Studs Terkel
| Studs Terkel | |
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Terkel in 1979
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| Born | Louis Terkel May 16, 1912 New York City, New York, USA |
| Died | October 31, 2008 (aged 96) Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Pen name | Studs Terkel |
| Occupation | Author, Historian, Radio Personality, Actor |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago (Ph.B., 1932; J.D., 1934) |
| Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction, 1985 |
| Spouse | Ida Goldberg (1939–1999) |
| Children | one son |
| Website | |
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 Louis Daniel Armstrong talks with Studs Terkel on WFMT ; 1962/6/24, 33:43, Studs Terkel Radio Archive
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Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks talks with Studs - Poetry Month ; 1967, 45:01, Studs Terkel Radio Archive
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Studs Terkel's Music Interviews, includes excerpts of interviews with Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Oscar Petersen, and Memphis Slim. Library of Congress
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Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008) was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for "The Good War", and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.
Terkel was born to Samuel Terkel, a Russian Jewish tailor, and Anna (Annie) Finkel, a seamstress, in New York City. At the age of eight he moved with his family to Chicago, Illinois, where he spent most of his life. He had two brothers, Ben (1907–1965) and Meyer (1905–1958).
From 1926 to 1936, his parents ran a rooming house that also served as a meeting place for people from all walks of life. Terkel credited his understanding of humanity and social interaction to the tenants and visitors who gathered in the lobby there, and the people who congregated in nearby Bughouse Square. In 1939, he married Ida Goldberg (1912–1999), and the couple had one son. Although he received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1934, he decided instead of practicing law, he wanted to be a concierge at a hotel, and he soon joined a theater group.
A political liberal, Terkel joined the Works Progress Administration's Federal Writers' Project, working in radio, doing work that varied from voicing soap opera productions and announcing news and sports, to presenting shows of recorded music and writing radio scripts and advertisements. His well-known radio program, titled The Studs Terkel Program, aired on 98.7 WFMT Chicago between 1952 and 1997. The one-hour program was broadcast each weekday during those forty-five years. On this program, he interviewed guests as diverse as Martin Luther King, Leonard Bernstein, Mort Sahl, Bob Dylan, Alexander Frey, Dorothy Parker, Tennessee Williams, Jean Shepherd, and Big Bill Broonzy.
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Wikipedia