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St. Louis Cardinals' Radio History
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For generations radio listeners have twisted their dials with renewed fervor in April when baseball season begins. It St. Louis for over a half-century, those dials were tuned to KMOX, but the Cardinals' play-by-play has been heard on other stations here too.
St. Louis baseball was actually first heard on the radio in 1926 when the Cardinals were in the World Series. It was the club's first appearance in the post-season classic, and play-by-play man Graham MacNamee's voice was heard on a primitive network hookup originating at WEAF in New York and picked up in St. Louis on KSD. (A published report lists Lester Arthur Benson as the originator of baseball broadcasts in St. Louis, but there is no documentation to back this up.)
The next year Cardinals' owner Sam Breadon granted permission for the team's home games to be broadcast on the radio, and according to Curt Smith in the book "Voices of the Game," Garnett Marks was the first local announcer to broadcast the Cardinals. The station was KMOX. It's notable that Marks didn't use his name during that first full season, instead calling himself "Rhino Bill" at the behest of his sponsor, Rhino Tire Stores. Midway through the season, his sponsor changed and so did his name, to Otto Buick.
KMOX didn't have a monopoly on the broadcasts, but the station's managing director, Thomas Patrick Convey, took credit for being the pioneer of local basebvall broadcasts. The Globe-Democrat published an article in 1949 crediting Convey with originating "the first baseball broadcast from inside Sportsmen's Park."
The reality, in Convey's own words in a letter written in May of 1929, was, "In March, 1926, as managing director of KMOX…I secured permission to install facilities in the press box…For two weeks in April, 1926, I sat in the press box and gave the scores, runs hits and errors over the air. During the third and fourth weeks another employee of KMOX gave the score.
"…This broadcast was discontinued as the officials figured it was costing too much money."
Over the years, announcers and stations changed:
1926 Thomas Patrick, Garnett Marks (partial season): KMOX
1927 Garnett Marks (Rhino Bill, Otto Buick): KMOX
Thomas Patrick: KFVE
William Ellsworth: WIL
1928 Garnett Marks,
Thomas Patrick: KWK
William Ellsworth: WIL
1929 France Laux: KMOX
Thomas Patrick: KWK
1930 France Laux: KMOX
Thomas Patrick: KWK
L. A. Eddie Benson: WIL
1931 France Laux: KMOX
Thomas Patrick: KWK
L. A. Eddie Benson: WIL
1932 France Laux: KMOX
Thomas Patrick, Johnny Harrington: KWK
1933 France Laux: KMOX
Johnny Harrington, Thomas Patrick, Bob Thomas: KWK
1934 France Laux: KMOX
Bob Thomas, Ray Schmidt: KWK
1935 France Laux: KMOX
Johnny Harrington, Bob Thomas: KWK
Neil Norman: WIL
1936 France Laux: KMOX
Johnny O'Hara, Ray Schmidt: KWK
1937 France Laux, Jim Alt: KMOX
Johnny O'Hara, Ray Schmidt, Allan Anthony, Tom Dailey: KWK
1938 France Laux, Ray Alt, KMOX
Allan Anthony, Johnny O'Hara: KWK
1939 France Laux, Cy Casper: KMOX
Johnny O'Hara, Jim Bottomley: KWK
1940 France Laux: KMOX
Johnny O'Hara, Johnny Nesbitt: KWK
Alex Buchan, Ray Schmidt, Gabby Street: KXOK
1941 Johnny O'Hara, Johnny Neblett, Dizzy Dean: KWK
France Laux: KXOK
1942 Dizzy Dean, Johnny O'Hara: KWK
France Laux: KXOK
1943 Dizzy Dean, Johnny O'Hara: KWK
France Laux, Ron Rawson: KXOK
1944 Dizzy Dean, Johnny O'Hara: WEW - Day/WTMV - Night
1945 Harry Caray, Gabby Street: WIL
France Laux, Johnny O'Hara: WEW - Day/WTMV - Night
1946 Dizzy Dean, Johnny O'Hara: WIL
Harry Caray, Gabby Street: WEW/WTMV
1947 Dizzy Dean, Johnny O'Hara: WIL
Harry Caray, Gabby Street: WEW/WTMV
Following the 1947 season, Breadon announced the creation of a six-station radio network for the next year, meaning outlying stations would be carrying the same broadcasts heard in St. Louis, sponsored by Griesedieck Brothers' Brewery.
1948 Harry Caray, Gabby Street: WEW, WEW-FM/WTMV, KXOK-FM
1949 Harry Caray, Gabby Street: WIL, WIL-FM
1950 Harry Caray, Gabby Street, Stretch Miller: WIL
1951 Harry Caray; WIL
1952 Harry Caray, Gus Mancuso: WIL
1954 Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Milo Hamilton: KXOK
1955 Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Joe Garagiola: KMOX
1960 Harry Caray, Joe Garagiola: KMOX
1961 Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Joe Garagiola: KMOX
1963 Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Jerry Gross: KMOX
1968 Harry Caray, Jack Buck: KMOX
1970 Jack Buck, Jim Woods: KMOX
1971 Jack Buck, Jim Woods: KMOX
1972 Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Mike Walden: KMOX
1973 Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Harry Walker: KMOX
1974 Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Bob Starr: KMOX
1975 Jack Buck, Mike Shannon: KMOX
1976 Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Bob Starr: KMOX
1980 Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Dan Kelly: KMOX
1984 Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Red Rush: KMOX
1985 Jack Buck, Mike Shannon: KMOX
1992 Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Joe Buck: KMOX
1993 Jack Buck, Mike Shannon: KMOX
1994 Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Joe Buck: KMOX
1995 Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Joe Buck, Bob Carpenter: KMOX
1996 Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Joe Buck: KMOX
2001 Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Joe Buck, Dan McLaughlin: KMOX
2002 Mike Shannon, Joel Meyers: KMOX
2003 Mike Shannon, Wayne Hagin: KMOX
2006 Mike Shannon, John Rooney: KTRS
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(Reprinted with permission of the St. Louis Journalism Review. Originally published 4/05, revised 11/08)
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