Over the years, it has been suggested to me many times by many different people that I should "write a book" about KSHE. Perhaps I will someday. It will take a lot of time and research to do it right. Until then, I thought that what I could do, was tell the story of the origin of KSHE strictly from memory. I will put into written word what I have spoken to many of you when asked about the earliest days of KSHE 95. I know the story well enough to give you a good idea of those great times without having to research specific names and dates. It is a great story.

I was not part of the original air staff of KSHE, but I was an original listener. I remember KSHE before it was rock and roll. I had something that was almost unheard of in 1967, factory installed FM radio in my car!

In 1967 AM radio was still king. Well before the invention of television, FM radio had been successfully suppressed by the established broadcasters of the time. There were a handful of FM stations operating and they were almost all Classical or "Easy Listening" music stations. Many were adjuncts to AM stations and commercials were given away on the FM to those who bought time on the AM. FM radio was not taken seriously as a profitable business venture. Usually the lowliest AM station drew more listeners than the most successful FM station. Indeed, most people didn't have FM receivers at all. In 1968, when I started going with the girl who is now my wife, one of the first gifts that I gave her was an FM radio so that she could listen to KSHE.

KFUO is the oldest FM station west of the Mississippi. Then it played, as it still does, Classical music. It is on the campus of Concordia Seminary in Clayton. It is owned by the Lutheran church which supported it in its earliest days. In 1967 there was another FM station called KCFM. It too was Classical. FM was synonymous with either Classical or "elevator" music. There was no rock music of any kind on the FM band.....yet.

There was a broadcast engineer named Ed Ceries. (I would later cross paths with him in the TV department of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.) He started a radio station in the basement of a house in Crestwood, a suburb of St. Louis. The idea was to design a musical format that appealed to women. (a concept way before its time!) It was even suggested that all the DJs be women. In another city there were two stations called KHIM and KHER. Thus, little Crestwood gained a radio station dubbed KSHE. It played Montovani and Percy Faith and Johnny Mathis, music thought to be appealing to women.

In 1967 the rock station that most of us listened to was KXOK. It was an AM Top 40 station. In 1967, rock music was only about 10 years old. There were only about two rock formats to speak of; Top 40 and "Soul" or R&B. At the most, there were probably 3 or four stations playing rock on the radio. Rock and Roll was still considered a fad by many adults and they waited for the day when it would die out and their children would start listening to "good" music.

KXOK was owned by one of the inventors of the "Top 40" concept, Todd Storz. The funny thing about this was that after a while, they didn't even play 40 songs. They would use the Billboard charts and concoct a list of as few as 18 hits and play them over and over. Energy was the order of the day. The music never stopped. Their mortal dread was "dead air". The DJs talked over the musical intros right up until the vocal began. This is called "hitting the post". Highly produced, splashy jingles played after each song. Songs were seldom longer than three minutes and thirty seconds. Female artists were not played back to back. Music was never blended together. Unless you called it a "Twin Spin", two songs by the same group were never played together. Music was simply "rotated", with little or no thought as to putting it together by subject matter or style. Once a song completed its run on the radio it was very often forgotten. Current music was the main currency of Top 40.

But...the times they were a changin'!

In 1964 at a Beatles press conference, the Fab 4 were asked questions like "What do you call your haircut?" (Arthur). "How did you find America?" (Turn left at Greenland). There was no serious rock press because few took rock seriously. There were only fan magazines that would tell you what John Lennon's favorite color was.

By 1967 the Beatles were being asked why they didn't speak out about Vietnam. Rock had come a long way. Writers like Bob Dylan were making serious contributions to the culture of the world. Rock music was expanding, growing, exciting! And more and more of the best music was not getting played on the Top 40 stations. Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Cream, Haight-Ashbury, Monterrey, all happened in 1967. AM radio was not relevant to this amazing new maturity of rock.

Big things were coming for the little radio station in Crestwood!

In Chicago, Howard Grafman and the people of the Century Broadcasting decided to buy KSHE. In San Francisco, some radio people were stirring up some interest by playing avant garde (underground) rock on an FM station there. They thought they would give it a try in St. Louis. They hired Howard's brother Shelly, to run the business end and legendary KXOK DJ "Johnny Rabbit" (Ron Elz) to program it. They moved into a concrete block building that used to be part of the "Route 66 Drive-In" next door.

Ron Elz hired some of his AM radio friends to play rock music on the FM! They had names like Don O'Day, Lee Coffee (the Musical Pumpkin), and Pete Mayer. There was even a Catholic missionary, Rich Palmeze, known as Brother Love. (He went on to become a big record company executive.) Somewhere around the fall of 1967, Ron Elz is not certain of the exact day, they inserted one rock song into the midst of the Ray Conniff and Johnny Mathis. Ron is not sure, but if pressed, will say that it was "White Rabbit" the new song by Jefferson Airplane. Each day thereafter, they inserted more and more rock until Percy Faith was totally gone. It was now "Up, Up, and Away In My Beautiful Balloon!" It wasn't exactly "hip" yet, but it was new and different.

My grandfather loved Classical music. So much so, that he special ordered a factory FM receiver whenever he bought a new Chevrolet. When we rode with him on the many road trips Gramp took us on, we usually listened to FM. This way I heard the old, pre-rock, KSHE once in while, though not often because Gramp didn't really like it. More importantly, Gramp would sell his car to my mom and dad whenever he bought a new one. This car was shared by my brother and me. Thus, in 1967, at the age of 17, I had an FM radio in my car. I remember people remarking that they didn't know you could even get FM in a car!

Imagine my amazement one day to hear the Grassroots singing "Live For Today" on the FM band, in Stereo, High Fidelity! I told the other guys in my band "The Fourth Row". We would take breaks from practice and drive around in my brown Chevy and listen to KSHE 95. It was pretty interesting.

The jocks were former Top 40 guys and though they didn't use jingles (probably couldn't afford them), it was not yet what was to become "Underground" radio. It was a very fluid situation. Rock music on FM was still pretty much uncharted territory. They were feeling their way. It was low budget and anything goes. I remember hearing Catholic music from a group called "The Montfort Mission". You might hear somebody like "The Seekers" doing "Morning Dew". On Sunday mornings there was a German language Oompah music show hosted by a guy named Eric.

Then one day I heard a phone-in from some newly hired DJ. His name was Prince Knight and he said he was on his way from New Orleans and would soon take up residence on KSHE. Later I heard another phoner and this time he was coming in from somewhere else. Is this guy lost or what? It was all very whimsical. (Later I would learn that he actually came from Belleville.)

Prince Knight would become one of my biggest influences and teachers. He was the man that really understood what KSHE could be. He knew the music. He would play long sets of music that seemed to make sense together. Often the songs would have the same subject matter or style. He would play two or more songs by the same group in a row. Lately there were songs coming out of places like San Francisco that were ten or more minutes long! He played songs from the albums and not just the singles. He put music into context. He loved it and treated it seriously. He knew about it and taught us. He spoke to us in a normal speaking voice as opposed to the "puker" style of the AMs. Prince took us to the Underground.

"KSHE 95....under St. Louis."

Meanwhile, back in my Chevy, I couldn't get enough of all this great new music. I was angry at KXOK because I naively thought that they had been covering everything worth hearing. I would never go back to the AM for music again.

Gradually, through attrition, the original KSHE rock staff faded away and were replaced by younger guys who also knew and loved this great new music and radio.

KSHE had found its way and it was good!

AM radio would still be king for a few more years. The AM guys made fun of us. We were hippies playing at radio. FM was minor league radio. Establishment businesses like banks and department stores wouldn't dream of advertising on KSHE. They didn't want long hairs coming into their businesses. Some people were afraid to put KSHE stickers on their cars because cops would pull them over. KSHE had to constantly advertise FM converters for cars. Many still didn't have FM's in their homes, let alone their cars. When I graduated from high school in 1968, most of my classmates were still listening to KXOK. When my band played "Gloria" and "Hey Joe" at a dance, they asked where that music came from.

The music was so good, so compelling, so abundant...the times were so right, that people did go out and buy FM radios. KSHE connected with St. Louis in a deep and fundamental way. So much so, that KSHE is still here, and I am still here more than 35 years later telling the tale.

More to come......