European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 19, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday october 19, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 19 it beats Static but just barely and the Nite Caps by John m. Crewdson new York times across Middle America insomniacs will lobed angry again tonight. As they toss and turn clenching their fist Sand grinding their Teeth their dark thoughts will be not of president Carter or Idi Amin and not of the by bomber or the Neutron bomb but of the calamity that befell them on that darkest of Days. May 29.1977. That was the moment that their favorite radio pro Gram the Herb Jepko nit Cap show the country s Only nationwide Midnight to Dawn Telephone talk fest was silenced by the Gray Flann eled Cost conscious executives of the Mutual broadcasting system. Jepko a genial Low key Man with a soothing voice estimates that before Mutual dropped his show in favor of More scintillating All night entertainment his audience numbered in excess of 10 million or about one in every 20 americans. Now that he has been relegated to his own makeshift network of 10 widely scattered but powerful stations Jepko says his audience has shrunk to a Mere 5.5 million a fervently Loyal collection of not Only insomniacs but also on duty firemen Nightshirt service station attendants the elderly the lonely folks who just love to talk and folks who just love to listen. Apart from the fact that it is the closest thing around to a Cross country party line the nit Cap show is unusual among radio Call in programs in that Jepko gives each of his listeners five minutes to say or do anything they like except to discuss re Ligion or politics the fodder on which other such pro Grams depend. There is As a result much talk about the weather How the crops Are doing and the new casserole recipe that turned out Well and also a fair amount of singing piano playing and Reading of poetry. Occasionally Jepko Jovial i there will produce Only the sound of snoring from someone who has fallen asleep while waiting to Geton the air. It beats Static said de Brandon a Houston radio figure who is the Host of a somewhat More Issue oriented talk show but just As Jepko settled Down in the dimly lit nit Cap studio in Salt Lake City the other night he remarked that the Mutual network had offered to keep him on if Only he would agree to become controversial to invite outspoken guests to enlighten his listeners on the great issues of the Day. C. Edward Little Mutual s president said he had found the program not exciting and had told Jepko earlier this year unless you do something about it you Ain t going to be on but Jepko who has talked to More than a Quarter of a million callers since he began the program 14 years ago told the network he was convinced that the Nite Caps As his listeners like to Call themselves wanted to be left alone to do their own thing without interference from denizens of the real world. That s what makes it run he said. It s a departure from the everyday pressure people face. They want to new a Tok Long Johh Nebel but first a. New York times Don Grayston nit capper Jepko carries on. Kind of get away from Mutual replaced the nit Cap show with an All night program featuring Long John Nebel that originates from the studios of Mca in new York City. The difference Between Jepko and Nebel is the difference Between Black eyed peas and crepes a la Reine Between concern Over whether a Tornado is brewing and concern Over child pornography and most of the Nite Caps who have had to Trade one for the other Are not Happy about it. I have a room full of telegrams and mail Grams an letters and postcards Little said the other Day telling me How great Jepko Jepko is determined to continue. As the second hand on the nit Cap studio clock signalled the arrival of 10 . One night recently David Baertsch the program s 23-year-old Engineer gave Jepko the sign to punch one of the buttons on the blinking Telephone console that links him with callers from across the United states and Canada and occasionally fro Europe and Asia. The first Call was from a woman in seven Hills Ohio who predictably was angry at the radio station in Cleve land that had once brought the Nite Caps into her bedroom and had forsaken them for Nebel whose program she said was a few minutes later Jepko who is known to his listen ers As Herbie spoke with a woman from Syracuse who reported that nobody Here can hear you a woman from Massachusetts who assured Jepko that we Haven t forsaken you and a 14-year-old boy in Kansas City mo., who asked do you sit there and watch to alot while you re on the radio Jepko told the boy that he was much too interested i what his callers had to say to watch any television. However successful the program is As entertainment its commercial potential is limited by the advanced age of Many of the Nite Caps. According to Little More than a few of the Mutual network s member stations were unhappy with the program because it did not give them the audience they wanted nor did it give them the sales although a surprising number of Young people apparently do listen occasionally not Many of hem Are the sort of High salaried free spending Young professionals that advertisers want. Jepko has attempted to overcome that by developing his own merchandising organization. Through the mails he Sells his listeners life insurance Home remedies Vita min supplements night lights cookbooks to shirts copies of the nit Cap Creed i believe it is my obligation As a nit Cap not to Carp and criticize recordings of the program s theme song we re the Nite Caps nighty Nite Caps and related products. Jepko resents suggestions that All of this is a cynical Effort to wring scarce dollars from the hands of pension ers. But neither he nor Robert Thorn a Utah investment executive whom Jepko recently hired to oversee his Nite Caps world wide communications inc., would disclose the corporation s net earnings. As Midnight slips away and Dawn approaches the Call ers begin to sound Sleeper but they still wait patiently to talk to Herbie to remind him that no matter what the Mutual people say they think he s a Winner
