 11 on Saturday evenings. The program eventually moved to 10:15, where it stayed for almost 40 years, and more recently to its current time of 9:00 PM. Incidentally, the train about which Lead Belly sings in our theme song was a mythical train that supposedly ran past Sugarland Prison in Texas. Rumor had it that if "The Midnight Special" shone its ever-lovin' light on you, you would be a free man within the year.
• How do I find out more about the concerts mentioned on The Midnight Special?
  • At the bottom of every Chicago playlist is a complete listing of concerts mentioned on that week's program, with contact information for tickets and reservations. The playlist for each Saturday's program is posted Sunday about noon. Since this may be too late for some listeners to find details for concerts occurring that day, we suggest you check the concerts listed on the previous week's playlist.
• Does The Midnight Special take requests?
  • Our only formal request program is New Year's Eve, a tradition we've enjoyed for about 40 years. We do not take requests at any other time. Listeners always are welcome to make suggestions with the understanding we make no commitment to play them.
• How come you post The Midnight Special playlist the day after the broadcast?
  • First, and most important, I don't know what I'll be playing until shortly before broadcast. Even if I did, our webmaster has a life, and doesn't sit perched at her computer awaiting The Midnight Special playlist. Once she gets the list, she needs to reformat it and add the links to artists and labels, which takes time. Finally, my goal is to continually surprise you on The Midnight Special. Seeing the playlist in advance ruins the surprise, and a good portion of the fun.
• What happened to Norm and Ray?
  • Norm Pellegrini, who remained active in the Chicago classical music scene, especially Lyric Opera of Chicago, died July 2, 2009. Ray Nordstrand retired from the program after a heart attack in 1993, and after a long illness, passed away, August 27, 2005.
• How come you don't offer taped or CD copies of the program, or some of the selections that you play? I'd be willing to pay.
  • Our licensing agreement with ASCAP and BMI allows us to broadcast music, not to sell copies of it. To make copies of the program would violate the composers' and artists' copyrights, not to mention their livelihoods. We sympathize that some of what we play is no longer available for purchase, but it is still copyrighted. Even if these legalities did not exist, WFMT lacks the staff and facilities to oblige. We strongly urge you to purchase the selections you enjoy.
• You post two different playlists, a Chicago playlist and a national playlist. Which show do I hear?
  • If you listen to the three-hour Midnight Special on WFMT, either over-the-air, or on our Internet streaming or archive service, you are hearing the Chicago program and should reference the Chicago playlists. If you hear the two-hour program on a radio station outside of the Chicago area, the national playlist is for you.
• How do I attend your New Year's Eve festivities?
  • First, you have to be listening to The Midnight Special in the fall, most likely during our fundraiser in November. There are two ways to receive an invitation to our gala New Year's Eve party. If you want two confirmed seats, you can pledge $200 per seat during The Midnight Special on our fall Fine Arts Circle membership drive. Or you can enter a free drawing for New Year's Eve tickets. For details on that, you need to listen to the program during November. If you miss the fundraiser, tickets may be purchased on a space available basis by contacting our Fine Arts Circle director Stephanie Photakis. at: sphotakis@wfmt.com
• The WFMT Website mentions program hosts blogging and tweeting. How come you don't do either?
• My thoughts, observations and convictions are conveyed by the music and comedy that I play on The Midnight Special. (I also play selections with which I don't necessarily agree.) I also occasionally will comment during the program. Anything I would write in a blog would be superfluous. I doubt you are interested in my thoughts, random or otherwise. If you want to know my favorite CDs, please check the CD reviews I write for Sing Out! Magazine (www.singout.org).
  
  As far as Twitter and tweeting, I find it one of the more inane developments of the Internet age. It is a great time waster and recent studies suggest that most people who sign up for Twitter lose interest after a month. It may be great for learning urgent details of the Iranian unrest, but my daily activities are of little interest. I assume that nearly all listeners would rather I invest my time in the program than on Twitter.
  
  I am not a Luddite. The Midnight Special was one of the first radio programs with a Website back in 1996. I am happy to promptly respond to your E-mail. If you have ever E-mailed a question to me you know that about 98 percent of the time I respond within an hour.
• How long does it take to produce and present Folkstage and The Midnight Special?
• Each one-hour live Folkstage concert requires about 14-15 hours of my time. Since I live a long way from WFMT, it is a minimum 2.5 hour commute each way. I leave home at noon and arrive home at midnight. If I lived next door to WFMT, it would still require about 5.5 hours for each live concert. Aside from the time on Saturday, it can take anywhere from one-hour to five-hours to negotiate with, book and process the paperwork for an artist performing on Folkstage. After each live Folkstage concert I spend 2-4 hours editing and preparing the performance for the WFMT on-line archive, as well as archiving it for the WFMT library. Pre-recorded Folkstage concerts taken from the archives for broadcast require 1-3 hours to produce depending upon how recently the recording was made. Many older recordings were never edited and may require noise reduction and/or level adjustments to make them appropriate for broadcast.
  
  The Midnight Special requires 16-hours per program of planning and execution. This does not include auditioning new CDs and ancillary paperwork.
• Do you ever repeat Midnight Specials?
• No. I have rebroadcast only one program, by listener request, the "Spoon River" show. Otherwise, neither Norm, Ray nor I ever repeated a program. I believe listeners always deserve a fresh, new program. Barring unforeseen calamity, I have no intention of programming re-runs.

If you have any questions of general interest we will post the answers here.