Karl Schmidt

MADISON- Karl Francis Schmidt died peacefully, at home in Madison, on April 21, 2016. Born in Massillon Ohio, December 17, 1922, he was the first child of Margaret Ferris and Karl Peter Schmidt. He lived a full life of 93 years.

Massillon was a town of steel mills and limited opportunities for a boy of his inclinations, yet he chose to stay in high school for an extra year because he had discovered his passion for theater. His high school drama teacher encouraged him to expand his horizons and apply to attend the University of Wisconsin.

Within weeks of arriving in Madison in 1941, he discovered WHA radio and his life's work. His career in public broadcasting lasted until his death, and beyond. Karl's voice, by recording, is still heard on the stations of Wisconsin Public Radio.

He joined the Army in 1941, serving in the Pacific Theater, where he built and operated Armed Forces radio stations, which provided news from home and other programming for soldiers throughout the region.

Returning to Wisconsin after the war, Karl resumed his studies and his broadcasting career. Among the subjects he studied most keenly was a young violinist from Beloit named Joan Dougan, who became his wife in February of 1948. The two spent part of a year in New York where she attended the Juilliard School and he tried his hand at radio drama, appearing in serials like Green Lantern and The Shadow. But New York did not suit them and they returned, happily, to Madison. He joined the staff of WHA and became a Professor of Communication at University of Wisconsin-Extension.

At WHA, he was a familiar voice on a variety of programs including School of the Air offerings that served rural educators around the state. On Saturdays in autumn, he provided color commentary for Badger football games. He was Director of Radio from 1968 to 1971 when he founded Earplay, a national program funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts to produce radio drama for public stations in the United States and Europe. For 12 years, Earplay distributed audio works by playwrights including Edward Albee, David Mamet, Archibald MacLeish, and John Gardner.

During that period, with his colleague Don Voegeli, he also established the National Center for Audio Experimentation with the goal of advancing technological aspects of recording and communicating sound.

Karl played an important role in the founding of National Public Radio beginning in 1969 as a member of the founding board, and then as member of the Board of Directors of National Educational Radio and National Public Radio.

He also served as Associate Chairman of the Board of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters, and as a member of the Radio Advisory Council, Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

His awards include a 1971 George Foster Peabody Broadcasting Award for the WHA program "Wisconsin on the Move." He was Director of Radio at the time. In 1977, he gained another Peabody for Earplay, described by the awards committee as "high quality radio theater combining works of talented authors with top-flight dramatic talent." Two years later, Earplay won the Prix Italia, radio's most prestigious international award, for Arthur Kopit's play "Wings." He twice won "Major" Armstrong Awards for Excellence and Originality in Programming (1975 and 1977.) He earned a Distinguished Service Award in 1981 from National Public Radio, and a Distinguished Service Award in 1983 from the University of Wisconsin-Extension. His production of the science fiction classic novel "A Canticle for Leibowitz" won a 1983 Gabriel Award and a 1984 Ohio State Award.

Perhaps the most satisfying role of his life was reading books on the air for Chapter A Day, the radio program he joined in 1941, and shared with other talented readers including his close friend Jim Fleming. He continued without a break until his death -- and in a sense, beyond it. Beginning several days before he died, and running until May 13, Wisconsin Public Radio is re-broadcasting his reading of Driftless, a Wisconsin novel by David Rhodes.

Karl's was a life of professional achievement and passionate pursuits. Once getting hold of an avocation, he would go after it with dogged determination. He chased trout, with a fly rod, from the black earth streams of southern Wisconsin with his friends Bob Resch and George Vukelich to the alpine waters of Wyoming and Montana. He devoted similar attention to chess with his father-in-law, golf with his close friend Father Pat Higgins, and classical music (though he never played an instrument) with his always well-attuned wife.

More than anything, he was a family man, capable, it seemed, of endless generosity and love for those close to him. He had the powerful ability to make a person, from young great-granddaughters to graying sons, feel like the most important person in his world. He set high standards but never demanded any particular return, lovingly embracing both the triumphs and the difficulties of all those close to him.

The death of his son Peter, by colon cancer at age 52, was a deep sorrow -- but as he would say, that loss was an exception in a life filled with blessings, the most important of which was his wife Joan. He often said that she, the daughter of a dairy farmer, kept him firmly rooted in the solid values that he held all his life.

His death was sudden, without pain, and at home. His mind was clear; his kind, articulate presence undiminished.

Never was there a better father, nor one more loved.

Karl is survived by his wife of 68 years, Joan Dougan Schmidt. Together, the pair looked with joy at a large extended family of descendants and relatives.

His eldest son Peter, who died in 2001, left Jenny and Matthew (with his first wife Betsy Hoffman); and Dylan (with wife Pamela Shadid). Jenny and her husband Aaron Solomon have two children, Zachary and Micah. Matthew is engaged to Cindy Chen.

His second son Jeremy and wife Wendy Baylor have a daughter, Kestrel.

His middle child and only daughter Katie, with husband Richard Yde, have three children -- Sonja, Josh, and Ben. Sonja and her husband Paul Micksch have a daughter, Edie. Josh is married to Kara Christenson.

Third son Daniel and his wife Julie Brewster have three children -- Karl, Sarah, and Megan. Karl and his wife Tracey Robinson are the parents of Hannah and Katelyn. Sarah and her husband Scott Vessalo have a daughter Hazel. Megan is married to Ryan Pudela.

The fourth son, and fifth-born, is Thomas. His three children are Kylah (with first wife Tracy Thornton); and Patrick and Colleen, with wife Terese Baldwin. Kylah and her husband Bobby Balcer have two children, Russell and Knox.

He is also survived by his sister, Mary Ellen Ress.

His family is grateful for the care and friendship shown to him by his physicians Greg Sheehy and Barbara Stowe-Carpenter, and by Shirley Gloudeman of Agrace Hospice.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at BLESSED SACRAMENT CATHOLIC CHURCH, 2121 Rowley Ave, Madison on Saturday, April 30, 2016 at 11am. A visitation will be held at church on Saturday from 10am until the time of Mass.

He needs no flowers. The family suggests that memorials be made to Wisconsin Public Radio, Blessed Sacrament Church, Oakwood Village Retirement Community, or Agrace Hospice.


Cress Funeral Service
3610 Speedway Road, Madison
(608) 238-3434