Radio

Carole Carper – 2019

Carole Carper began her radio career while a student at Fisk University. In St. Louis she became the first Black female radio news director in the market, taking that position at KADI-AM/FM in the mid-70s. She had previously worked at WESL and later went to KKSS before moving to the Los Angeles market. Her work at KADI won her recognition for the best news feature by the Missouri RTNDA, beating out work by news powerhouses statewide. Carole was the first Black woman appointed to the national board of RTNDA in 1985.

Peter Maer – 2019

Peter Maer, who began his broadcast career at WGNU and WIBV on the East Side, spent nearly 35 years as a White House correspondent, working for the Mutual, NBC and CBS Networks. Before he left St. Louis at his career’s beginning, he also worked at WEW and KSHE. His national news reporting won numerous accolades including three Murrow Awards, the Scripps-Howard Award, the Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award. He’s a member of the SPJ Hall of Fame and received the St. Louis Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award. Maer is a Mass Comm graduate of SIU-Edwardsville where he later served as commencement speaker and received an Honorary Doctorate Degree.

John Beck – 2016

John Beck was one of the market’s senior managers of a radio cluster, having served at the helm of Emmis Communications’ St. Louis properties for over 30 years, during which he oversaw station acquisitions, as well as format and personnel changes. The stations he oversaw consistently ranked in the market’s top ten. His community activities included service in over a dozen non-profits, and outside professional accomplishments included service as president of the Missouri Broadcasters’ Association, participation on several of the group’s boards, and work on several specialized efforts of the National Association of Broadcasters. His professional honors included being named one of the nation’s top ten radio market managers by Radio Ink Magazine.

Peggy Drenkhahn – 2016

Peggy Cohill Drenkhahn began working at KMOX Radio in July of 1975. In the ensuing decades, she became one of the most powerful behind-the-scenes people in St. Louis broadcasting as the person responsible for booking guests on the station’s talk programs. Her bookings and pairings with the strong KMOX stable of program hosts built the station into a nationally recognized ratings powerhouse through the ’70s and ’80s. Outside work she volunteering as a reading and math tutor for kids and taught Sunday School.

Art Dwyer – 2016

Art Dwyer accepted an invitation to visit the construction site of the radio tower being built for St. Louis’ community radio station, KDHX, in 1987. Almost as an aside, he was asked to bring along some records. Given that Dwyer had founded the Soulard Blues Band nine years earlier, the records he carried with him were all blues records. For the next 18 months he made the 75 mile round trip to the transmitter site twice a week to host a four-hour program that morphed into his popular Friday afternoon blues showcase, “Blues in the Night.” Art received the Riverfront Times Readers’ Poll Award for best blues show in 2006 and 2007. He served on the St. Louis Blues Society board for three years. 

Mary Edwards – 2016

Mary Edwards began working behind the scenes at KWMU in May of 1974 upon her graduation with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. What she assumed was a summer job turned into a career. Over the decades she was KWMU’s music director, program director and senior talk show producer. She found time during her daily work load to serve as an adjunct instructor at Webster University for 26 years, and to provide production assistance for the Greater St. Louis Association of Black Journalists’ Minority Workshop over a six year period. Among her many honors, Mary received the Charles Klotzer Media Literacy Award.