Franklyn MacCormack

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Franklyn MacCormack (March 8, 1906 - June 12, 1971) was a Chicago radio personality, a familiar voice from the 1930s into the 1970s on his radio program, The All Night Showcase.^{[citation needed]}

For many years he was the overnight broadcaster on two of Chicago's well-known clear-channel radio stations, first on WBBM and then on WGN, and thus was heard by listeners hundreds of miles from Chicago.

In contrast to the primary sports-and-talk formats of WBBM and WGN, MacCormack read romantic poetry and played classical, big band and Broadway music. One poem, "Why Do I Love You?" became his signature, the first line of which he would typically use to begin his program:

I love you not only for who you are, but for what I am when I am with you.^{[citation needed]}

MacCormack's gloomy manner of reading these poems inspired the Bob and Ray character Charles the Poet, who can never get through one of his overly sentimental poems without cracking up.^{[citation needed]}

1 Books and recordings
2 Death
3 Listen to
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Books and recordings

MacCormack edited the 245-page Why I Love You and Other Poems from My Old Book of Memories (John C. Winston Company, 1948), and a paperback edition was published in 1963 by Chicago's Carl Mack Books.^{[citation needed]}

In 1958, MacCormack recorded an album for Liberty Records. The album, The Torch Is Burning, consisted of spoken-word interpretations of classic big band era popular songs, backed by a string orchestra arranged and conducted by Russ Garcia.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Death

MacCormack became ill during the broadcast of June 12, 1971, and was quickly taken to a hospital. He had, in fact, suffered his second heart attack in a nine-month period, this time fatally, as he died Saturday afternoon. His time slot was initially filled by occasional guest host and staff newscaster Clif Mercer. 2,500 people gathered two days later to honor his passing.^[1]