The Midnight Special

"Oh yeah, that's the Midnight Special"

The Midnight Special has stayed current through decades of change, rich in tradition and history. The Midnight Special retains its timeliness, delighting listeners with gentle irrelevance or touching them with candid observation.

In 1953, Mike Nichols, (then a WFMT announcer and now one of the most respected stage and film directors), developed The Midnight Special as a showcase for recorded folk music. Over the years, The Midnight Special has evolved into an eclectic mixture of song and story that attracts not only a loyal following, but also new, younger listeners with each broadcast. They hear an incredibly diverse selection of artists, from the traditional to the contemporary: Joan Baez, Tom Paxton, Arlo Guthrie, Mike Cross, The Weavers, Dudley Moore and Carol Channing, to name a few.

Hundreds of traditional and contemporary folk performers and comedians fill this two-hour spontaneous entertainment program that we call The Midnight Special. Original, offbeat, and always entertaining, The Midnight Special offers listeners a program of music, madness and mayhem — a lively potpourri of folk and ethnic music show and novelty tunes, and hilarious comedy routines.

The Midnight Special often airs live performances recorded by WFMT over the past 50 years that are not available commercially, including well-known artists appearing at Chicago area clubs, the University of Chicago Folk Festivals, and the comedy revues of Chicago's famed Second City troupe.

Host Rich Warren was named "Broadcaster of the Year" by the International Folk Alliance Conference in 2008.