Legacy Inductees/2:

Dave Dixon
     Dave Dixon, a native St. Louisan, was the first African-American vice president of Laclede Broadcasting, the owner/operator of KATZ, and, in a related field, the first African-American promoter for Regal Sports, a concert and sports production agency.
     He had started with the company as a disc jockey in 1958 and was closely associated with most of the station’s early remote broadcasts.
     In addition to being a local producer and promoter of live music shows, Dixon was the popular host of KATZ’s “Night Beat Down Rhythm Street,” which originated from various lounges in the St. Louis area.
     He served as president of NATRA, the African-American organization of television and radio announcers.

Harry Eidelman
     Harry Eidelman was truly a radio pioneer on the St. Louis FM scene. He put KCFM on the air in 1953, and working over the ensuing years with engineer Ed Bench, he built several transmitters as well as his own multiplexing unit for stereo broadcasts.
     KCFM was initially a classical music station staffed by volunteers, but no one wanted to advertise on FM in the early 50s, so Eidelman used profit from his hi-fi shop to continue the station’s operation.
     The format gradually evolved into easy listening with a paid staff. He tells the story of a broadcast technology that had not fully evolved and commercial transmitters that would heat up and arc constantly. A fire knocked the station off the air for a week in 1960, but perseverance and dedication prevailed.
     Staffers say working at KCFM was like being part of a family, and Eidelman has fond memories of loyal staffers and listeners who went out of their way to ensure the station’s success.

Ron Elz
     Ron Elz had radio in his blood, which accounts for his longevity in the business.
     His first on-air gig was in 1954 on WTMV. He was 15 years old, and he brokered his time, selling the ads and doing the announcing work. After high school graduation he bounced around, landing the evening slot at the Storz St. Louis property, KXOK, where he took the air name “Johnny Rabbitt.”
     He went to WIL in 1965 and later to WRTH.
     He managed KSHE when the station switched to its progressive rock format, for which it became nationally known, and also consulted KADI when it changed from jazz to rock. In his position at WRTH, Elz is the morning drive host and also serves as operations manager.
     Elz was honored as a recipient the AIR Awards Lifetime Achievement Award.

Harry Fender
     Harry Fender’s radio work in St. Louis was at KXOK, for a brief period, and KMOX for over 20 years. The former star of the Ziegfeld Follies also was remembered for his “Captain 11” character on a children’s television program in the 1960s.
     He began his radio career as a news commentator, later taking a stint as a talk personality on KXOK, and he moved to KMOX in 1954, where he was host of a program that aired live from the Chase Hotel six nights a week.
     The program ran until 1975, and it became an automatic stop for any celebrities who were visiting the St. Louis area.
     Fender used his earlier show business experience as a basis for his interviews with entertainers, many of whom had known or worked with him. In addition, in the early 50s, Fender was often called on to host “Saturday At the Chase,” a live big band program that was fed to the CBS network.
     After his retirement from the daily radio grind he was frequently a guest on the Jack Carney Show.

Gabriel
     Gabriel was a personality on WOKZ in Alton, IL., in 1952, mixing blues and R&B with hillbilly records, jazz and the old standards.
     His next stop was WTMV in East St. Louis where he did live remotes, moving across the river to KATZ where he started doing fill-in work for vacationing deejays. When PD Dave Dixon went on vacation, he asked Gabriel to take over his many remotes.
     Gabriel was then hired to do the Sunday gospel shows on KATZ, which led to a full-time slot from 7:30 - 9:00 each night, for which he won the St. Louis Sentinel's award for Best Radio Personality. He later took the 1 - 6 a.m. slot from the late 1950s until 1969. Then it was on to a year-long Sunday night stint on the market's most eclectic radio station, KDNA, which was supported solely by listener contributions.
     He left the market briefly from 1973-1976, returning to a job at WESL. He ended up doing a weekly show on KDHX in 1989 on which he re-created the programs he had done in the 60s. In 1999 he won the Riverfront Times award as the Top St. Louis Radio Personality.
     Gabriel produced and recorded some R&B and blues classics, including the first 45 by Tina Turner, which was recorded in Ike Turner's living room and kitchen on Virginia Place in East St. Louis in the late 50s. At various times he also ran a couple record stores, a theater featuring live music acts and a nightclub.

Joe Garagiola
     Joe Garagiola began his broadcast career in St. Louis after a nine year run as a major league baseball catcher.
     A native of The Hill neighborhood in St. Louis, Garagiola signed on to do color for Cardinals’ radio broadcasts.
     He said he had prepared for the job by practicing play-by-play announcing and accepting every speaking request he got. “I went to more meetings in Protestant churches and Jewish temples than any Catholic in history.”
     His five years on the air on KMOX and doing Cardinals’ booth work began in the 1955 season. He also handled reports from Spring Training in Florida, but NBC made an offer he couldn’t refuse and he was doing the network’s Game of the Week in 1961. He spent over 40 years in various capacities at NBC in radio and television.
     Joe Garagiola is a broadcast member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Gracy
     Gracy (Willa Mae Gracy-Lowry) was the first female African American radio announcer in St. Louis, holding forth on KATZ.
     She began working there in the late 1950s as a secretary in the front office. As part of her on-air work, she was a pioneer in establishing remote broadcasts for the station.
     She was also heard on KXLW and KADI-FM, and late in her career, she often teamed with Lou “Fatha” Thimes on his Saturday afternoon KATZ program.
     Gracy was the first national secretary for the African-American fraternal organization NARA, the National Association of Radio Announcers, which later became NATRA to include television announcers.

Bob Hardy
     Bob Hardy is best-known for his many years of work as a newsman and program host at KMOX. He joined that station in 1960, having previously worked at WIBV and WIL. At the latter station, he served as news director from 1957 - 1960.
     At KMOX, Hardy wrote and produced more than a dozen major documentaries and covered political conventions from 1964 - 1992.
     Many of Hardy’s broadcasts were pioneering. In 1978, he inaugurated a special weeklong live broadcast of “At Your Service” from Washington, DC., and he later served as host for the “Radio Bridge,” a monthly satellite broadcast link between St. Louis and Moscow.
     KMOX and Bob Hardy received a National Headliner Award for a series featuring live broadcasts from five European capitols in five days, culminating the effort with the first live call-in show originating from Red Square in Moscow. During the Gulf War, Hardy went on special assignment in Saudi Arabia, broadcasting live via satellite.
     His awards fill an entire page, ranging from a Peabody Award, 3 Missouri Associated Press awards, UPI Regional Broadcast Award, Daughters of the American Revolution Medal of Honor, and Illinois Friend of Farmer Award.
     Bob Hardy worked at KMOX until 1993, when he passed away. He was, for many years, the market’s news voice.

Sterling Harkins
     Sterling Harkins’ work in St. Louis radio spanned three stations: KMOX, KWK and KSD.
     While specific dates are unavailable, it is known he was a singing staff artist at KMOX from 1926 to 1930, when he was lured to a management slot at an Alabama station. He came back to St. Louis in the early 1930s for a job as studio manager at KWK, which was then located in the Chase Hotel. The job didn’t last long, as Mr. Harkins’ former boss in Alabama called him back to put two new stations on the air.
     Harkins’ final broadcasting move came in 1938, when he was hired at Pulitzer’s KSD as a staff announcer. His duties and jobs changed over the years, but he remained in St. Louis until his retirement in 1967. He was a regular participant in “The Land We Live In,” a long-running locally produced radio dramatic series that began on KMOX and then moved to KSD.
     Mr. Harkins was one of the first presidents of the local AFRA union, and when KSD-TV signed on in February of 1947, Mr. Harking split his announcing duties between radio and television. In 1959, he was elevated to the job of program manager at KSD radio.

Paul & Angel Harvey
     Paul Aurandt was a young newsman hired when KXOK signed on in 1938. A year later, Lynne Cooper began working at the station as a producer, and their subsequent marriage produced a national broadcasting empire.
     The names changed slightly. On their first date he nicknamed her "Angel." His air name was changed to Paul Harvey. After a couple other jobs, they moved to Chicago in 1944, he as a newscaster on WENR; she as his producer, editor and writer. They moved as a team to ABC Radio in 1951.
     During their long career operating the "Paul Harvey News" organization, the couple maintained a farm south of St. Louis, where they installed a broadcast studio so he could continue his broadcasts while visiting the area.

Bernie Hayes
     Bernie Hayes’ name was closely associated with the development of ethnic radio in St. Louis, but he had a highly successful career even before coming to this market.
     He arrived in St. Louis from KSOL in San Francisco, becoming a disc jockey at KATZ, playing soul in the afternoons and jazz at night. Hayes also worked at KWK, KKSS, KIRL, WESL, KXLW and KADI in various capacities, including air shifts.
     He was the host of the first radio talk show for black audiences here and later parlayed his knowledge of the community into a prestigious job as the first African-American to be appointed news director at KWMU, the market’s major NPR affiliate.
     He also shared his knowledge of the business by teaching media courses at Webster University. In addition to over 45 years working in various media, Hayes labored tirelessly to preserve the history of Black radio and its personalities, especially those in the St. Louis area.

Gene Hirsch
     Gene Hirsch worked at WIL in St. Louis for 34 years. He worked his way through college as a radio announcer and after graduation he was a “guest announcer” with Armed Forces Radio in Korea.
     He was later hired by Balaban for their Dallas property. In 1960, they transferred him to their station in St. Louis, WIL.
     Most of his time at WIL-AM & FM was as the news director for the stations. In spite of competition from other heavily staffed radio newsrooms, Hirsch won many awards from the Missouri Broadcasters Association, including “Best Newscast,” “Investigative Reporting,” “Public Affairs,” and “Documentaries.” In 1993, the year before he retired, Gene Hirsch won the First Place Award - News and First Place Award - Documentary/Public Affairs in the statewide competition.
     He was known in the market for his willingness to work with college interns trying to break into broadcast journalism, and he served on several charitable boards during his time in St. Louis.
     The voice of Gene Hirsch was truly the voice of WIL News for over three decades.

Grant Horton
     His given name was Harlan, but on the air here he was “Grant.” His style was laid-back, friendly, sincere.
     Grant Horton came to St. Louis and broke into radio as “Grant Williams” in 1959 on the CBS franchise “Housewives’ Protective League,” which he hosted on KMOX until 1967.
     He then moved to KSD where, it was said, he acquired the name “Horton” after holding an informal contest to name the deejay.
     His career continued with stops at KSCF, WRTH, WEW, KXOK, and a final stop at KMOX. At each station, he continued his folksy approach that his listeners had come to expect from him. He left the KMOX airwaves after his second stint there in 1989.
     He was awarded the Nellie Booth Award by the St. Louis AFTRA office for “exceptional and meritorious service to AFTRA and to the industry.”

Robert Hyland
     Robert Hyland’s name was essentially synonymous with that of the radio station he managed, KMOX.
     His St. Louis radio career actually began in 1945 at KXOK, where he worked as an advertising salesman. In 1946 he was appointed sales manager of KXOK-FM. The station’s owners put Hyland in charge of the effort to sell “transit radio,” an ill-fated venture around the country to rescue a gasping FM radio industry by placing receivers in municipal streetcars and buses.
     He was hired by CBS radio in 1950 and sent to WBBM in Chicago, returning to St. Louis less than two years later to work at KMOX. He quickly rose from his first job as national sales manager to general sales manager to assistant general manager in 2 years. In 1955, Hyland took the reigns as KMOX general manager, a position he held until his death in 1992.
     Under Hyland’s leadership, KMOX became the first major radio station to adopt an all-talk format, which was dubbed “At Your Service.” He also developed KMOX into the “Sports Voice of St. Louis” with play-by-play for the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Football Cardinals, St. Louis Blues, and University of Missouri football and basketball.
     KMOX consistently registered the highest listening ratings in the nation and often the highest gross revenues in the CBS-owned radio chain. The Wall Street Journal cited Hyland as one of the nation’s most notorious workaholics. He arrived for work at KMOX at 2:00 a.m. six days a week, usually staying until 5:30 in the afternoon.
     Hyland turned down offers to become president of CBS Sports, and later, of the CBS Radio Network, choosing to remain in St. Louis. CBS founder William Paley said of Hyland’s KMOX, “It is the jewel in CBS’s crown.”