Jean Parker "Shep" Shepherd Jr. (July 26,[1] 1921 – October 16, 1999)[2] was an American storyteller, humorist, radio and TV personality, writer, and actor.

As a youth, he worked briefly as a mail carrier in a steel mill and earned his amateur radio license (W9QWN) at age 16, sometimes claiming he was even younger.

After his military service, Shepherd began his broadcast radio career in early 1945, on WJOB in Hammond, Indiana, later working at WTOD in Toledo, Ohio, in 1946.

[13] Beginning on an overnight slot in 1956, he delighted his fans[14] by telling stories, reading poetry (especially the works of Robert W. Service), and organizing comedic listener stunts.

During a discussion on how easy it was to manipulate the best-seller lists based on demand, as well as sales, Shepherd suggested that his listeners visit bookstores and ask for a copy of I, Libertine, which led to booksellers attempting to order the book from their distributors.

[20] His subsequent radio work consisted of short segments on several other stations, including crosstown WCBS,[21] and occasional commentaries on NPR's All Things Considered.

In addition to his stories, his shows also contained humorous anecdotes and commentaries about the human condition, observations about New York City life, accounts of vacations in Maine, and travels throughout the world.

On most of his Fourth of July broadcasts, he did read one of his most enduring and popular short stories, "Ludlow Kissel and the Dago Bomb that Struck Back", about a neighborhood drunk and his disastrous fireworks escapades.

Shepherd wrote a series of humorous short stories about growing up in northwest Indiana and its steel towns, many of which were first told by him on his programs and then published in Playboy.

The stories were later assembled into books titled In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories: And Other Disasters, The Ferrari in the Bedroom, and A Fistful of Fig Newtons.

Railing against conformity, he forged a unique personal bond with his loyal listeners, who participated in his legendary literary prank by asking bookstores for the nonexistent novel I, Libertine (when publisher Ian Ballantine had Shepherd, author Theodore Sturgeon, and illustrator Frank Kelly Freas make the fake real, PW called it "the hoax that became a book").

(Opus Books, August 2013) Early in his career, Shepherd had a television program on WLWT in Cincinnati called Rear Bumper.

Shepherd was reportedly brought to New York City by NBC executives to prepare for the position, but they were contractually bound to first offer it to Jack Paar.

[25] Between 1971 and 1994, Shepherd became a screenwriter of note, writing and producing numerous works for both television and cinema, all based on his originally spoken and written stories.

Shepherd narrates the film as the adult Ralph Parker, and also has a cameo role playing a man in line at the department store waiting for Santa Claus.

On Saturday nights for several years, Shepherd broadcast his WOR radio program live from the Limelight Café in New York City's Greenwich Village, and he also performed at many colleges nationwide.

In 1993, Shepherd recorded the opening narration and the voice of the Audio-Animatronics "Father" character for the updated Carousel of Progress attraction at Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom.

[27][28] On some of his broadcasts, he played parts of recordings of such novelty songs as "The Bear Missed the Train" (a parody of the Yiddish ballad "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen") and "The Sheik of Araby".

Sometimes, Shepherd would accompany the recordings by playing the Jew's harp, nose flute, or kazoo, and occasionally even by thumping his knuckles on his head.

The particular version Shepherd used was a recording by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, with arrangement by Peter Bodge, released in April 1946 by RCA Victor-Red Seal.

This may well have not been true, but Shepherd's ink drawings do adorn some of his published writings, and a number of previously unknown ones were sold on eBay from the collection of his former wife Lois Nettleton after her death in 2008.

Griffith explained, "The inspiration – just plucking random memories from my childhood, as I'm wont to do in my Sunday strip (also a way to expand beyond Zippy) – and Shep was a big part of them".

In an interview with New York magazine, Steely Dan's Donald Fagen says that the eponymous figure from his solo album The Nightfly was based on Jean Shepherd.

Though he primarily spent his radio career playing music, New York Top-40 DJ Dan Ingram has acknowledged Shepherd's style as an influence.