If you enjoy this website, then
please send a donation to
The Herb Jepko Scholarship Fund at the University of Utah.
800 716-0377
(801 581-6825 in the SLC area).
or
CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION

If this is your first visit to The Last Nightstand, you might want to begin with

MESSAGES from 2000 to 2002

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

and now to our
Utah, Indiana, Maryland, Idaho, Texas, British Columbia, California,
Florida, Missouri, Connecticut, Colorado, Alabama, Arizona, Wisconsin, Virginia,
Tennessee, Oregon, New York, Washington, Iowa, Nevada, Oklahoma and Ontario line . . .

(the 21 States and 2 Canadian Provinces represented by the Nitecaps who have written to us so far.)

25 February 2005 Keller, Texas

I’ve watched this website for a year or so now and finally decided to write a note. My father, Bill Curtis, worked for Mr. Jepko until his death in January 1971. He hosted the show on certain days to fill in for Herb.

One of the things I remember most in those trying days after he died was the hundreds of cards and letters that were sent to our family. I have a February 1971 Wick with the picture of my father on the cover. If I remember correctly, my mother also wrote a thank you note to all the Nitecaps in a subsequent issue.

The only recordings I have of my Dad are albums he cut in the 40s. I wished I had some of his radio career. I was looking for recordings of the show when I found your site last year.

I’m glad to see that the memory of the show stays strong and thank you for this website.

Kerry Curtis
kerry1c@charter.net

(Dear Kerry,

Your mother’s letter is on page 31 of the March 1971 issue of The Wick. She wrote:

“A Thank You”

“TO MY DEAREST FRIENDS,

“This “thank you” is to every person involved in the Nitecap program. I sincerely hope you will all feel this is just to you. Your prayers, your letters, your pictures, your cards, your contributions, your books, your experiences, your tapes, and most of all, your love has been a great comfort to me.

“It was my privilege to share my Bill with you. I loved him with every breath I took and each of you felt the love he had for mankind. There are not enough words to express how my heart swells with humble appreciation for all you have done.

“I cannot fail with so many wonderful, loving people behind me.

“God Bless each of you,

“Dottie Curtis”

Her letter was published next to a photo of her reading a letter – doubtless from one of the Nitecaps.

Several Nitecaps have asked me to create brief bios of each of the guest hosts of the show. Your letter has inspired me to do just that. Look for something before the end of March.

Hopefully someone who finds this will have saved a recording of your dad hosting the show. -- Joe)

 

14 February 2005 Memphis, Tennessee

Wow! After reading all the entries on "The Last Nitestand", I have come to realize I wasn't the only teenager who was a card carrying NITECAP! I recently found my 1973 membership card (#35779) which entitled me to all "NITESTAND" privileges.

Oh . . . I can remember the many nights I used to listen to Herb Jepko and how his voice and that of our fellow NITECAPS would be the last I'd hear for the day.  I still listen to radio at night and will always remember Herb as the true pioneer of this huge industry.

It was truly exciting to find the website last year and that "The Last Nitestand" remains active. Thanks Joe for being the "candle-holder."

I'll continue to check in often.

'73

Barry
KE4KAG

(Welcome to the club Barry. Yep, that membership card is still valid for "all of the rights, privileges, and responsibilities" appertaining to being a true Nitecap here at the Last NiteStand!  You "signed up for life!" :)

Updating this site is a "labor of love."  I do hope and pray however, that together we will be able to reach out to other Nitecaps and those in the radio industry and elsewhere to create a permanent expression of gratitude to Herb and all the other Nitecaps by fully funding the Herb Jepko scholarship at the University of Utah this year!

I'll be sending out an email or two on that to everyone who has posted here, and to others who have written to me privately, within the next few weeks.

Before I do, I want to ask, just as Herb would have done as he challenged those early Nitecaps to create the show . . .

"Who has a really good idea on how we could raise a ton of money -- enough to really make a difference in a student's life (say $100,000.00 or more?) for the annual scholarship in his memory?"

Cindy and I have put in over $2,500.00 and will donate another $500.00 by this May.

Are there another 30 Nitecaps out there who could donate a similar amount?

Does anyone have a close relationship with Larry King or other broadcasters who might not have had the careers they have now if not for the pioneering work of Herb and the Nitecaps?

Any millionaire Nitecaps who would like to remember Herb in their wills?

Anyone have any other better ideas?

I am confident, just as Herb was, that together we can accomplish this, or any other goal, if we each work together inspired by a worthy cause. -- Joe)

 

14 February 2005, Spokane, Washington

I would like to send my belated greetings to all Nitecaps everywhere. Even though the show hasn't been on for many years I feel:

"Once a Nitecap always a Nitecap."

Carl Sperr
PO Box 10674
Spokane, WA 99209
carlsperr@yahoo.com

(Carl,

It's always great to hear from you. Patsy remembers you as one of the most frequent callers to the show and asked me yesterday to relay all of her very best wishes to you especially and to each one of the other Nitecaps who visits here. She is, I believe, quite amazed and tickled by all of this. -- Joe)

12 February 2005, Monterey, California

Boy, I can still remember the nights trying to stay awake to hear Herb's show or if we called in, to stay awake and wait our turn to talk on the air! Wish I still had tapes of those. . . .  Did you find any other airchecks of the Nitecap show from anyone out there? I rarely heard the entire Nitecap show from beginning to end, in the old days.

Jim Hilliker

(Jim,

Sadly as far as I know only about 20 hours of the show remain.  In 1999, Woodie Brown, Patsy's first husband, who she remarried after Herb passed away, found a one hour reel from March 1964! -- about 3 weeks after the show began and when it was known as "The Other Side of the Day." I saved one hour from 1977, a few weeks before Mutual dropped the show. We have some of the highlights reels, designed to recruit either affiliates or advertisers, but otherwise virtually nothing from the 1960s and 1970s. Randy Jepko saved several reels of the show from the two or three come-back attempts in the 1980s and 1990s, and I have a couple of reels of other hosts filling in for Herb. I have copied everything I have, burned it all to CDs, and given copies to Patsy, Randy, Tina and Kitty. As far as I know, that's all that is left.

If anyone has any recordings of any Nitecap Broadcasts, please contact me!

And to anyone who can donate, or arrange to have donated, $1,000.00 or more to the Herb Jepko Scholarship fund at the University of Utah, I'm willing to send copies on CDs or cassette tapes of EVERYTHING I have.

Joseph G. Buchman, PhD
175 Paradise Road
Park City, UT 84098
801 403 4648
nightynitecaps@gmail.com

11 February 2005, no location indicated

I doubt if Herb fully realized how many lives he touched with his program, and how his legacy lives on.

Best wishes to Patsy and keep up the good work.

(Patsy, her husband Woodie Brown, and I had dinner together earlier tonight to celebrate the Nitecap Show Anniversary. I gave her printout of all of the messages from Nitecaps here and personally conveyed each of your best wishes. Patsy remains in excellent health and spirits and will celebrate her 80th birthday later this year.
-- Joe)

11 February 2005, Toronto, Ontario

I listened to the Nitecap show quite a bit back in 1976-77, on WHAS-840, WBAL-1090 and a Buffalo FM station (think it was WDCX-99.5). Very tame by today's standards of talk radio - no verbal abuse of callers like Jim Rome, and of course Herb Jepko didn't allow any political or religious rants. I called in a few times, and talked about broadcast band DXing. I used to get the "Wick" magazine, and even had a number of Nitecap pen pals after I listed my name in the "Herbie's Pen Pals" section of the Wick. I am still corresponding with one of them, though it's moved from snail mail to e-mail.

I wish I had saved my old copies of the Wick. I still have a "Herbie" metal lapel pin in my collection, and perhaps a Nitecaps membership card as well.

My "We're the Nitecaps" photo would most likely have appeared in late 1976 or early '77, along with the "Herbie's Pen Pals" listing.

I had heard that Herb passed away a number of years ago. Thanks for keeping the memories alive on the www.nitecaps.net site!

73
Mike Brooker
http://webhome.idirect.com/~aum108/dx.html

(Sadly Herb passed away on March 31st 1995 at the age of 64. Scott Wilson has created a detailed obituary at:

http://www.cemeteryrecords.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6953556&pt=Herbert%20Jepko

Your "We're The Nitcaps" photo is on page 14 of the November-December 1975 issue of The Wick. -- Joe)

11 February 2005, Monterey, California

I discovered the Nitecaps Show with Herb Jepko when I was a high school student in Anaheim, California, around 1971 or '72. I was tuning around near our local station KEZY-1190 and picked up KSL-1160, and found a most unusual, but interesting talk show. I was hooked at age 16 and got my best friend Scott Phillips to listen too . . .

It was so much fun, but sometimes hard to hear KSL, especially in the summer with all the static and fading, plus interference from nearby stations around Los Angeles, such as KIIS-1150 and KEZY-1190 in Anaheim . . . but, we were able to listen to Herb and the gang a lot on Friday nights, during school vacations, and in the summer. . . . Scott and I joined the Nitecaps and he subscribed to the Wick magazine for a long time. We also got to meet Herb at a Nitecap Rally on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA and in 1976, we traveled to Salt Lake City for the summer Nitecap Convention to meet Herb, Rex and many others from the show . . . Great memories . . . We miss Herb and the program very much.

Thanks so much for keeping the show and his memory alive via your Web site.

Sincerely,
Jim Hilliker

11 February 2005, Stamford, Connecticut

I saw a post about the Nitecap Anniversery on a DX list for the National Radio Club (www.nrcdxas.org). Every year, we have a convention on Labor Day weekend in a different part of the country. On that weekend, we go see different stations transmitters and studios and we have a club auction on Saturday night along with a guest speaker. Above all, we party. It's a great group of broadcasters, hams, dedicated dxers, and people who follow what's going on in radio.

I have great memories of staying up late at night as a kid and dialing around to see if I could hear KSL and of course later WHAS which was easier to catch. I did hear KSL occasionally from my home in CT.

I will be having a special toast to Herb at around Midnight tonight.

Thanks for a website to a show that deserves to be remembered.

Sincerely,
Larry Stoler
A man who believes in good radio.
lstoler99@optonline.net

11 February 2005, Rocky Mount, North Carolina

Thank you Sir . . . for the memories . . . and the kindness to the`spirit' of the positive tone, mood and friendliness that Herb created.

I will join in prayer with you.

Ray Livesay
WNCR-TV

2 February 2005, Albuquerque, New Mexico

When I tell my students today about the Nitecap show, they cannot believe that people would stay up all night and sometimes wait hours to talk to Herb and then the topic was their summer vacation. I also seem to recall that one of the Crusher's areas of expertise was fishing.

Art

25 April 2004, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Upon visiting your website after several months, I discovered and downloaded the Rollye James program about Herb Jepko. It was a nice tribute to Herb and a nice surprise. My compliments!

Since my last email to you in regard to Nitecaps.net, I've become a licensed, active amateur radio operator. Having been on the air since December 31, I've discovered some of the same elements of the Nitecap program while working the amateur frequencies. I've had several occasions to chat with other hams, sometimes elderly/retired gentlemen who have one thing in common; they are widowers. Sadly enough, they no longer have their "life companions,"so they spend time making contacts on the amateur frequencies.

Something I've found in common with them is the desire for a genuine conversation, not just a quick aircheck, like many hams are prone to do. Yesterday, after signing off from a long chat with a retired widower here in Colorado, I realized how similar our QSO was to something one could hear any night on Herb's show. Now whenever I get into a long QSO, I tend to think of Herb and the Nitecaps.

Hope you're doing well, and glad to see the website updated on occasion. As always, if any recordings of the Nitecap program become available, I'd love to have a copy to bring back old memories. One of the tasks I perform on a regular basis at my job is transferring old reel-to-reel recordings to CD. Our company can be found at AlexanderFilm.com. I'd be happy to preserve someone's Nitecap programs for them, if I may keep a copy for myself.

Take care!

Regards,
Keith Simon
KC0NNB

21 April 2004, Burlington, Iowa

I often wondered what happened to the Herb Jepko Nitecap Show and now I found out. What a great program. I worked nights when I first heard the program I believe on WHO in Des Moines and later on a Louisville, Kentucky station. I worked on the late shift as a deputy sheriff in Iowa, and the program was good company. I still am employed with the Sheriff's Office 29 years later.

One night I turned it on to listen and no Herb Jepko anymore and I always wondered what happened. I still have two Nitecap cards from that time of joining in 1977.

I still sing part of the Nitecap song in my head. I remembered the tune and some of the lyrics. Thank you so much for the wonderful memories. I didn't realize why Mutual dropped the program and of what happened to Herb Jepko.

I used to be a faithful listener to Trivia Spectacular on Sunday Nights on KMOX in St. Louis. This was a another great program hosted by Dave Strause Mr. Trivia and the late Art Fleming (original host of Jeopardy). This program is no longer aired, but one of the questions asked was if anyone ever remembered the Herb Jepko Nitecap Show) No responses were made other than some of the listeners did remember the program.

I never called the Nitecaps but really enjoyed listening to the program.

Once again many thanks.

Sincerely,
Steven Parker

6 July 2004, Bakersfield, California

My wife and I were regular callers on Herb's last show. We were also the last callers on his last show here. If had been on the next night we were going to discuss crop circles with all the guests. We were very sad when his show went off the air. We wrote and called the station (KPMC now KNZR) to no avail. They carry Coast to Coast Art Bell show now. When Herb went off the air there were three talk shows in his slot they all caught heck from Herb's old fans.

We are old time DXers and love short-wave and AM radio. We love your effort to tell all good people what happened Herb.

Thank you,

Frank and Martha.

22 February 2004

Thank you for the wonderful online site about Herb and the Movement. I loved the show as a young man, raised in North Carolina, starting college. It was more than a 'commercial' show as found today. It was truly about the 'listeners.'   Their lives, their hopes and fears. The striving to 'belong.' You've captured this spirit for everyone to share a glimpse of today.

Take care for now . . .

Cordially yours,
Ray

11 February 2004

Excellent show with Rollye James, I even thought about calling in, but she was wrong about callers having to be members to speak on the air. Herb had many first time callers, and as I remember it he offered the free membership cards only to use as an audience gauge to show potential sponsors where the audience was coming from in documented form. Herb was so smart that he didn't even have to pay for the postage. If you wanted a free Nitecap membership card, you had to send a self-addressed stamped envelope to PO Box 60 in SLC. For the unbelievable price of about a penny each (which is what the cards cost to print back then), Herb was ingenious enough to create a database of hundreds of thousands of names and addresses which he could not only use to distribute his offerings, but he also rented the list to many different companies. He did this all without the benefit of computers.

Pretty darn amazing, when you think about it, huh?

It would be good to list the show's many other hosts who used to talk to us on the air and give Herb a night off every once in awhile. People like Rex Walgren.

Sincerely,
Gary

12 August 2003, Rachel, Nevada

When I was a teen I Hitchhiked across America a few times and did so with a Transistor (7) radio. Herb kept me company.

He also gave me the dedicated phone line idea.

I heard MANY hours and thought at the time this will be a really big format in America some day.

At the time it may not have been my cup of tea (talking to older folks), but it sure was fun listening.

Art Bell

(Thanks Art.

Art Bell was one of the few broadcasters, perhaps the only broadcaster, to pay tribute to Herb on air the night after Herb passed away. -- Joe)

12 July 2003, New York

I first found the show at 10 years old in 1968 when my dad bought me my first short-wave radio. From the Catskill Mountains in New York State, I was able to pick up and listen to a very staticy KSL, live from Salt Lake City, Utah. I soon started listening to the show as much as possible between fadeouts, and became a regular caller. I loved talking to Herb and Rex and in 1973, I joined and became Treasurer of the Empire State Friends Nitestand -- The First and ONLY Nitestand ever in New York State. The Nitecap Show helped me to gain good values while growing up. While most talk radio was about politics but Herb's show always remained down to earth. He preached and taught family values, and would always keep an open ear of interest in what every single caller had to say, but when they would start to ramble, "Tinkerbell" would gently cut them off. Unfortunately, I don't have any copies of The Wick magazine, but believe it or not I do have a solid Silver Official Herb Jepko Nitecap Show 10th Anniversary Commemorative Coin. (See pictures below.)

The coins were originally available back in late 1973 to commemorate the Nitecap show's 10th anniversary. There were commercials broadcast on the air, plus there were ads for them in The Wick Magazine. I believe (if I remember correctly) that the price for the coin was $19.95.

I also just looked through my old stuff in the attic and would you believe that I found my actual original Nitecap membership cards from 1973 and 1974. Here are photos of them. Boy, it seems like only yesterday .

Sincerely,
Gary Schein

15 June 2003, Arizona

I was surfing the web today, and decided to search out Herb Jepko on the Internet. I was shocked to hear he passed away in 1995.

Herb lived across the street from me when we were boys (Richland Street in Phoenix). We both went to North Phoenix High and graduated in 1949. I went into the Air Force in 1951 and lost track of Herb for the next 20 years, when I heard he worked for KSL in Salt Lake. I sent the radio station a letter trying to make contact with Herb, but never got a reply. It sure would have been nice for us to rehash our lives at that time.

Sincerely,

Jack A Powers
Col,USAF, Ret

30 May 2003, Datona Beach, Florida

Thank you so very much for bringing back some great memories for me for a difficult time in my life.

My mom had passed away when I was very young and I found Herb on KSL when I lived just outside
Nashville, Tennessee. At times it seemed like Herb was the only friend I had. I'll never forget calling in,
being scared to death, and then feeling like I was talking to an old friend.

I must admit I sat here earlier today with a tear in my eye as I once again heard the Nitecap song and
Herb's friendly voice.

My best friend and I were recently talking about the talk radio explosion and he commented that I was listening before anyone really knew what talk radio was.

Sadly, there will never be another Herb Jepko, but oh how I wish there was.

Jerry Bouldin
heyyobeaux@yahoo.com

25 May 2003, British Columbia

I used to listen to this show when I was kiid. I used 12 transistor radio, which, in the 69 era was quite an asset. Of course nowadays we use computers and IC chip ra Vecause of listening to Herb at night, I got into radio,both shortwave and amateur. Unfortunately, a couple of years ago, because of illness, I lost my eyesight to an infection, and the hopes of reit are not too high. However, my ears are still excellent, despite the advanced age of 40s . . . hahaha. I am now using a screenreader called Jaws to do this, so please forgive any minor errors.
73s.

Dana Jensen
Danaj@shaw.ca
604 669-6049

4 May 2003, Oregon

I'm pleased to find your site and see your interest in preserving the memories of Herb Jepko and his type of show which unfortunately is far removed from the style of radical and wacko talk shows of today. Like yourself, I grew up listening and participating in the Nitecap show . . . calling in from time to time.

The past 2 years I've been converting my reel to reel tapes to digital format, storing the bulk of it on minidisk. This has included not only my own personal projects, but hundreds of air checks I've accumulated through the 60's, 70's and 80's. I grew up in a suburb of Portland, Vancouver Washington, where I did most of my recording. In the early 70's especially on the nights I anticipated calling the Nitecap show I'd would record some of it. I think I have about 3 hours of useable air checks of the show off KSL, from 72 and 73 predating the Mutual affiliation. Only one hour of it has been transferred to MD so far, while I anticipate the rest of my dubbing to be complete this year. A good friend of mine has a copy of a Nitecap rally back in 1969 which was sponsored by the Portland Oregon Nitestand. I'm hoping to get a copy of that too. I also know a fellow who lived in Tulsa and had recorded the show off KVOO when it ran the show. I'd like to know if he still has them. As you probably know the quality of those broadcasts weren't great carried by phone line. Although I can't confirm this yet, I believe I still have a cassette of the show recorded off KIRO and Mutual in Seattle in 1975, while I was up there.

I appreciate what you have posted already and especially finding the other 2 songs from that out of print 33. Do any of your recordings include cards and letters read by Frank "The Crusher?" If I remember correctly, he was quite a cook and also featured many of his recipes. The air check I'm hoping to find in all my dusty tapes is the Thanksgiving recording I believe was 1970 or 71.

Keep up the good work and let me know what we could trade or whatever.

Kevin Malcolm
KLCK/KYYT
kbmalcolm@earthlink.net

13, February 2003, Green Mountain Falls, Colorado

Just wanted to let you know I made a contribution to the Jepko Scholarship Fund. Thanks again for that CD and I'm glad to see so many other people have warm memories of the Nitecap show.

Regards,
Keith Simon

21 January 2003, California

I found your website by doing a search on Google.

I remember listening to Herb, Frank, "The Crusher" Nolan and others on flagship station, KSL 1160 while living here in Southern California. I was a member of the "Nitestand" in San Marcos, California. It's a pity that there's not a program on the air today with a family friendly format such as Herb and Patsy's show. Keep up the good work.

Here's Tinkerbell,

Chuck Kopsho
Chuck392@webtv.net

12 January 2003, Vancouver, British Columbia

Well now . . . Imagine that . . . I listened to Herb from Edmonton, Alberta as a student and beyond during the early 1970s. Often nothing else was on, but certainly that was not the only reason. At that time I was in my boy in my teens, confused, and perhaps the voices helped on long nights.

Now, over forty years later, I am now a woman and miss having a friendly voice in the night. Certainly politics is nice and interesting, but there exists a need for something that is comforting and non-confrontational. That has gone, and the world is a sadder place . . .

Hugs,

Willow Arune
twofruitbats@shaw.ca
"Angels Fly Because They Take Themselves Lightly"

9 January 2003, Seattle, Washington

Just a note to tell you that there was a group of Fraternity men at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, 1967-68 who listened almost every night. Herb was truly the forerunner in talk radio. I was speaking about A.M. radio today with some friends in Vancouver, BC and I thought of those cold north Idaho nights when we could bring in KSL usually about 11:00 or midnight. I was happy to find so much info on the web. No one ever knew what Herb looked like so the picture was good to see. Reception in those days was "iffy" at best, but when "the skip" was right it was like Herb was in the same room. Thanks again and know that he touched many of our lives.

7 January 2003, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Thanks for your effort in putting together a tribute to a great radio pioneer.

I have many (now foggy) memories of listening to Herb's show over many years in many venues, including Washington, Ohio, Colorado and California. Listening to his theme song on your site brought back an incredible rush and a warm smile.

Why did I come here? I was thinking about peanut butter cookies the other day, and I seem to recall that Herb had a very simple recipe for them that he frequently mentioned. I regret never having made them, and I was hoping that I could find the recipe again. I hoped I might find it on the site. Any ideas about where I might locate it?

I never was much of a "joiner" so I don't have any "Wicks," and any tapes I might have ever had are ancient history. If I had any I would surely send them.

Thanks again for your efforts; whether or not I get the cookie recipe I appreciate the bit of nostalgia I have enjoyed for the past half hour or so.

Don

click here for our MESSAGES from 2000 to 2002

If you enjoy this website, then
please send a donation to
The Herb Jepko Scholarship Fund at the University of Utah.
800 716-0377
(801 581-6825 in the SLC area).
or
CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION

Join THE LAST NITESTAND today.

If you would like your name, address, email, photo, or phone number
added to your message above, just let me know.

nightynitecaps@gmail.com

Joseph G. Buchman, PhD
175 Paradise Road
Park City, UT 84098