Halls of Fame

Don Pietromonaco – Legacy

Don Pietromonaco, in the ears and eyes of thousands of St. Louis radio listeners was the definitive Johnny Rabbitt, holding forth at KXOK with that air name from 1964 to 1968. He commanded the nighttime radio scene, inviting his listeners to phone in and “blab it to the Rabbitt.”

There were other characters on his show with whom he would converse, but none was as popular as Bruno J. Grunion, who was Rab’s alter-ego. Often, Pietromonaco would get to the studio early and record his Bruno drop-ins before the show, then converse with the pre-taped voice on the air. Other times he did both voices live.

Don Pietromonaco motivated his listeners to donate millions of dollars for medical research during his stint here. He ran a couple teen-oriented nightclubs in St. Louis – Bruno’s Bat Cave and Cloud Nyne – and his audience came to believe that Johnny Rabbitt was an adult who understood them and would go to bat for them.

Even today, several decades later, his baby boomer fans can recall intricate details from humorous bits he did on the air, even though they were only broadcast once.

As an indication of his fame in St. Louis, Pietromonaco was recognized by Billboard magazine in the 1980s as the Johnny Rabbitt the listeners remembered and the one who was known nationally for his ratings successes. ​

Lee Michaels – 2015

At the young age of 12 Lee Michaels was a big fan of radio. By the time Lee was 15 he had his own radio station broadcasting live from his bedroom. Shortly after that he got his first shot at real radio in his hometown of Norfolk, VA.  While still in high school Lee worked at local station holding down the overnight show.    

Eight years later Lee got a call from St. Louis, where he accepted a job at KATZ-AM. The station was a dominant voice in the local Black community and Michaels became the afternoon drive jock. Within 6 months he was pulling top ratings and had become one of the most popular jocks in town.

Lee Michaels worked in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Charlotte, and Washington, DC. He launched an Internet talk network in June 2008 USTalkNetwork.com and offered syndicated shows to radio stations. In 2011 Lee Michaels was named the #1 Urban Radio Program Director of all time.

Roy Queen – Legacy

​Roy Queen’s career as a hillbilly singer and broadcaster began in 1929 when he was 16. He hitched a ride on a freight train from Pilot Knob, MO., to St. Louis and auditioned at the KMOX studios in the Mayfair Hotel. He got the job and was soon yodeling and playing his guitar on a daily basis on KMOX. He was an entertainer on KMOX and WIL and later worked as a disc jockey on KXLW and on KWRE in nearby Warrenton, MO.

Early on at KMOX, he had a namesake program, “Roy Queen and His Ozark Mountaineers,” that was fed to some network affiliates. KMOX later moved him to the wildly popular “Uncle Dick Slack’s Barn Dance.”

Like many of the young performers in those days, Queen did many personal appearances in addition to his musical performances at the station. It was during the return trip from one of those appearances that he was gravely injured in an auto accident.

The recovery period for his two broken legs was lengthy, but that didn’t keep him from working. The station set up a remote microphone in Queen’s hospital room while engineers ran the records at the station.

Roy Queen, KMOX, 1936

John Sabin – 2015

John Sabin’s girlfriend Elaine was so impressed with his voice that she pushed him to take elocution lessons and audition for a job in radio. Her persuasion paid off. He was hired at KFUO, where he worked for a short time before being hired as the news director of WTMV. John and Elaine married and she became his lifelong supporter.

His work covering the floods of the Mississippi River in 1947 cemented John’s reputation as an accomplished radio journalist, and that led to an offer to join the KMOX news staff in 1950. He continued working for the CBS O&O past his 65th birthday, having received special permission to violate the company’s mandatory age, thanks to a request from his co-workers and the station’s manager, Robert Hyland. When he retired in the late 1980s, John Sabin had been honored by the Associated Press nine years in a row for his contributions to broadcast journalism.

John was the first “non-print” person to be elected president of the St. Louis Writers’ Guild. His spare-time project of teaching broadcast production and journalism brought students into the newsroom as interns, where he mentored literally hundreds of potential broadcasters.

John Roedel – Legacy

John Roedel was one of the KSD folks who worked at the radio station when television came to St. Louis, which meant he was required to wear several hats in the Pulitzer broadcast operation.

Roedel came to St. Louis from WISH in Indianapolis in 1946. As he told it, his uncle in St. Louis had lunch at the Missouri Athletic Club and KSD’s general manager George Burbach mentioned he needed radio announcers. A call was made and John Roedel was on the next train to St. Louis. The relationship that ensued was a long one. John Roedel served as a staff announcer and newsman at KSD until 1975.

In his initial position as staff announcer, Roedel “did just about everything,” from disc jockeying to news to commercials, not to mention the station IDs between network shows.

When KSD-TV signed on in February 1947, staff announcers were also expected to perform similar chores in the television studio. Roedel was the voice of morning news on KSD for 25 years. In 1996 he was made a member of the NATAS Silver Circle.​

Dennis Clancy – 2016

Dennis Clancy developed an early interest in the blues thanks to his family’s collection of 78s from the great blues artists. Denny was there with his buddy Art Dwyer and a bunch of mutual friends, when the Soulard Blues Band was born. It was through Art that Dennis met up with John McHenry, who has co-hosted the Blursday show on KDHX with him from the beginning.