News from Our Archives

Uncle Billy isn’t a venerable old man with whiskers and spectacles; in fact, he isn’t old at all!

Really, he is Don Hunt, an artist of long standing at KMOX and far too young to have some 5,000 nephews and nieces. He is the sort that all little boys would want to be like and the type that little girls would like to have for their Prince Charming when they grow up. He is blonde and tall and amusing, this Uncle Bill who appears each afternoon at five o’clock to sing to little girls and boys and tell them fairy tales.

Some 2,000 of them write in to him each week seeking membership in his Peter Pan club and telling him when their birthdays are so he can keep them in his Lucky Book and have the Cuckoo bird wish them happy birthdays. He keeps close tab of all and has them recorded in case he should forget one of so many relations. No danger of his forgetting, though, for he has the Lucky Book full of them, up to little Benjamin Ballow of East St. Louis whose birthday is December 27.

And does he like those letters he receives! We found him poring over a huge stack of them which he reads and answers every day. He showed proudly the Cuckoo bird which is his sole assistant in these afternoon broadcasts. He fingered excitedly through them to show what the different authors said to him in these letters, which he described as the very “breath of radio.”

Being virtually hurled through the air one night some seven years ago quite by chance at KMOX, he became an announcer there. Since that time, he has sung and played and done dramatic sketches in stations from one end of the country to the other. He even wrote the music for and produced a play on Broadway.

One of his most successful skits was with Gwen of “Myrt and Marge” when he played in a travelogue called “Cinderella and the Cross-Eyed Bear” over KFI in Los Angeles.

Uncle Billy went to school here and has the delightful knack of remembering when he was small and the things that appealed to his very fanciful imagination. Some of the stories he tells his young followers are from a book his mother bought him when he was five years old. He learned to recite them in a high piping voice long before he could read.

Colorful figures from fairyland appeal to him and he likes to think that he is making five o’clock a happy time for little boys and girls throughout the 49th State and in far away places. In his pocket he has a snapshot of a chubby little boy who truly is his nephew.

Each youngster who becomes a member of his club receives a button, a long letter cautioning them to eat spinach and be generally model children, as well as an elaborate certificate of membership. He records their names and then they are full-fledged members of the eternally young club of which he is such an admirable exponent.

He plays and sings and likes most to do dramatic sketches which show how nicely (sic) romantic life can be. He has lived in the West and ridden cowboy ponies and listened to the howl of coyotes. Most of all he likes to drive open Fords across the Western plains which he has done several times.

A gay and charming fanciful person is he – “Bill – your Uncle Bill.”

(Originally published in Radio and Entertainment 3/26/32).

Holland E. Engle, popular rapid-fire KMOX announcer was one of the first artists to be heard on the radio. Holland was just a youngster of thirteen when Dr. Frank Stanton first put Station KDKA, the pioneer broadcasting station of the world on the air from his garage in back of his home in East Pittsburgh, Pa., and as Holland had a short wave transmitter with some youngsters in the town, he became vastly interested in this new form of broadcasting. So the next day found Engle headed for Pittsburgh which was eighty miles away from his home.

Anyone who knows a youngster of thirteen knows that they usually get what they go after, and of course Engle and the two boys with him finally convinced the friendly inventor they should see the new station.

Not long after that, through a friend connected with the General Electric Company these young radio “hams,” as they were called, were fortunate enough to get hold of some tubes and other equipment and built themselves a broadcast station. Engle laughingly said “And what a station, if it didn’t spill over we could be heard clear across town.”

And that was the beginning of a very colorful life for the young man who today is one of the country’s best-known radio announcers.

Engle soon became connected with several of the stations that were springing up all over the country and in the summer when there was no school took long trips just for the privilege of broadcasting from these new stations. He played the piano and crooned much in the style of the well-known “Little Jack Little” and found that it soon became a profitable occupation. “In fact,” says Engle, “it was so profitable that while still going to college I quit school and took up radio as a serious business.”

Since that time Engle has broadcast from over 100 of the country’s biggest stations. He has in the past four years been station manager of two large broadcasting stations, and came to St. Louis sixteen months ago to take up the duties of Announcer with KMOX where he is now located.

(Originally published in Radio and Entertainment 2/13/1932).

Before entering radio, Neil Norman lived a lifetime of theatrical experience with some of America’s leading stock companies as leading man and director. He enjoyed long engagements in New York, Chicago and on the West Coast [and] was featured in productions of “Buddies,” “The Noose,” “Tommy” and other well-known Broadway successes.

Mr. Norman first entered radio way back in 1922 but didn’t take it too seriously, thinking its possibilities too limited. He returned to the stage but re-entered the radio field in earnest a few years ago as both artist and announcer. [He] has worked NBC on [the] West Coast and more recently over the Midwest Columbia Network. In a few short months [he has] gained the distinction of being generally known as the premier announcer of the Middle West.

Mr. Neil Norman is known for his versatility. He can handle any type of program with ease and finesse. Long stage experience has given him almost flawless diction and an excellent speaking voice. He has had an interesting career as actor, entertainer, cartoonist, reporter, author and announcer and looks forward to the coming television with lively anticipation.

Norman came to WIL as an announcer at the suggestion of Franklyn MacCormack, program director, with whom he was once associated in the theatrical field, and later, in radio. He is a distinct radio type, keenly interested in sporting events, and will no doubt be heard in the capacity of sports announcer at various times.

(Originally published in Radio and Entertainment 2/20/1932).

WIL Wanted A Program Director With Ideas
P.S. Neil Norman Got the Job
Introducing the new program director at WIL – Neil Norman. He’s really just an old friend in a new role.
Since coming here early last January, Neil has won real popularity with local listeners, therefore his appointment to succeed Franklyn MacCormack, who has gone to Chicago, isn’t surprising.
Neil, too, considers his association here an extremely pleasant one. The new job is just the icing on the cake for him. No important changes are anticipated by the new director, he plans to continue the present policy of emphasizing local interest.

In addition to the general run of commercial and other programs Norman has been specializing in sports announcing. His daily feature- Sports Highlights – will be continued and additional sports and news broadcasts are possibilities for the near future.
All of which lies back of the young man’s pre-radio career. He worked as a reporter, cartoonist and sports editor on the Cedar Rapids Gazette in Iowa after graduation from Coe College there and newspaper work was to be his life job.

Unless he developed his talent for drawing, to do big things in the art world. A precocious youngster, he got his first recognition as an artist at the age of thirteen when his design for a Liberty Loan poster was accepted. Contributions to Life and Judge followed.

Then his family stepped in. Stage people for three generations, they couldn’t see a slim young man of 22, with expressive blue-gray eyes and a pleasant baritone voice going to waste in a newspaper office. So Neil decided to carry on the family name and fame. The name, incidentally, is Trousdale, he dropped it when he entered radio and used his first and second names only.

With a Chicago producer for an uncle, he didn’t have much difficulty breaking in. His first part was in “Buddies” followed by the leading roles in “Tommy” and “The Noose.” About this time he investigated radio, singing and announcing occasionally, but seeing few possibilities in the then infant art, turned all of his attention back to the stage.

A full-fledged actor, he decided to get out from under the parental wing and organize a stock company of his own. His company was called the Trousdale Players and was very successful in the West.

He believed it established some sort of record for stock companies with a run of 79 weeks in Billings, Montana. While he was playing in Billings four years ago an ambitious young actress joined the company who wasn’t satisfied with her minor roles. She was pretty and she had charm, but in Neil’s opinion she didn’t have enough real acting ability to merit starring. He didn’t make her his leading lady – he married her.

Shortly after his marriage he tried broadcasting again. This time he took it seriously and before long was announcing NBC network programs on the West Coast. He has been an announcer on both major broadcasting systems, handling Columbia’s Midwestern programs prior to joining the WIL staff. Among the stations he has been associated with are KSL, Salt Lake City, WMT, Waterloo, Iowa, and two Montana stations – KFBP, Great Falls and KGHL, Billings.

(Originally published in Radio and Entertainment 12/17/1932).