Undertaker Fred

Undertaker Fred was the most frequent caller to the broadcast. He was a long-time staple of the nighttime broadcast. He was known for his funny (and often long) chats with Mischke, his sense of humor, and for the songs he sang often at the end of his calls.

On October 26th, 2007, Fred passed away.

Quotes
Being an undertaker, my dad was apt to say, "I'll be the the last one to let you down."

Audio featuring this caller

 * clip - "The name says it all--plus we learn that Undertaker Fred had the privilege of embalming his very own Mother AND Father!Yikes." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "A strange exchange between Tom and Undertaker Fred." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "The listeners get some preaching from Undertaker Fred." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "A classic call with Undertaker Fred!" (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "Mischke imagines what it must be like when Undertaker Fred discusses religion with his wife. What really makes this clip fascinating is that during this call, Mischke makes the prediction that Bob Davis will be taking over the Morning Show--months before it actually happens." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "Mischke wonders if Undertaker Fred might be going a little overboard in his use of the phrase, "Praise the Lord!"." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "There is a lot of interest in this clip, so I've decided to post it--even though it originally aired just last week! Undertaker Fred calls in to the program and casually mentions that Ricky Rix just got married. The only problem is that Ricky Rix is more commonly knows as Father Ricky Rix-- a Catholic Priest out of St. Louis, Missouri!!!" (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "Undertaker Fred passes along the startling fact that Elijah never died." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "Undertaker Fred calls in to the program and ends up rambling on a bit too much-- even too much for Tommy!" (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "Keeping with the sadistic theme of this particular update -- it just wouldn't be complete without one of the strangest, most sadistic songs ever written. It's a staple of the broadcast and I certainly remember it from my elementary school days." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "This is just a classic call with Undertaker Fred where everything is discussed--from the gestation period of squirrels to the importance of making corpses look better." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "Undertaker Fred has called into the Broadcast 4,387 times. Joe has called in 1,159 times. But this was one of the rare times where they were both on the air together -- and that makes for an interesting call!" (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "This is just another fun call with Undertaker Fred. It's always hard to categorize these things because each of his calls usually go off in about 80 different directions. The only things you can count on are a few jokes and always a song." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "This is just a classic Undertaker Fred call from almost a decade ago, back in 1997." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "Undertaker Fred has been calling in to the Mischke Broadcast since the day I can't remember when. You might notice a couple of things during these calls: one, Fred always sings a song -- and two, Fred is always working on "saving" Tommy's soul. During this conversation, Mischke asks Fred to relax the preaching a little and just try to accept the fact that he (Tom Mischke) is going to Hell." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "An interesting version of a classic -- as sung by one T.D. Mischke and one Undertaker Fred." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "Apparently, Mr. Rogers got a little weird at times." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "Undertaker Fred gives a call and decides he's going to start calling the shots on the Broadcast. When Mischke refuses to let him do so, Fred's nose gets a little out of joint and he's not afraid to let Tommy have it." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "This is a very rare call where we actually hear quite a bit from Fred's wife -- Bonnie. Usually, she is embarrassed by her husband's antics and is not much for talking on the radio, but Mischke is able to persuade her to spend a few minutes explaining to the listening audience what life is like with Undertaker Fred." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "This is just a fun conversation to listen in on -- one featuring Undertaker Fred and good ol' Al -- together." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "The Mischke Broadcast is ending, and Undertaker Fred makes a final call to throw a little bit of dirt on the show. Unfortunately, the dirt keeps coming and coming and coming, even though the show has already ended!" (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "Abbott and Costello make a rare appearance on the Broadcast." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "This is a classic phone call from Undertaker Fred that took place around 1996 or so. At one point during Fred and Tommy's conversation, Mischke suddenly asks Fred about the strangest thing he's ever done. Well, Fred gives an answer, and I can vouch that it was indeed probably the strangest thing he had ever done. In fact, it is probably one of the strangest things anyone has ever done!" (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "This is an Undertaker Fred call from almost a decade ago, but it could have just as well happened last week. It's the usual story, Fred calls in, he and Tommy chat, and then Fred ends up steering the conversation towards religion, God and Salvation.  This has always been a point of contention between Mischke and Fred.  I often wonder if Fred has just given up on saving Tommy and no longer sees a need to call in.  We miss you Fred!!  Come back!!!" (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "If you know a little about Mischke's medical history, this is a very interesting conversation between Tommy and Undertaker Fred. It takes place in January of 1999, and Tom is in the midst of some severe medical problems.  He literally has a very lengthy list of physical ailments and no one is able to tell him what's wrong.  Mischke even ends up going to the Mayo Clinic where they perform a battery of tests, just trying to narrow down what could possibly be going on.  What makes this call interesting is that Tom mentions the latest test -- which involves antidepressants.  He is a little leery about this possible diagnosis and then expresses his relief when the antidepressants seem to do nothing for him.  Oddly enough -- it turns out Tommy actually was suffering from depression!  The sad thing is that they didn't discover it at the time and Mischke continued with a seemingly endless barrage of tests, scans, pokings and proddings.  Things just got worse from here -- much worse.  By the end of February, Mischke was in a bad way and was unable to work for the entire month of March.  He finally came back in April and the thought was that he had heavy metal poisoning and was on the road to recovery.  But the illness continued off and on until September rolled around.  By September, Tommy was such a physical and mental wreck that he disappeared from the airwaves altogether for the rest of the year.  In January of 2000, Mischke was finally able to resume the Mischke Broadcast -- much to the relief of many fans.  Depression was finally nailed down as the culprit and a long road to recovery was just beginning... " (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "An interesting sound byte where Fred tells Tommy all about a 1953 ad he put together for his funeral home." (from Mischke Madness)


 * clip - "Undertaker Fred is familiar with almost all of the musical classics. Over his many years of calling in to the Mischke Broadcast, he almost always closes out his call with a classic number from years gone by.   That's why when Mischke brings up "Green Green Grass of Home", he is almost stunned beyond belief when Fred admits that he is completely unaware of the song." (from Mischke Madness)