{"id":12633,"date":"2023-06-29T13:33:24","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T17:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/?p=12633"},"modified":"2023-06-29T13:33:24","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T17:33:24","slug":"bob-sherman-longtime-host-of-woodys-children-1932-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/2023\/06\/29\/bob-sherman-longtime-host-of-woodys-children-1932-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob Sherman, Longtime Host of “Woody’s Children,” 1932-2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bob Sherman, host of the long-running and award-winning radio show \u201cWoody\u2019s Children\u201d in New York City, passed away on June 27, 2023 at the age of 90.<\/p>\n

\"Bob
Bob Sherman, host of the long-running radio show, “Woody’s Children,” has died at age 90.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201cHe was New York radio\u2019s gentlest soul,\u201d said Chuck Signleton, general manager of WFUV, the Fordham University-based radio station on which Sherman\u2019s influential folk show aired for nearly 24 years. Following the show\u2019s more than 30-year run on WQXR, NYC\u2019s classical music station, Sherman began hosting it on WFUV in the fall of 1999, where it became a cornerstone of the station\u2019s \u201cCity Folk\u201d years. He continued to do so until health challenges and the demands of producing a weekly program prompted him to call it quits earlier this year. The final two episodes of \u201cWoody\u2019s Children” aired on Sundays, Jan. 22 and 29. As he wrapped up his show, Sherman said: \u201cIt\u2019s been a great run \u2013 54 years! I\u2019ll miss doing the program, but I\u2019m delighted that the spirit of ‘Woody\u2019s Children’ will live on.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it wrapped in January, \u201cWoody\u2019s Children\u201d was the longest continuously running folk music radio program in America and among the most influential. It was created and had been hosted by Sherman since its inception in January 1969. \u201cWoody\u2019s Children\u201d began its lengthy run on WQXR, where Sherman also served a long stint as program director and later as senior consultant \u2013 having begun his career there as a clerk-typist nearly 70 years ago and become its director of recorded music and music director before ever going on the air. Prior to launching \u201cWoody\u2019s Children,\u201d Sherman had programmed but not hosted another show called \u201cFolk Music of the World.\u201d <\/p>\n

Pete Seeger, Sherman\u2019s guest on the very first program, is credited with coining the name \u201cWoody\u2019s Children\u201d out of reverence for Woody Guthrie and the singer-songwriters following in his footsteps. Seeger was a frequent guest on the show, as were Tom Chapin, Judy Collins, Odetta, Tom Paxton, and Peter, Paul and Mary, among others. Sherman also gave early career boosts to such artists as John Gorka and Christine Lavin.<\/p>\n

\"Standing
Standing (l.-r.): Doug Mishkin, Pete Seeger, Lydia Adams Davis, Harold Leventhal, Oscar Brand, Tom Paxton, Fred Kellerman, and Joe Heukerott (kneeling) joined Bob Sherman in celebrating Woody’s Children’s 15th anniversary in 1984 (Photo: Steve J. Sherman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201cWoody\u2019s Children\u201d featured live performances and interviews, along with recorded music, and was often presented in a thematic way. “I try to involve intriguing patterns, and I have thematic concepts,” Sherman once stated. “There’s always a thread, some kind of connection, that leads one song to the next\u2026 There\u2019s a continuity, not just a random grouping of songs. The songs have to have import, logic, and something to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of Bob Sherman\u2019s favorite folk artists — including David Amram, Tom Chapin and Tom Paxton \u2013 helped celebrate the 50th anniversary of \u201cWoody\u2019s Children,\u201d during a nearly sold-out December 7, 2018 concert at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space in Manhattan. <\/p>\n

Although WQXR dropped \u201cWoody\u2019s Children\u201d 35 years ago, Sherman, whose background was in classical music, continued to host a number of programs at the classical station as well from the 1970s until recently \u2013 including the Young Artists Showcase, which he began hosting in 1978 and whose final show aired earlier this month when he announced his retirement. He also hosted television programs (Vibrations and Camera Three) on PBS and CBS during the 1970s.<\/p>\n

\u201cBob Sherman\u2019s interest in both young classical music performers and all folk musicians informed his long-running radio show and were a wonderful service to New Yorkers,\u201d Tom Chapin told AcousticMusicScene.com. Calling him \u201ca remarkably warm and caring person,\u201d Chapin continued, \u201cI shall really miss visiting his \u2018Woody\u2019s Children\u2019 radio show and singing him whatever new songs I had in my pocket, as well as the amazing Symphony Space concerts that brought my heroes and compatriots together to celebrate that long-running radio staple.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Platt, host of \u201cSunday Supper\u201d on WFUV, noted: \u201cI used to joke, \u2018I wanna be Bob Sherman when I grow up, even though I was only a half-generation younger and already a radio professional for 30 years. It was his lifelong dedication to the music and his ongoing commitment to new artists that inspired me. It was only in the last few months, when his health finally declined, that he stepped back from his shows at WFUV and WQXR. He was as much a treasure within the music community and radio audience as the artists he played\u2026 I\u2019ll always cherish our mutual admiration and, as I\u2019ve said, I\u2019ll continue to honor the legacy of \u2018Woody\u2019s Children.'”<\/p>\n

\"Bob
Bob Sherman @ 90 (Photo: Steve J. Sherman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Bob Sherman also taught at the Julliard School of Music for nearly 20 years, was a contributing music critic and columnist for The New York Times<\/em> for 40 years, is the co-author of The Complete Idiot\u2019s Guide to Classical Music<\/em>, and, with musical comedian Victor Borge, co-wrote two books (My Favorite Intermissions<\/em> and My Favorite Comedies in Music<\/em>). He and his brother, Alexander Sherman, compiled a pictorial biography of their mother, the noted Lithuanian-born classical pianist Nadia Reisenberg (who also inspired him to take up the piano at a young age, which he later played on several USO tours of Asia). He also was a frequent emcee and a concert narrator for Canadian Brass, The United States Military Academy (West Point) Band, the Greenwich Symphony, and other ensembles; and served on advisory boards for a number of cultural organizations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bob Sherman, host of the long-running and award-winning radio show \u201cWoody\u2019s Children\u201d in New York City, passed away on June 27, 2023 at the age of 90.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,17],"tags":[73,6959,6958,608,8867,761,1052,1464,1485,1531,2034,3409,2175,2648,2869,2881,8868,2990,6961],"class_list":["post-12633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-acoustic-radio-waves","category-news-northeast-us","tag-woody-guthrie","tag-woodys-children","tag-bob-sherman","tag-christine-lavin","tag-chuck-singleton","tag-david-amram","tag-folk-radio","tag-john-gorka","tag-john-platt","tag-judy-collins","tag-new-york-radio","tag-odetta","tag-pete-seeger","tag-symphony-space","tag-tom-chapin","tag-tom-paxton","tag-victor-borge","tag-wfuv","tag-wqxr","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12633"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12639,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12633\/revisions\/12639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusic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