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Hiroshima? Overkill and Megalove (08/20/1963)

August 7, 2020, 11:00 pm

Atomic cloud over Hiroshima (from Matsuyama) — 509th Operations Group [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Tonight, an annual WFMT tradition dating back many decades, and one of the many radio plays Studs Terkel created in partnership with Jim Unrath. Based on Norman Corwin’s prose poem Overkill and Megalove, the program responds to the bombing of Hiroshima and explores the madness of war that leads to the obliteration of the human species.

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Meet the Host

Studs Terkel (1912-2008) radically redefined the concept of radio interviews. For 45 years starting in 1952, WFMT was his homebase. His daily radio show was a pillar of WFMT’s programming, with its eclectic and astute mix of music and conversation. Studs juxtaposed interviews with the many of the 20th century’s most significant figures with the voices of uncelebrated, working people from Chicago. As a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Studs helped established oral history as a popular and socially ambitious literary genre. Some of his titles include: Division Street, Hard Times, Working, Race and And They All Sang (Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey). Studs was also a recipient of the National Book Award.

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Hiroshima? Overkill and Megalove (08/20/1963)