STLMHF

Jack Carney – Legacy

​Jack Carney is legendary for his KMOX morning program, both for his ability to entertain and for his live commercials. His time slot on the station varied over his career, but the common block was always 9 – noon, and he owned it.

​Carney’s career began in 1951, taking him through small markets in Texas and New Mexico, and larger cities like Phoenix, Galveston, Milwaukee, Atlanta and Boston. He arrived in St. Louis in 1958 to work as a rock disc jockey on WIL.

​Two years at that station, which rocketed to the top of the ratings, was all Carney needed to get a job offer from WABC, and he was off to New York. That was a bad move for Carney, who left after a few months and went off, in his words, to find himself.

​After a West Coast stint, he was back in St. Louis in 1971 at KMOX, where he worked until his death in 1984.

​Local broadcast critic Eric Mink, writing in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said, “The effectiveness of Carney’s commercials was due to his mastery at weaving them into the fabric of his program. The two elements were so intimately intertwined that often it was impossible to tell where the program stopped and the commercial began.”

Jack Carney, KMOX, date unknown

Harry Caray – Legacy

​Harry Caray (Carabina) hit town in 1944 as an announcer at the St. Louis Star radio station, KXOK. While his strength was in sports broadcasting, which he put to good use that year doing play-by-play for the Cardinals/Browns World Series, he was a jack-of-all-trades back at the station. Caray would write his own copy, conduct news interviews, and write and present editorials on the station, and he had a regular sports talk program as well.

It was said he sought a job at KMOX in 1943 by sending a personal letter to the home of the station’s general manager, Merle Jones, who granted him an interview and then told him to get some experience and come back.

He did his first game as a Cardinals’ announcer April 17, 1945. Years later, in 1955, Caray would be teamed in the Cardinals’ broadcast booth with Jack Buck and Joe Garagiola, and the three were heard throughout the Midwest over the vast Cardinals’ radio network.

Harry Caray’s colorful announcing and antics endeared him to radio fans, whom Caray felt were the people to whom he was responsible. When players became perturbed at his description of their work, Caray swore he was telling it the way he saw it.

After 25 years in the St. Louis broadcast booth, Harry Caray was given his walking papers by his employer, Anheuser-Busch.

Spider Burks – Legacy

​Spider Burks was one of St. Louis’ first black disc jockeys, and he is remembered as a champion of jazz. He had graduated from Hampton Institute and began working at KXLW here in 1947. During his stint at that station, which lasted until 1956, Spider became a huge moneymaker for the station and himself.

He got the job initially when a radio shop owner on Easton Avenue sponsored a half-hour block of time and used Spider as his disc jockey. Things went so well that the station hired him, and he would sell advertising to supplement his income.

He’d bring in his own records, and his two shows, “After School Swing Session” and “Down the Alley Behind My House” were huge favorites of the high school set. The record companies soon realized Spider Burks’ show could really “sell” their product.

Burks also worked as a disc jockey on KSTL, KADY/KADI-FM and KATZ, leaving the business in 1969.

Listen to Spider Burks on KSTL, in 1957

Listen to Spider Burks on KATZ, in 1957

Jack Buck – Legacy

For several generations of baseball fans, Jack Buck’s voice was permanently linked to the St. Louis Cardinals. He came to St. Louis to be a play-by-play announcer for the team in 1954.

While working in the booth for the Redbirds, he held many more radio jobs. At KMOX, listeners heard him doing play-by-play for St. Louis Cardinals football, University of Missouri basketball and football, and, for a short time, St. Louis Blues hockey.

He also did Monday Night Football for CBS Radio and broadcast numerous Superbowls and World Series games. For several years in succession, he logged over 200,000 air miles annually. He is a member of the broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame and was given the Pete Rozelle Award by the National Football League.

Jack Buck also established himself as a strong team member at KMOX. He was a disc jockey in the late 50s, and was the host of the first “At Your Service” program February 29, 1960. He hosted Christmas morning programs from his home every year, and, in the ultimate indication of community involvement, was known to host up to 250 civic and charitable events a year. ​

Jack Buck montage

Robert BQ (Burris)- Legacy

Robert BQ (Burris) came to St. Louis from a radio job in Jacksonville, Florida, and stayed in the market for over 20 years.

He was the morning disc jockey at KATZ in 1964 when he was promoted to the job of program director. In that position he hired and supervised some of the station’s most popular personalities, gaining a national reputation for KATZ as a power in Black radio.

His radio career here began at the short-lived WBBR in East St. Louis, where he worked as an engineer. It was that talent that led him to his later innovations in multiple track audio recordings, which he used to record some of the area’s most popular R&B groups.

He was the owner of a record store in East St. Louis and, along with his wife Shirley, he promoted local R & B concerts.​

Nellie Booth – Legacy

​While Nellie Booth was working as an actress in St. Louis in 1937, a group of people in New York was organizing AFRA, the American Federation of Radio Artists (later to include television by becoming AFTRA). As the organizational activity spread west, Nellie was contacted by one of the people organizing the Chicago local.

She agreed to be one of the founders in St. Louis, and she and six other people organized the St. Louis AFRA. Nellie Booth became the first president and executive secretary in 1937, and she served as the executive director until the 1960s.

In 1968, Ms. Booth received the George Heller Memorial Award, AFTRA’s top honor. She had been recording secretary of the national office since 1937, and the St. Louis local of AFTRA established an annual award in her honor following her death.