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KMOX Spreads the Spirit of St. Louis
by Cecil B. Sturges
Radio Star Magazine 10/34
"You are listening to KMOX, the Voice of St. Louis."
For nine years that sentence has rung clearly in the ears of the people of the Forty-ninth State.
The Forty-ninth State? You ask. But, I say, old man, there are only forty-eight stars on the flag.
True, brother, true. But KMOX has its own state - a territory extending over a radius of about 150 miles in all directions. It's a listening territory. You see, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, one of the early stockholders in KMOX, the 50,000 watt station in St. Louis, Missouri, originated the idea. That territory was claimed as the Globe-Democrat reading area. And those are the people who get KMOX best. Ask any St. Louisan about the Forty-ninth State. He knows.
 If you're curious about this modern, powerful station, which, by the way, is one of the middle west's newest stations, I'd suggest you visit it on your next trip to St. Louis. You'll find the studios in the Mart Building on Twelfth Boulevard, and there's a big room where visitors may stand and watch the broadcasts through big glass windows.
Like so many of the newer stations, KMOX is the last word in modern studios. Take a look at the reception room. There on the walls are murals depicting the history of St. Louis. That painting of the airplane soaring over the ocean is in memory of Col. Charles Lindbergh's epoc (sic) making flight. The Colonel, you recall, flew the "Spirit of St. Louis," and calls St. Louis his home town.
Down the hall behind the hostess desk you'll find a row of studios all opening onto a long corridor. Notice the control rooms, built like bay windows so the engineers can see every corner of the studio. Notice, too, the indirect lighting which is quite a help to performing artists.
Further down the hall you'll find the big auditorium. From three to five hundred people crowd into it each morning at the gosh-awful hour of 5 o'clock to watch the "Home Folks Hour" broadcast.
Now here's something that's new in broadcasting. KMOX has its organ console in one studio and the organ pipes in still another room which is a hundred feet away. Imagine the organist in a room by himself playing the accompaniment for a soloist who stands in a sound proof studio in another part of the building! Well, KMOX does just that. The organist hears the singer by means of a loud speaker. But here's the unusual thing. The announcer for that program is in a third room, by himself, where he can hear the singer and the organ only through a loud speaker. And the control engineer is way off in another part of the building, listening in to all three on another loud speaker. Four studios for one program. Why? Oh, just to be different. It's novelty they want. 
If you should go up the winding stairs, you'd see a setup not unlike Radio City itself. There are the observation rooms where clients or guests may sit behind glass walls and watch broadcasts. And sit in overstuffed chairs and divans with their feet on carpeted floors!
How did this whole business of KMOX start? Well, it began about ten years ago when Thomas Patrick Convey had the idea that St. Louis and the middle west needed another radio station. Convey was able to sell that idea to several leading organizations like the Globe-Democrat, the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company and the Stark Brothers Nursery. So the St. Louis Radio Trades Association was formed and KMOX went on the air in the spring of 1928 (sic) as a 5,000 watt-station.
The Hotel Mayfair was a stockholder and KMOX's three studios were located in that building. Before long a fourth studio was added. Then Mr. Convey resigned after about eight months and Nelson Darragh stepped in. By 1928 he had secured control.
You should know, however, that the Columbia Broadcasting System had always been interested. KMOX was one of the twenty stations making up the original CBS network. In fact, KMOX carried the first program ever broadcast by the network in 1928.
Columbia executives in New York saw great possibilities in a powerful transmitter on the banks of the Mississippi. So, when KMOX went to 50,000 watts, CBS helped foot the bill and bought an interest. By May 1, 1933, Columbia had assumed full control.
 Today there sits behind the door labeled "President" a man who knows radio. He knows it from an entertainment viewpoint because not so many years ago he was a radio artist, singing and playing over Minneapolis stations. He knows it from the advertising angle, for he was an executive in a big advertising agency which produces some of the air's best fare. Around the studios they call him "Mr. Van." He is J. L. Van Volkenburg, young and energetic. He became KMOX's president in October, 1932.
Don't think that interest in KMOX is limited to the Forty-ninth State. Not at all. In fact, the Columbia network uses KMOX as one of its key stations. Those of you who live in the Southwest, West and Northwest will recall that a lot of your CBS programs originate from KMOX in St. Louis. At the moment, about twenty-five programs go on over the network from KMOX. There's the Pet Milk commercial on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Jerry Hoekstra's baritoning. A Monday program called "And the Crowd Roared," which relives sports events. Then, too, the Harmonettes, Russell Brown, the Schumate Brothers and others.
Can you remember when airplane endurance flying took the country by rage? Then you'll recall that Jackson and O'Brien, of St. Louis, established the first big record back in 1929. Newspapers from coast to coast gave column after column of space to this extraordinary event. And radios gave out special bulletins of the progress of the flight. KMOX was the first station on the air to report the flight. Every few minutes during the day the station gave bulletins. And when the record was broken, KMOX stayed on the air for 186 continuous hours, the length of time the flyers stayed in the air after the old record was passed.
And when it comes to high music, KMOX again takes honors. This time the music was about 2,000 feet high. A band was placed in an airplane with Billy Sunday, and KMOX listeners got music and religion from the heavens. That was in 1929 and a stunt quite new to radio.
Airplanes have really played an important part in KMOX history. Take, for instance, the time a cornerstone was laid from a plane. The stone was set up on an electric winch. Up in a roaring plane were city officials and a KMOX engineer and announcer. As the plane rushed over the building, a voice broadcast by short wave and rebroadcast by KMOX closed the circuit of the electric winch, dropping the cornerstone in its place. That, to be sure, was a pioneering move by radio.
So don't forget to visit "The Voice of St. Louis" when you're out that way. You'll find out for yourself the wonders of the Forty-ninth State - the state you didn't know existed.
The home of KMOX.
KMOX main page
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