Herb Jepko

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Herb Jepko (March 20, 1931 - March 31, 1995) was an influential radio talk show host from 1964 to 1990. Originating on Salt Lake City station KSL, Jepko's late-night open-mic call-in show, Nitecaps would go on to become the first nationally syndicated talk show in the 1970's, broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

Jepko's groundbreaking syndication is often cited as the pioneering kick-start for nationally broadcast talk-radio that allowed for the prominence of such hosts as Larry King and Phil Donahue.

Nitecaps was idiosyncratic, never focusing one any single topic. Carrying a laid-back atmosphere inherent to its (then unusual) 12:00 AM - 6:00 AM time slot, the show consisted entirely of listener call-ins: any subject the (usually elderly) listener wished to talk about, no matter how big or small, was allowed, and the only limit was in the time allotted to each caller, which was 5 minutes. Herb would run "Tinkerbell", a music box to indicate that the callers time was done.

Nitecaps was dropped by MBS from syndication in the late 1970s, though Jepko cobbled together a handful of stations dubbed the Nitecap Radio Network. Nevertheless, Jepko would not significantly profit from his work, and by the time of his death he would be largely forgotten for his achievements. He is still fondly remembered by his fans and some radio historians. He had a wife, Patty. He was posthumously inducted into the Utah Broadcaster Association's Hall of Fame in 2003, and there is a Memorial scholarship fund in his name at the University of Utah.