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Long John Nebel Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: [Summit record]
Date: circa 1970



Biographical History

"Long" John Nebel (1911- ) was an American radio broadcaster and talk show host. He began his career in radio broadcasting in 1954. In New York City he worked for WOR as host of a late night talk show before moving to WNBC in August, 1964. In 1972, he left WNBC for WMCA and remained there until his death in 1978. He conducted a variety of interview, talk, and telephone shows, including Addio, Long John Nebel All Night Show, Long John Nebel Early Hour, Long John Nebel Phone Show, Straight Line, Long John Nebel Versus, and Monitor.


Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Long John Nebel Papers contain correspondence, subject files, phonotapes, memorabilia and writings.

The majority of Correspondence is fan mail, with a few other incoming and outgoing items. Subject files cover topics such as communism, flying saucers, and religion. Published material contains advertisements, books, magazines, and newspapers. Writings consist of the manuscript, galley and page proofs of The Psychic World Around Us, written in collaboration with Sanford M. Teller in 1969. A small amount of Memorabilia completes the collection, and includes an index to the Addio programs.

The bulk of the collection (90 boxes) consists of phonotapes of the various talk, interview and telephone shows Nebel conducted over his career. With the exception of one 1962 recording, this group spans the years 1964-1969. The tapes measure 1/4"x2400' unless otherwise designated, and the tape speed appears in most cases to be 7-1/2" per second. Each entry gives the name of the show, the guests, and the topic of the show when known. When the airing date is different from the taping date both are given. Dates for repeated shows are also noted.

Each tape has a unique ID number, given in the inventory below, for example "#003-005." Please use the date and tape ID number when requesting items.

Nebel's programs dealt with a variety of topics, including religion, politics, medicine, and the theater. Many of the shows were concerned with psychic phenomena and the occult, with representative topics such as ESP, UFOs, hypnotism and spiritual healing. Name and topic indexes to the shows are available online or by contacting us; see Related Finding Aids below for more information.

Radio programs represented in the phonotapes, with inclusive dates of tapes in this collection, are:


Arrangement of the Collection

Tapes are physically arranged in chronological order regardless of show title. For ease of reference, the following inventory is ordered first by show, and then by date within each show.


Other Related Finding Aids

An alphabetical list of guests, with the date(s) and the show(s) on which they appeared, is available in PDF form online or by contacting the repository listed above.

A topical index, with the date(s) and the show(s), is also available in PDF form online or by contacting the repository listed above.


Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Access to the tapes requires advance notice for production of a listening copy. Listening copies are for onsite use only. Any person wishing to purchase a research copy will need to obtain permission from the copyright holder prior to placing their order.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.


Related Material

Special Collections Research Center has the papers of many individuals in television and radio; please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.


Subject Headings

Persons

Nebel, Long John.

Subjects

Actors -- Interviews.
Authors -- Interviews.
Interviewing on radio.
Ministers -- Interviews.
Physicians -- Interviews.
Politicians -- Interviews.
Rabbis -- Interviews.
Radio broadcasters -- United States.
Radio broadcasting.
Radio programs.
Radio talk shows.

Genres and Forms

Audiotapes.
Correspondence.
Interviews.
Manuscripts for publication.
Sound recordings.

Occupations

Radio broadcasters.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Long John Nebel Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of John Nebel, 1969.


Table of Contents

Correspondence

Subject files

Memorabilia

Published material

Writings

Tapes


Inventory