Inducted 2004
Sheldon “Shelley” Grafman was the driving force behind the success of KSHE from 1967 thru February 1984.
Hired in late 1967 in sales, he eventually rose to the position of General Manager. At one time he was in charge of running stations for Century Broadcasting in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit from his home base in Crestwood.
Known for his devotion to the Album Oriented Rock format of the 70’s he was instrumental in creating the “free form” sound that made KSHE an institution not only in St. Louis but on a national level.
Throughout his 17 years at KSHE, Grafman was involved in all aspects of the station, operating out of his office, a 12×12 room in the cinder block building located at 9434 Watson Road.
Grafman also took an occasional air-shift using the on-air name of Shelley Graham. Hundreds of bands that went on to achieve superstar status were given their first break by playing a KSHE-sponsored concert.
Eventually Shelley was promoted to national programming director and executive vice-president of Century Broadcasting, KSHE’s parent company.
