STLMHF

Buddy Blattner – Legacy

​Buddy Blattner made a very big impression on basketball fans with his play-by-play work for the St. Louis Hawks professional basketball team, but he had begun his broadcasting career in the late 1940s and did 26 years of baseball broadcasts. He covered the St. Louis Browns and Cardinals, the Kansas City Royals and California Angels.

He was also a television pioneer, having worked in the booth with Dizzy Dean in the early 1950s for the first 8 years of the nationally televised “Baseball Game of the Week.” He and Dean also paired for radio’s “Game of the Day,” and he did baseball recreations on the Gordon McLendon Radio Network.

Blattner was the lead announcer on the first 800 games for the St. Louis Hawks, becoming the first announcer to travel with his team and broadcast home and away games. He was twice elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and received the St. Louis Browns Historical Society Award for Distinguished Broadcasting in 1989.

Lester Arthur Benson – Legacy

​Lester Arthur “Eddie” Benson was literally a part of the radio business in St. Louis at its inception.

In 1920 he was commissioned by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to build a transmitter at its downtown headquarters. In 1922, KSD, the city’s first commercial station, began its experimental broadcasts with this transmitter.

But he had preceded that accomplishment on November 2, 1920, when he and partner William E. Wood teamed to broadcast the results of the Harding-Cox presidential election, using transmitters they had built.

Benson was 20 years old at the time, having entered Washington University to study electrical engineering at 16. His obituary in the local paper said he had first begun broadcasting from the basement of his home when he was only 14 years old.

He put his own station, WEB [later to be WIL] on the air in 1922, eventually running it from his radio store. Two years later he built a transmitter for KFVE [which later became KWK].

Nance and Clif St. James – 2004

​Clif and Nance St. James began their husband/wife radio show at WTMA in Charleston, SC, coming to St. Louis in 1952 when Clif landed a job at KWK. ​After several months, he began concentrating on free-lance work while serving as KWK’s movie reporter. ​Within two years opportunity knocked when Laclede Gas bought sponsorship for the “Clif and Nancy” Show on KSD Radio and the married couple became a part of St. Louis radio history. ​Theirs is believed to be the first regular local program featuring a married couple as co-hosts. ​The program was eventually taken off the air in favor of the then wildly popular “Liberace” show from NBC, but Clif maintained a presence on KSD as a disc jockey in both the jazz and middle-of-the-road genres. ​He also had a long career in television and Nance continued her presence in the media as talent in many local radio and television commercials.

Ron Morgan – 2004

​Ron Morgan came to St. Louis in 1973, taking an on-air position on Pulitzer powerhouse KSD. It was the beginning of a stay in St. Louis radio that would span nearly twenty years.

Known as “Morgan in the Morning,” he peppered his programs with droll humor supplemented with an infectious laugh and gave his program team plenty of opportunities to share the spotlight.

He also did mornings at KSD-FM and KLOU, as well as other shifts at KMOX and KHTR.

Morgan was also program director at CBS-owned KLOU when it hit the air with an oldies format, giving the station a strong group of personalities to complement the music, and he served as operations director at KSD-FM.

Ron Morgan was visible in the community as a long-time supporter of the Easter Seals Society.

Rod “Dr. Jockenstein” King – 2004

Rod King began in the radio business as “Touché the D.J. – the jock that never stops.”

His first gig in the St. Louis area was on WESL, East St. Louis. His experience also included KATZ-AM and FM, St. Louis.

Many listeners remember his “roll call” segment each morning on WESL in which he invited his young audience to call in as part of his rap over a rhythmic music bed.

The famous musician George Clinton dubbed him “Dr. Jockenstein” after Rod emceed one of the Parliament-Funkadelic concerts in St. Louis.

Over the years King developed a large, loyal listenership.

Among his many awards: DJ of the Year from Black Radio Exclusive Magazine and the Black Achievement Award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. ​

Sheldon Grafman – 2004

​Sheldon “Shelley” Grafman was the driving force behind the success of KSHE from 1967 thru February 1984.

​Hired in late 1967 in sales he eventually rose to the position of General Manager. At one time he was in charge of running stations for Century Broadcasting in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit from his home base in Crestwood.

​Known for his devotion to the Album Oriented Rock format of the 70’s he was instrumental in creating the “free form” sound that made KSHE an institution not only in St. Louis but on a national level.

​Throughout his 17 years at KSHE, Grafman was involved in all aspects of the station, operating out of his office, a 12×12 room in the cinder block building located at 9434 Watson Road.

​Grafman also took an occasional air-shift using the on-air name of Shelley Graham. ​Hundreds of bands that went on to achieve superstar status were given their first break by playing a KSHE-sponsored concert.

​Eventually Shelley was promoted to national programming director and executive vice-president of Century Broadcasting, KSHE’s parent company.