[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 126 (Tuesday, September 25, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1739]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                       IN MEMORY OF STAN MATLOCK

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ROB PORTMAN

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 25, 2001

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the memory of Stan Matlock, 
a friend and Cincinnati broadcasting legend, who passed away on 
September 16, 2001.
  Stan's WKRC-AM morning radio program, ``Magazine of the Air,'' was a 
Cincinnati area institution for 27 years. It was a simple concept--he 
would tell human interest stories, then play a record, then tell 
another vignette--but he did it better than anyone. The popularity of 
his program was extraordinary; at times fully 50 percent of radio 
listeners in the Cincinnati area tuned in to Stan Matlock's Magazine of 
the Air.
  And he was more than a great storyteller. He loved research and 
writing and always considered himself first a writer. It's not 
surprising that his poignant stories were commentaries on our times. 
Impeccably organized, it was said that he had his vignettes cross-filed 
by subject and appropriateness for a particular time of day or national 
holiday or event. He was said to have over 30,000 ``Magazine of the 
Air'' scripts on file. Thankfully, some of his stories can still be 
heard on Saturday mornings in Cincinnati on WVXU-FM.
  Stan grew up in Pleasant Ridge in Cincinnati, was a graduate of 
Withrow High School, and began his career as a newswriter in 1945 at 
WKRC-FM while a student at the University of Cincinnati. He switched to 
WKRC-AM in 1946. He retired from WKRC-AM 29 years later in 1975, but 
returned to broadcasting with stints at WLQA-AM (now WRRM-AM) in 1976, 
and again with WKRC-AM in 1993.
  Stan's influence on broadcasting in Cincinnati was summed up by John 
Soller Sr., former general manager of WKRC-AM, who said, ``He set the 
standard for excellence in radio here.''
  Stan was devoted to his family, and is survived by his wife, Louise, 
and daughter, Anna. All of us in Cincinnati have suffered a great loss 
with Stan's passing, just as we so benefitted from his full life.

                          ____________________