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Ella Jenkins (07/17/1993)

July 29, 2022, 11:00 pm

Ella Jenkins — gray haired woman stands with the ocean to her back

Ella Jenkins, cover photo for the album Come Dance By the Ocean (Photo: B. Richter via ellajenkins.com)

Born August 6, 1924, Ella Jenkins is known as the First Lady of Children’s Music. During her six-decade career, she shared songs and instruments with young people of all ages, in preschools, festivals, and concert venues all over the world. Studs Terkel welcomed his friend for a program of music and conversation in July 1993. Happy Birthday, Ella.

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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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Ella Jenkins (07/17/1993)