DON’s PHOTO GALLERY
Colleague and friend Charles Osgood, long-time CBS Radio and TV journalist,
died at his home in Saddle River, N.J., on January, 23, 2024. He was 91.
TWO AUTHORS COMMISERATE 2016
Don with Charles Osgood, CBS Sunday Morning, New Jersey 5/21/16
THE OSGOOD FILES 2014
Don with Jean Crafton Osgood & Charles Osgood, CBS Sunday Morning
(Mr. & Mrs. Charles Osgood) New Jersey 10/25/14
OSGOOD AND SWAIM 2012
Don Swaim & Charles Osgood, CBS News, celebrate his book, Oct. 20, 2012, Teaneck, NJ
DON MAKES RARE PUBLIC APPEARANCE 2012
Nov. 4, 2023
With fellow writer Wil Kirk (right) at the Bucks County library author fest, where Don manned a table touting some of his work. Wil stocked up on books.
THE SPOILED WRITERS MEET STILL AGAIN
Once more, all the world's literary, political, social, and environmental issues were settled in one sitting -- with bloody marys and ice on the side. L-R. Daniel Dorian, Jim Brennan, Don Swaim, Wil Kirk, Gary Webster. Washington House, Sellersville, PA. May 1, 2022.
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SPOILED WRITERS ENCORE
The Spoiled Writers of Bucks County. After a nearly two-year hiatus because of the epidemic, this fully-vaccinated coterie of former and current superannuated BCWW members gathered at the Washington House, Sellersville, August 1, 2021, to resolve the pressing issues of the day. From l-r: Daniel Dorian, Jim Brennan, Wil Kirk, Don Swaim, Gary Webster.
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NEWTOWN PA
June 23, 2021. Newtown, PA, on an expedition to trace the life of Edward Hicks, painter of "The Peaceable Kingdom." Here with a bronze version of the famed folk art painting by the late Eric Berg. From Isaiah 11: 6-9: "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them."
BCWW HOLIDAY PARTY, DEC. 17, 2019
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Don Swaim with Wil Kirk. (“Sez you!” “Yeah, sez I.”)
Photo by Alan Shils
TEANECK, NJ, NOV. 2, 2019
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CBS "Board." Journalistic cr¸me de la cr¸me, whose careers all overlapped as NYC broadcasters. L-R: Daniel Dorian, NYC-based European news correspondent; Bob Kimmel, News Director, NBC News, radio; Don Swaim, WCBS; Mervin Block, CBS News, dean of broadcast news writers. Photo by Todd Glickman
BUCKS COUNTY BOOK FESTIVAL, OCT 13, 2019
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Don with a mockup of the Bucks County Writers Workshop's inaugural issue of
Neshaminy, a literary journal.
SPOILED WRITERS
Another successful meeting of the Spoiled Writers of Bucks County (Wil Kirk, secretary-treasurer). Washington House, Sellersville. PA, 9-15-19. standing: Gary Webster, Wil Kirk. Seated Don Swaim, Daniel Dorian, Joshua Bergey. (all present or ex-BCWW)
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INTERVIEWED ON LOCAL PBS TELEVISION, AUG. 1, 2019
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 On the occasion of the launch of the new literary journal, Neshaminy.
The full report on PBS39 (Allentown/Bethlehem) can be viewed HERE
NESHAMINY JOURNAL EDITORIAL STAFF 2019
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L-R: Don Swaim, Stu Abramson, David Updike, Bill Donahue
A joint project of the Bucks County Writers Workshop and the Doylestown Historical Society, Neshaminy is a historical and literary journal, with fiction, non-fiction, memoir, poetry, and art celebrating Bucks County's historical origins. It is to be published twice a year with the inagural issue scheduled for October 2019. Publisher: Stu Abramson; executive editor: Don Swaim; managing editor: David Updike; associate managing editor: Bill Donahue.
SURPRISE PARTY!
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Dec. 18, 2018. St. Paul's Church, Doylestown, PA, where I was recognized by fellow members
of the Bucks County Writers Workshop for leading the group for twenty years.
QUAKERTOWN, PA, NOV 17, 2018
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Again, one of nearly sixty authors exhibiting their books at an aiuthor expo
at the Quakertown branch of the Bucks County Free Library.
AUTHOR EXPO, BUCKS COUNTY FREE LIBRARY, DOYLESTOWN, PA
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November 10, 2018. One of nearly sixty authors exhibiting their work.
SPOILED WRITERS CLUB OF BUCKS COUNTY
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The club gathered for its quarterly meeting at the Washington House, Sellersville, PA, Nov. 4, 2018
(l-r) Wil Kirk (secretary-treasurer), Don Swaim, Gary Webster, Douglas Trevino.
CBS BOARD, NOV. 3, 2018, TEANECK, NJ
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(l-r) Bob Gibson, Charles Osgood, Ray Hoffman, Don Swaim
TOASTING A FELLOW AUTHOR
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Don, center, toasts George MacMillan, who writes under the name of H.A. Callum, on the publication of George's novel
Whispers in the Alders. Also shown: Chris Bauer, Beverly Black. At a meeting of the
Bucks County Writers Workshop, Doylestown, PA., Oct. 9, 2018
ON THE HIGH SEAS, AUGUST 2018
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Don with brother Steve, his wife Vickie, Maritime Province cruise
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, AUGUST 26, 2018
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Don with younger brother Steve (in wheelchair following broken leg
complications), Halifax Gardens, Nova Scotia, Canada
THREE MISCREANTS TAKE ROAD SHOW TO
LAHASKA BOOKSHOP, PEDDLER'S VILLAGE, PA
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[left to right] Chris Bauer, John Schoffstall, Don Swaim, July 21, 2018
BCWW TRIO'S PUBLICATION PARTY, PLUMSTEADVILLE
INN, PIPERSVILLE, PA, JULY 20, 208
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[left to right] Don Swaim, Man With Two Faces; John Schoffstall,
Half-Witch; Chris Bauer, Jane's Baby
photos (and cake) by Natalie Dyen
DON: NEW YORK CITY, JUNE 22, 2018
In the Big Apple to celebrate publication of S.T. Joshi's memoir, What is Anything?
O'Reilly's Pub, 54 W 31st St., traditional NYC Joshi hangout.
WITH JOSHI
 Don is the author of The Assassination of Ambrose Bierce: A Love Story, which Joshi,
the world's leading scholar of weird fiction, edited and for which Joshi wrote the introduction.
photos by Francisco de Zurbaran
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WITH ED ASNER, BUCKS COUNTY, PA, MARCH 31, 2018
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Don instructs Ed Asner, aka Lou Grant, of The Mary Tyler Moore Show,
on the fundamentals of broadcast journalism
On the way to dinner, Logan Inn, New Hope, PA
Sharing dessert #1
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Teetotlers
sharing dessert #2
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Seven-time Emmy Award winner Asner eyes the check
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DON HOLDS FORTH ON AMBROSE BIERCE
Speaking before the Bucks County Community College Bookclub (Newtown, PA, campus) as an overflow crowd of some fifteen people astutely examined the philosophic and literary pretensions of my novel, The Assassination of Ambrose Bierce: A Love Story. November 10, 2016
DTOWN SMALL PRESS EXPO
Don promotes his books at Doylestown (PA) Bookshop's author event on June 25, 2016
DON'S PUBLICATION PARTY 2016
Banter with celebrated folk singer Tracy Grammer, who performed at the party on the occasion
of Don's Novel The Assassination of Ambrose Bierce: A Love Story, June 3, 2016
Reading your cake and eating it too!
Borghi's Restaurant,Chalfont, PA
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Don pontificates (as usual)
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MUSEUM HOPPING IN PHILADELPHIA
Don with writer and poet Jim Brennan, Barnes Museum, Philadelpha, PA 5/4/16
PITTSBURGH, PA
Duquesne Incline -- September 2015
HERE'S LOOKIN' AT YOU, KID
December 2014
WITH BANJO VIRTUOSO TONY TRISCHKA
Don's reunion with the celebrated banjo player at the Sellersville, PA, Theater in 2013
followed a series of banjo lessons in New York many years earlier.
(I still can't pick worth a damn.)
DON MOVIN' STUFF AROUND
Don at chess big time, Cambridge, Eastern Shore, Maryland, 2013
OLD CBS PALS 2013
Ed Salvas, Wes Vernon, Don, Dave Atherton -- October 19, 2013, Teaneck, NJ
PEARL S. BUCK PRIZE WINNER
Don wins annual Pearl S. Buck Short Story Award, April 9, 2011.
Pictured with two youth winners at the Pearl S. Buck house, Perkasie, PA.
SAN FRANCISCO
Cable Car -- 2008 -- April and freakin' cold
HOMAGE TO A POET #1 (FROST)
Robert Frost house, Franconia, New Hampshire
HOMAGE TO A POET #2 (SANDBURG)
Carl Sandburg house, Flat Rock, NC
HOMAGE TO A POET #3 (POE)
Grave of Edgar Allan Poe, Baltimore
HOMAGE TO A POET #4 (POE)
Edgar Allan Poe house, Baltimore
HOMAGE TO A POET #5 (POE)
Edgar Allan Poe house, Philadelphia
HOMAGE TO A POET #6 (POE)
Edgar Allan Poe house, Philadelphia. House needs work.
HOMAGE TO A POET #7 (WHITMAN)
Walt Whitman house, Camden, NJ
SOMEBODY HAD TO WRITE ITSwaim's H.L. Mencken Murder Case reprint (St. Martin's Press) 
Bill Diehl (ABC News), Don Swaim, Teaneck, NJ -- October 15, 2011
WHERE ALL THE CHILDREN ARE
ABOVE AVERAGE...
Garrison Keillor, Don Swaim -- Ocean Grove, NJ, June 14, 2004
SURPRISE PARTY, DOYLESTOWN, JUNE 24, 2001
Members of the Bucks County Writers Workshop throw a surprise party at the Black Walnut Restaurant in honor of Don. Standing is the host, Al Honig, Others shown include Sylvia Honig and Jules Winistorfer.
WOUB RADIO, OHIO UNIVERSITY, REUNION 2000
L-R: Tom Andrews, Ridge Shannon, Jim Leckrone, Dean Braun, Dave Wolford, Bill Lewis, Frank Youngwerth,
Don Swaim [Special Events Director] -- Athens, Ohio
CHARLES DICKENS HOUSE, LONDON
Dickens wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby here. August 1999
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE NEVER DRANK HERE
Homage to the fictional slueth at the Sherlock Holmes Pub, London, 1999
BARD OF BALTIMORE
On the stoop of the H.L. Mencken house, Baltimore. House needed a paint job. 1994.
THOMAS WOLFE HOUSE, ASHEVILLE, NC
Urban "renewal" destroyed all the homes in this section of Asheville -- except the Wolfe house. 1994.
WCBS NEWSROOM, PRODUCER'S DESK - MID 90s
Don, 16th floor, Black Rock, CBS Building, 51 W. 52nd Street, New York
MIGHTA BEEN A TV STAR--1989
I was asked to anchor a TV pilot for a short broadcast sponsored by Walden Books, which would allow me to pontificate and interview authors -- much as I was doing on radio at CBS at the time. The show went nowhere, but above is a still from one of the pilots in which, at the time, I managed a lot of hair (not visible on the radio).
HERE'S LOOKIN' AT YOU, KID
Pastel of Don by Lawrence D. Rottersman, New York, 1988.
erstwhile anchorman
PRESS CARDS, PRESS CARDS, PRESS CARDS (don't ask)
put in dues as street reporter (and part-time anchor)
PARIS
Don, sidewalk cafe, Champs Elysee, Paris, Arc de Triomphe in background, August 1972.
BEEFCAKE?
Don, Cape Cod, 1971
DON FIGHTS OFF A PIRATE
Acapulco, Mexico, September 1969
ON TOP OF THE WORLD
Don atop the 20-story Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan, Mexico, September 1969
news editor, then producer
BLACK ROCK, NEW YORK
CBS Building, 51 W. 52nd Street, New York. "Up, Up, and Away."
Promotion for a Kansas kid via Ohio.
CLEARING THE WIRES, BALTIMORE
Wire room, WMAR-TV, Channel 2, Baltimore, 1967. Crewcut haircut easy to manage.
INTERVIEWING SPIRO T. AGNEW 1967
In Annapolis interviewing Maryland Governor Agnew, disgraced in a corruption scandal while Nixon's vice-president.
Who knew Agnew (and Nixon) were crooks?
CRUSADING STREET REPORTER, BALTIMORE 1966
Proudly wearing the blazer with the Channel 2 logo inside the CBS eye.
OLDEN DAYS IN BALTIMORE (CBS)
Don [Supervising News Editor], middle, 1966, Channel 2, Baltimore
Far right: Jack Surrick (1927-2012), WMAR-TV assistant news director,
later PR for Richard Nixon's vice-president Spiro T. Agnew
PUBLICITY PHOTO, YORK, PA
NEWS DIRECTOR, WORK (NBC), YORK, PA
first full-time broadcast news job
Don, awful crew cut, skinny tie -- in newsroom, 1964
Rear: Tim O'Neil, one of the station's three newsmen, at the teletype.
READING THE NEWS IN DELAWARE 1962
WDOV, Dover, Delaware, reading news, commercials, and anything else that went on the air
DON WITH DUKE ELLINGTON 1961
Already interviewing the Big Names!
WDOV-AM, Dover, Delaware (Mutual network), Nov. 18, 1961. The Duke's band was on the road.
WSAZ RADIO-TV, HUNTINGTON W. VA, 1960
Yes, that's skinny Don in a phony captain's hat doing a live remote from Huntington's Camden Park, ca 1960. First full-time job after college graduation (struggling with contact lenses). Anchored weekend radio broadcast based on NBC's "Monitor," an inept talk b'cast, and an all-night dj show. Plus on-camera TV announcing (poorly).
WEEKENDS ALONG THE OHIO RIVER
WJEH, Galliopis, Ohio,1959
announcer on weekends, senior year, while also working at WATH
EARLIEST B'CAST DAYS, OHIO
Don, WATH, Athens, Ohio, 1959
First professional b'cast job, such as it was, working seven days a week, junior and senior years of
college, as announcer and newscaster.
WOUB, OHIO UNIVERSITY 1959
Don, WOUB Special Events Director, 1959, at mic & adding machine
during college station fund-raiser.
WELL-DESERVED PROMOTION AT WOUB
Ohio U Post 1958. The job paid $16.50 a month,
which was welcomed for a student in 1958.
WOUB, OHIO UNIVERSITY RADIO PALS 1958
l-r: Martin Schmeltz (Howard), Dave Chase, Don Swaim, Will Kitchen.
Three of the four went into broadcasting -- but intelligent Will became a VW dealer in Columbus.
FIRST BYLINE -- IN THE WELDER
Worked two summers during college at the Spang-Chalfont steel plant [now defunct], Etna, PA,
on the house organ, The Welder, receiving first byline. Page eleven, but what the hell.
BUDDING PRINT JOURNALIST, PITTSBURGH
Don, Sharpsburg Herald, PA, 1955
Worked for trolley fare at local weekly newspaper summer after graduation.
Shown here collating a local magazine pubished in the paper's print shop.
SPURNED AS HIGH SCHOOL'S TOP EDITOR
Don's 1955 yearbook photo, Aspinwall High School, PA.
He was sports sditor of the student newspaper, The Cavalcade,
when he should have been appointed the paper's editor-in-chief. (He got over it.)
FIRST BROADCAST APPEARANCE 1950
 Don, age 14, member of a local Boy Scout troupe in Toledo, Ohio, which performed on a live Saturday morning radio show called "The Boy Scout Buckskin Scout-A-Roos," WSPD Radio. Don also had a role on another live radio show for kids, "Outdoor Adventures with Uncle Jim." Here, Don (and other Scout cast members) are interviewed on WSPD-TV. Don's father took the picture by photographing the TV screen.
Fame & fortune escaped this kid -- but what the hell?
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