Andrew Patner tells us that the film director Mike Nichols, who died today, was the first announcer at WFMT Chicago and creator of its 61 year running Saturday night folk music and comedy program “The Midnight Special.”

He also wrote the station’s audition test for prospective announcers. The test is still used today. Try it, when no-one’s at home. Starting now:

The WFMT announcer’s lot is not a happy one. In addition to uttering the sibilant, mellifluous cadences of such cacophonous sounds as Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Carl Schuricht, Nicanor Zabaleta, Hans Knappertsbusch and the Hammerklavier Sonata, he must thread his vocal way through the complications of L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and other complicated nomenclature.