Serious about April Fools

Hamilton, Ohio – The face may not be familiar, but the voice sure is.

Jay Gilbert entertained Greater Cincinnati radio audiences for decades on air at 102.7 FM WEBN and 92.5 FM The Fox. He brings his vast broadcast experience to the Fitton Center for Creative Arts April 1 for an April Fools Celebrating Self event.

Who better to the discuss pulling the wool over people’s eyes than the man who helped bring the legendary Fools Day Parade to life at WEBN? The inaugural parade stepped off 50 years ago to the day - April 1 (aka March 32^nd), 1976 - from his luncheon speaker series appearance.

Guests will hear how the parade came about, stories of some of its not-so-legendary predecessors in 1974 and ’75 and plenty of clips culled from foolishness created in the days when WEBN broadcast from Cincinnati’s Hyde Park Square and its later home in Mount Adams.

Gilbert also will talk about the (in)famous Plummet Mall prank and some of the other classic bits he created locally and across the country. Some of which outraged audiences. (Which was kind of the point.)

All part of a life-long goal to be behind the microphone.

“I wanted to be on the radio since I was maybe eight years old,” Gilbert said.

He was listening as the Golden Age of radio came to a close. Literally. Radio dramas like Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and Suspense ran back-to-back on Sunday evenings. Gilbert remembers tuning in to the final episodes of each in September of 1962.

“I always loved that theater of the mind thing they created,” he said. “Television was getting more popular, but radio let you see what you wanted to see. That’s exactly what the Fool’s Day Parade was. You could imagine it happening and people bought into it.”

Gilbert – a Philadelphia native – did his first radio work on the college station at Penn State University. His first paid gig was at the local station in State College.

A friend of his from school got a job at ‘EBN and urged Gilbert to apply. It took a couple of years for 102.7 FM to make him an offer, but when they finally did in 1974, he couldn’t refuse and has made Cincinnati his home ever since.

Fans still can find Gilbert on the air at 8 p.m. Sundays WMKV-FM (89.3) with his “Is This Folk Music or Not” program. He also entertains with his pen as Dr. Know and writes the Living in Cin column, both for Cincinnati Magazine.

Tickets for the April 1 Celebrating Self luncheon are $26 for Fitton Center member, $32 for non-members, and are available online here, by phone at 513-863-8873, ext. 110 or in person at the Fitton Center box office. Guests may reserve full tables of eight or half tables of four when purchasing by phone or in person.

The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.

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