News from Our Archives

Radio station KFVE was in existence in St. Louis less than three years before its identity was changed, but it was a turbulent three years.

Originally licensed to the Film Corporation of America at 6800 Delmar in University City, KFVE went on the air in the summer of 1925. Its transmitter was housed in the Egyptian Building. In October of that year, noted composer Irving Berlin sued the station for copyright infringement, alleging that KFVE had broadcast his music without permission.

News of the station and its history is difficult to find. Many of the newspapers in the 1920s had financial interest in local stations and tended to give publicity only to “their” station. We do know that technical wonder boy Lester Arthur “Eddie” Benson built KFVE’s transmitter, one of three he constructed for stations signing on in St. Louis. Benson soon purchased the station from F.C.A.
In November of 1926 it was recorded that Santa Claus appeared on the station, speaking to boys and girls on behalf of Nugent’s Department Store.

The year 1927 brought on insurmountable problems for the station. Studios were moved from 1111 Olive, the offices of the Baldwin Piano Company, to the Missouri Hotel at 11th and Locust. Two weeks after the move, Benson cut back on broadcast hours. Although he initially said the cut was for the benefit of those people “living in the immediate vicinity of the antenna in University City,” the real reason later was reported as giving him time to decide on the future of the station. On March 3 the station suddenly went off the air, and newspaper reports indicated KFVE “would not be on the air until further notice.” Within two weeks, KFVE was purchased by Thomas Patrick Convey, the man credited with putting KMOX on the air in 1925.

Convey immediately announced another move. The studios and transmitter were relocated to the Chase Hotel, with the aerial strung on the building’s roof near the “Solarian.” The studios occupied a large portion of the north side of the ninth floor. Shortly after the purchase, Convey was told by the Federal Radio Commission that he would have to reduce the station’s power from 5,000 watts to 1,000 watts.

But while Convey got the station’s name and frequency, he apparently was outsmarted by Benson. It seems Benson also owned radio station WIL, and by June of 1927, WIL had hired everyone on KFVE’s old staff. In fact, WIL’s studios occupied the arcade level of the Missouri Hotel.

On November 25, 1927, Convey changed his station’s call letters to KWK. He was quoted in the local papers: “We received many letters wrongly addressed, indicating the fact that our call letters were not easily understood.”

(Reprinted with permission of the St.Louis Journalism Review. Originally published 10/2001)

Maybe it’s the fact that they don’t spend any money on tv commercials. You don’t see any bumper stickers containing their call letters. There’s that thing about their history, being owned by the same group since signing on in 1948. Oh, yes – They’re the oldest FM station in the market, and in the past two years, they’ve averaged a respectable 3.1 quarter hour 12+ share in Arbitron, delivering the kind of high-end demographics many advertisers crave. And then there’s the Marconi Award last year.

So why is it that when the “radio reporter” for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes a rambling, misinformed article on the lack of variety on the market’s music radio stations, she doesn’t even mention KFUO-FM? Doesn’t classical music count?

There is a uniqueness to Classic 99, including the fact that it’s still on the air, and still commercially successful. In the past few years, classical music stations in New York, Chicago, Miami, Detroit, Kansas City, Philadelphia and Denver have dropped the format, opting for something more popular – and more lucrative. Chicago Sun-Times Radio/TV columnist Robert Feder tells SJR his city once enjoyed “two full-time commercial classical music stations.” When big money came calling, the married couple who owned WNIB (having put it on the air for $8,000 45 years ago) sold for $165 million. Exit classical music; enter rock music.

Philadelphia saw the same thing happen. Kent Steinriede, who writes for the Philadelphia Weekly, says “WFLN was bought by a big radio chain that dropped the [classical] format because it didn’t pay.” It’s a rock station now, and the City of Brotherly Love can only hear classical music during a limited number of hours each day on the Temple University station.

Here in St. Louis, that situation was reversed. In 1994 the non-commercial radio station owned by the University of Missouri – St. Louis dropped its broadcasts of classical music, thereby giving KFUO-FM a sort of classical monopoly. At Classic 99, they’ve been running commercials since 1983, and although they provide a significant chunk of income to their owners from spot sales, there’s a slight difference in their operating philosophy when compared to other commercial stations.

In St. Louis, KFUO-FM is owned by the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, and the station’s director of broadcast, Dennis Stortz, says that gives the station a big advantage over those that were sold. “The mission of the station is really two-fold: to support the cultural well-being of the community and to represent its ownership in that quest. Broadcast groups search endlessly for the right format. This is a traditional format and people respect it.”

It appears the Lutheran Church is one of those “old-fashioned” radio owners that cares very deeply about serving the community. The station works hard at publicizing the entire St. Louis Arts community. They’ve established outreach programs to take music into the schools, provide musical instruments to students, and give disadvantaged kids a chance to perform the music they’ve learned. Dennis Stortz admits there’s no way to please all the listeners. “In 1990 or 91, it became apparent we had to start giving the audience a format based largely on the popular classics.” The result was a load of letters from an audience segment upset that they were no longer hearing entire orchestral works. Stortz says the jump in audience levels was significant the audience has stayed. The format also includes CNN news broadcasts during morning and afternoon drive and regular reports from the Wall Street Journal when the markets are open.

KFUO-FM’s uniqueness in the radio business extends beyond format and community service. “Our full-time staff hasn’t changed in any dramatic way in the past ten years,” says Stortz. Morning man Jim Connett has been there for 10 years; John Roberts, who holds down middays has been an announcer there since 1977; Dick Wobbe, who is in afternoon drive has been on the air at Classic 99 since 1985; and operations director Ron Klemm, whose voice is on many commercials an most of the station’s weekly specialty shows, has been there for 23 years.

Everyone at the station agrees there’s a special relationship between Classic 99 and its listeners. Afternoon announcer Dick Wobbe puts it succinctly: “I think the people who listen to us realize our station is something special.” And Dennis Stortz says staff members are appreciative of their relationship with the listeners: “We spend a lot of time each day answering emails from our audience. They listen. They respond. We never have remotes where people don’t show up.”

Staff members agree the two-way listener-station relationship is based, in part, on the musical product. Jim Connett, who is also the station’s program director, says, “People come here for the music. It’s their [listeners’] radio station.” And Ron Klemm says the listeners’ taste is due to their demographic backgrounds: “Classical music people are more educated, are more involved in the community. There is a connection with the listener that is so intimate that each of them has a sense of ownership in what we’re doing.”

One man, Paul DeVantier, has a perspective of the radio station that is unique. Now retired and living in Wisconsin, he served as general manager of the station for many years before moving to the position of Executive Director of Communications for the synod.

DeVantier says over that 28 year period, he saw a “leadership in the synod committed to classical music as its most appropriate use of the airwaves, because it tied in with the Lutheran understanding of the importance of music in life itself.”

Thanks to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, there’s really no limit on the number of radio stations a company can own. Because of that four corporations own the bulk of the nation’s radio properties, and the days are gone when the corporate executives knew the names of the people who worked for them. That is, they’re gone almost everywhere. At KFUO-FM in the nation’s seventeenth largest radio market, the staff is well known to the owners, and to the station’s many listeners.

(Reprinted with permission of the St.Louis Journalism Review. Originally published 04/01)

Among the various mission activities of the Lutheran Church, Radio Station KFUO has a prominent place. KFUO broadcasts the precious gospel of Jesus Christ, bringing the glad tidings of salvation to places inaccessible to our missionaries, to people not affiliated with any church, to persons not familiar with the doctrines and principles of our church, as well as to members of our own congregations, especially to those who cannot attend church on account of external circumstances,such as sickness, lack of means of transportation, and bad roads.

A few remarks concerning the history of Station KFUO, its work and success, will be of interest to everyone. On February 19th, 1923, under the guidance of Dr. R. Kretzschmar, enthusiastically supported by Dr. W. A. Maier, the first definite move towards the purchase, installation and maintenance of a radio station got under way. Space will not permit to give a detailed account of the various meetings, the laborof the committee, of the installation of the initial radio apparatus, and subsequent larger development of the station, of the zeal and love of those interested and associated with the problem of bringing KFUO into existence. Among those who took an active part in the founding and development of KFUO, we must mention the Walther League, the Lutheran Layman’s League and the St. Louis Publicity Organization. The latter two still support KFUO with an annual subsidy.

In the course of years, thousands of individuals and may Lutheran congregations, organizations and societies have contributed toward the maintenance of KFUO, the great Missionary of the Air.

Formal dedication of Station KFUO occurred on Sunday, December 24th, 1924, at the old Concordia Seminary on South Jefferson Avenue. With the completion of the new Seminary, west of Forest Park, a new and larger plant was erected and dedicated to the service of the Triune God on May 29th, 1927. Since that time the equipment of Station KFUO has been kept up to date and all of the apparatus required by the Federal Radio Commission has been installed from time to time, thus assuring the listeners 100 percent efficiency in the transmission of our programs.

When KFUO began to broadcast, only two programs per week came over the air. Later, however, more programs were added. At the present time KFUO may be heard several times a day. Most of the broadcasting is done in the English language. Programs in the German, Slovak, Polish, Norwegian and Spanish language are also given. This is done in compliance with the great commission which Christ gave to the Church, “To Preach the Gospel to Every Creature.”

KFUO is heard in homes, in barber shops, at filling stations and garages, also on the highways by persons who have radios installed in their automobiles. Its broadcasts come to the shut-ins, to the bedside of the sick, to the mansions of the rich, and to the humble living room of the poor. It is heard early in the morning and at midnight. Those who tune in on KFUO may begin their daily task with the morning devotion, and close it with a midnight meditation on certain evenings of the week. Truly its work is to bring the Word of God into the lives of the people. Through the broadcasts of KFUO, the world is daily informed about the way to salvation. Every day of the week our Station answers the question of perplexed and troubled sinners who ask, “What must I do

to be saved?” Daily through the message of KFUO, these anxious enquirers are told, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” What then is the work of KFUO? We reply, to proclaim the Word of God in truth and purity, to lead sinners to repentance, to direct their hearts and minds in true faith to the crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

Frequently listeners ask: How do you maintain your Station? Do you not broadcast any commercial programs? The answer is, no business man or commercial firm could buy one minute of our time for advertising purposes. Our Station is altogether dependent on the free-will gifts from Lutheran organizations and congregations, and from the vast host of listeners-in. God blesses our work through the willing hearts and hands of the people.

For religious, educational, cultural and up-lifting programs – tune in on Station KFUO.

(Originally published in RAE Annual Radio Personality Yearbook 1933.)