Tom Sandman is hanging up his headphones. The host of Sandman Standards — who has kept the music of Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, and Bing Crosby on Cincinnati’s airwaves for 32 years — broadcasts his final original program on WMKV-FM 8-10 p.m. Thursday, June 25.
“It’s time,” says Sandman, who has recorded 266 two-hour episodes. “It’s hard to rethink new shows with the same material.”
Sandman, 73, started the show in 1994 on WRRM-FM (WARM 98.5) as Sunday Evening Standards when he was production director. Station manager Dan Swensson wanted him to do a show that “families, mom, kids and grandmas could enjoy together,” he says.
Playing the “Great American Songbook” jazz standards and popular songs from the past 100 years “was unique programming that could coexist with soft rock one night a week,” Sandman says.
The invention of the compact disc made it possible.
“CDs brought back hundreds of standards which were out-of-print for 50 years by Rosie Clooney, Doris Day, Frankie Lane, the Andrews Sisters and others. All would have been lost without the CD,” Sandman says.
After leaving WARM98 in 2006, WMKV-FM station director George Zahn invited Sandman to continue the show on the Maple Knoll Radio Network. Zahn suggested the new name, Sandman Standards.
The son of Helen and Henry Sandman, a former Cincinnati Police officer and city safety director, Sandman grew up listening to his parents’ record collection that included Sinatra, Crosby, Louis Armstrong and show tunes.
“Dad loved Peggy Lee. He also had these wonderful Decca LP collections of old standards by the Mills Brothers, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, etc.,” he says, adding the Great American Songbook tunes “are timeless. They’re beautifully written and brilliantly executed. Tony Bennett called standards ‘America’s Classical Music.’ ”
His favorite artist is Nat King Cole. "Everything that Sinatra did on Capitol (Records), Nat King Cole did first," he says.
Sandman started in radio at the University of Cincinnati’s WFIB-FM and WGUC-FM’s overnight Full Moon Radio student shifts in 1974-75. He worked at WEBN-FM 1975-82; Boston’s WBCN-FM 1982-90 and WBOS-FM 1990-92; WARM98 and WMOJ (Mojo94.9) 1992-2006; and WMKV-FM 2006-2026.
He continued to record new Sandman Standards shows after he and his wife, Peggy, moved five years ago to Rhode Island to be closer to his son and two grandchildren. He also hosts The Rock Hall show Tuesdays 9 a.m.-noon on WQRI-FM at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI.
The final original Sandman Standards airs 8-10 p.m. Thursday June 25, and repeats 5-7 p.m. Saturday June 27, on WMKF-FM (89.3) and WLHS-FM (89.9), and streams at wmkvfm.org. The member-supported non-commercial station broadcasts from Maple Knoll Village in Springdale.
Zahn says Sandman Standards repeats will continue to air.
“With Tom's blessing, we will continue to air his shows long term. We have more than a decade of shows, so we look forward to continuing his unique program,” Zahn says.
Read more:
