Posted by chicagomedia.org on February 05, 2009 at 15:39:15:
In Reply to: Sad news...Eddie Schwartz dies posted by Sil on February 04, 2009 at 07:25:51:
Chicago Ed lit up the airwaves late at night
The more he was spoofed, the more famous he became
BY RICHARD ROEPER | Sun-Times Columnist
February 5, 2009
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Just before dawn and just after radio icon Eddie Schwartz had passed away, flames and smoke were shooting from the roof of Holy Name Cathedral.
When he was in his prime, Chicago Ed would have been all over that story.
In the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, when Schwartz was hosting overnights on WIND-AM and later WGN-AM and finally at the Loop, he was famously enamored with paramedics, firefighters and cops. (Schwartz himself was a certified paramedic.) He would have spent hours talking about that Holy Name blaze.
When Schwartz was doing overnights, he dominated the field. I didn't sleep much back then, just like I don't sleep much now, and I spent many hours writing or reading or whatever-ing deep into the night, sometimes with Schwartz's show on in the background as he chatted with night-shift workers, friends who were cops, and celebs such as Bill Cosby and Jay Leno.
A unique voice
Schwartz had maybe the most ... let's say, unusual set of pipes ever heard on major-market radio. His voice was high-pitched, slightly garbled -- the antithesis of the smooth baritones of the traditional radio personality or the echo-chamber, jacked-up sounds of a typical morning zookeeper.
But he was a tremendous success. Nobody will ever match his numbers. It's a different business, a different era.
And Schwartz became an even bigger star, especially with younger Chicagoans, after bad-boy whiz kid Steve Dahl made him the butt of constant, merciless, often-hilarious satire. (Later, Kevin Matthews chimed in with his amazingly accurate impersonation. It only added to the legend.)
Many loved Eddie and his unique ways; others found him overbearing. He was always kind to me. I remember the first time I guested on his overnight show. The oversized Schwartz actually used a stick to work the controls on the board, as he was unable to reach all of the knobs and levels due to his girth. It was like doing radio with Jabba the Hutt, if Jabba had a more engaging personality.
Schwartz was smart, challenging, funny and gracious. You had to be prepared if you were going to spend an hour talking about Chicago with Chicago Ed.
Schwartz's food drives were legendary. He helped feed tens of thousands of Chicagoans in need. For that alone, he deserves a great round of applause today.
It has been a long time since Schwartz was healthy and even longer since he was a force in radio, but he will be missed. We've lost another Chicago original.