A lunchtime tradition for years, the program features the reading of works of fiction, history and biography virtually in their entirety, by a professional radio performer in half-hour increments.
[1] However, a popular legend is told by Jim Fleming, a Chapter a Day performer for the last twenty years and a Wisconsin Public Radio employee since the 1970s.
Jim tells the story that sometime in the late 1920s Harold McCarty, the man who was most responsible for the creation of what has become Wisconsin Public Radio, was in the studio waiting for a guest who didn't show up.
The earliest documentation of the Chapter a Day title referring to the narration of an entire book is found for July 25, 1932, and lists the name of Marianne Smith, a member of the University of Wisconsin class of 1932, leading to the assumption that she was the reader.
Chapter a Day originally aired at 3 pm, but has been broadcast primarily at midday for most of its long lifetime for the convenience and enjoyment of lunchtime listeners.
[5] Although not the earliest reader on Chapter a Day, Karl Schmidt was recruited by Harold McCarty and began reading for the program in 1941, when he was a student at the University of Wisconsin.
Other readers over the years include Helen Darrah, Juanita Bauer, Marvin Bauer, Catherine Brand, Esther Hotton, Gerald Bartell, Sherwin "Sherry" Abrams, Ray Stanley, Tom Detienne, Myron Curry, Ken Ohst, radio actress Jay Meredith Fitts, Fannie Frazier Hicklin, Sybil Robinson, Ed Burrows, Kerry Frumkin, Jim Fleming, Judith Strasser, Norman Gilliland, Carol Cowan, Susan Sweeney, Michele Good, Michael Hanson, and Cliff Roberts.
Narrators for Chapter a Day must possess certain skills and even training to perform this job effectively because while reading on the radio one can't use gestures to help tell the story.
Book selections for Chapter a Day are made primarily by the radio station narrators and are typically approved by the Executive Producer, who rarely turns one down.