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Chapter a Day is the title of a daily weekday radio program airing on the American statewide public radio network, Wisconsin Public Radio as part of their Ideas Network service. A lunchtime tradition for years, the program features the reading of works of fiction, history and biography virtually in their entirety, by a professional radio performer in half-hour increments. ==History== The beginning of ''Chapter a Day'' remains unclear, but a popular legend is told by Jim Fleming, a ''Chapter a Day'' performer for the last twenty years and a Wisconsin Public Radio employee since the 1970s. Jim tells the story that sometime in the late 1920s Harold McCarty, the man who was most responsible for the creation of what has become Wisconsin Public Radio, was in the studio waiting for a guest who didn't show up. McCarty was left with the prospect of dead air - something no broadcaster can countenance. He pulled the book he was currently reading out of his briefcase, opened it up and began to read out loud into the microphone. McCarty's reading was so popular, and drew so many responses of "what came next?" that it has been on the air ever since. Fleming says this story is true in spirit if not provable in fact. After all, ''Chapter a Day'' is all about storytelling, and this is a really good story.〔Fleming, Jim. Personal interview. 21 October 2009.〕 Actual records show that in the late 1920s there were sometimes Friday broadcasts that featured readings from classical literature by both University of Wisconsin–Madison professors and students. The earliest documentation of the ''Chapter a Day'' title referring to the narration of an entire book is found for July 25, 1932 and lists the name of Marianne Smith, a member of the University of Wisconsin class of 1932, leading to the assumption that she was the reader. It is thought that she read the book David's Day by Denis Mackail.〔Davidson, Randall. 9XM Talking. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006. p. 292.〕 ''Chapter a Day'' appeared on the WHA (call letters for Wisconsin Public Radio) schedule intermittently from 1932 to 1939, often as part of the summer programming schedule, but became a year-round permanent feature of the radio station on April 3, 1939.〔Davidson, Randall. 9XM Talking. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006. p. 301.〕 A list of books read on the program dating back to 1939 does exist, meaning that ''Chapter a Day'' may well qualify as the longest running regularly scheduled radio program in the history of radio in the United States. Until the 1970s, books read on ''Chapter a Day'' were read live on the air by the narrators. The standard reading of a book was ten episodes so that each book aired for two weeks. ''Chapter a Day'' originally aired at 3 pm, but has been broadcast primarily at midday for most of its long lifetime for the convenience and enjoyment of lunchtime listeners.〔Davidson, Randall. 9XM Talking. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006. p. 293.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chapter a Day」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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