Dick Orkin

Inducted 2004

The man who parlayed a chicken coop trauma into a famous fowl called Chickenman, was actually plucked—so to speak—from the job of documentary maker for Group W (Westinghouse) broadcasting in Cleveland, Ohio. The plucker of the serious-minded pluckee was WCFL radio in Chicago. It was in Orkin’s position as News and Public Affairs Director for the top-rated station that he hatched the egg that became in international radio feature favorite. His follow-up feature, the Adventures of the Toothfairy, spread molar merriment from coast to coast.

Born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Dick traces the idea for the legendary “Chicken who couldn’t fly” to his experiences feeding poultry in his grandfather’s house-attached chicken coop. “Chicken’s are neither smart or friendly. They didn’t mind biting the hand that fed them—and, boy, did they! I think the Winged Warrior—the dumbest crime fighter who ever bawked—was my perverse revenge on the bad-pecking poultry population.”

Dick first took aim at the world of advertising in Chicago in 1973, scoring national acclaim with comedy radio commercials for Time Magazine, GMAC, The Gap and many others. For more than three decades, his radio spots—mini dramas, actually, which NEWSWEEK dubbed, “The Advertising Theatre of the Absured”—have garnered countless trophies from virtually every advertising competion around.

In 2002, the National Association of Broadcasters inducted Dick into the NAB Hall of Fame. In 2003, amid much fanfare, and on a stage built to resemble the famous “Chicken Cave”, Dick received the Illinois Broadcaster’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Apparently, Dick has enough talent for two lifetimes, as he was further honored by the Pennsylvania Broadcasters Association and the Radio Advertising Bureau. Dick attended Yale Drama Graduate School in pursuit of an MFA in Theatre and Speech and, in mid-career, took time out to secure an MA in Marriage and Family Therapy, specializing in Interpersonal Communications and, later Transpersonal Studies in the Ira Progoff Intensive Journal Process.