Radio

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

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.

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

Ed Ceries – Legacy

​Ed Ceries was a man who followed his dream. After working as an engineer for 20 years with the Pulitzer stations, KSD and KSD-TV, he invested his life savings and his considerable engineering efforts in building his own FM station, which he called KSHE.

​He literally built some of the equipment himself, and on February 11, 1961, the station signed on from the basement of the Ceries’ home in suburban Crestwood. The station called itself “The Lady of FM,” and had a classical music format. For awhile, all the announcers were women.

​Most of the basement was used for the station operations, with the Associated Press teletype installed next to the clothes washer. The record library room doubled as an administrative office where Mrs. Ceries also did her ironing.

​Listener loyalty was strong. At times they would come to the station with copies of classical selections they thought were better than the ones being played on KSHE. Unfortunately for Ed Ceries, advertisers were not convinced FM radio, particularly classical music on FM radio, had much of an audience.

​After a year-and-a-half, the format was adjusted to contain about 90% middle-of-the-road music and 10% classical, with nine daily news broadcasts. In 1964, the station was sold to Century Broadcasting.

Leo Chears – Legacy

​Leo Chears was affectionately known to his listeners as “the man in the red vest,” a nickname given him by one of his main sponsors, Anheuser-Busch. They were looking for an identifying phrase, and Chears showed up at a client meeting wearing a vest he “didn’t even like because it was red,” he said. But they liked it, so he ended up filling his closet with the vests.

Chears’ name has always been associated with jazz on St. Louis radio, on WBBR, KADI, KSD, WMRY and WSIE, usually holding down a nighttime slot. As was the case in the 1960s, radio managers paid a pittance to many announcers, especially Negro announcers.

Chears held down a full-time job during the day in a lab at Barnes Hospital and then did a six-hour air shift at night.

When Leo Chears went to work for a radio station, management got more than just an announcer. He used his record library, which consisted of thousands of jazz albums, to supplement the station’s library.

Ed Bonner – 2004

During his run as a dj in 1950s St. Louis, Ed Bonner owned the market.

He began on KXOK in 1951 when he was 28. From the studio in the Star-Times Building he would invite his teenage listeners to come down and watch him work. His first program, “St. Louis Ballroom” soon gave way to the station’s afternoon drive slot, and his large audience encompassed teens and adults.

St. Louisans saw him everywhere, in personal appearances to benefit the Red Cross, Y.M.H.A., Cancer Fund, Heart Fund, March of Dimes, Catholic Youth Organization and many other groups.

A new record played on the “E.B.” show was almost certain to become a local hit. He left KXOK in 1958, taking his listeners with him to the noon – 4 slot on WIL, and the little station at 1430, which had put together a huge stable of talent, overtook KXOK in the ratings.

The Hoopers in St. Louis in 1959 showed Bonner’s audience the largest among all the area’s disc jockeys. He left WIL for a job in Los Angeles in 1962.​