Historical St. Louis Radio Broadcasts Added to Library of Congress

Frank Absher

Hours of historic St. Louis radio broadcasts are now being added to the Library of Congress, preserving key moments and everyday life from the city's airwaves thanks to decades of work by Frank Absher, executive director of the St. Louis Media History Foundation.

According to the St. Louis magazine, the accepted recordings include standout highlights such as the KMOX live broadcast from the Anheuser-Busch brewery marking the end of Prohibition in April 1933, which was fed nationwide over the CBS Network, and Harry Caray's coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals' sale on KXOK in 1947.

The Library of Congress is also incorporating everyday snapshots of mid-20th-century life. Absher notes that airchecks from stations like KXOK's top-40 format in the 1960s reveal what people heard: local topics, advertisements, and cultural details. Other examples include KSD’s “Alpine Varieties,” a music program sponsored by Alpen Brau Beer, and KMOX’s “Barnyard Follies,” a live hillbilly show networked on CBS from 1949–1950.The federal archive provides superior long-term preservation beyond cloud storage and makes the material accessible to researchers studying events like Prohibition's end or daily life in 1950s St. Louis.

Absher, a former KMOX announcer, has collected and preserved St. Louis radio since 1987, gathering airchecks, recordings of live broadcasts, and digitizing fragile 16-inch electronic transcription discs (ETs) with help from a Missouri Humanities Council seed grant and private donations.

His efforts gained traction two years ago through the National Radio Preservation Task Force, leading to initial sample submissions and now approval for more. He plans to eventually donate the original ETs as well.Looking ahead, Absher aims to post the recordings on the St. Louis Media History Foundation’s website, though music licensing issues from organizations like BMI or ASCAP have delayed this. He is editing out copyrighted music to avoid royalty claims, even for non-commercial use.