[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 185 (Wednesday, December 10, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2380]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   IN RECOGNITION OF AM 560 KWTO RADIO'S 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF SERVING 
                           SOUTHWEST MISSOURI

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                             HON. ROY BLUNT

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 10, 2008

  Mr. BLUNT. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor an Ozarks 
institution--KWTO Radio. AM 560 KWTO will celebrate its 75th 
anniversary of continuous service to Southwest Missouri providing 
music, news and information. On Christmas Day 1933, broadcast pioneer 
Ralph Foster brought KWTO to life with its first broadcast from the old 
Chamber of Commerce Building on St. Louis Street in Springfield.
  Foster decided that KWTO's hallmark would be to provide the highest 
quality news, weather, farm reports and entertainment to its listeners 
and dubbed the station's call letters ``Keep Watching the Ozarks.'' 
Adherence to that tradition has kept KWTO the region's longest 
continuously operating radio station.
  75 years is a long time to keep any business going. By hiring great 
talent in broadcasting and entertainment, Foster amassed an amazing 
group of artists and journalists that would become well known and 
trusted names in radio. Floyd Sullivan, Bill Bailey and C.C. Williford, 
who was widely known as one of the nation's best weathermen, filled the 
region's airwaves from the 1930s.
  Another group of broadcasters were also laying the foundation for 
what would become ``the Golden Age'' of entertainment on KWTO AM. Slim 
Wilson, George Earl and Bill Ring were the showmen that Foster and 
associate Si Simon used to launch and develop programming that would 
take a weekly ``hillbilly variety'' program and turned it into one of 
televisions early sensations.
  KWTO's Korn's-A-Krackin', which began airing during World War II and 
continued into the 1960s, was picked up nationally by the Mutual 
Broadcast System. In July 1954, KWTO became part of American broadcast 
history when the KWTO Barn Dance program was revamped for the brand new 
medium and named The Ozarks Jubilee. This live program broadcast from 
Springfield was an early TV hit (1955 to 1960 on ABC).
  KWTO, which also produced the Ozarks Country Jubilee, and its 
television cousin used local artists like Wilson, Red Foley, Mother 
Maybelle Carter and the Carter Family, Johnny Cash, Porter Waggoner, 
Les Paul, Brenda Lee and a guitar player named Chet Atkins. These were 
staff musicians hired to perform live on KWTO from the 1930s through 
1950s well before they established iconic careers in country music that 
led many to Country Music Hall of Fame and/or the Grand Ole Opry 
decades later.
  Other notables broadcasting for KWTO at the start of their careers:
  Charles McCord, from the nationally syndicated Don Imus Show, and 
whose grandmother, May Kennedy McCord, was also a KWTO broadcaster 
during the 40s and 50s.
  Jim Bohannon, now nationally syndicated and a member of the Radio 
Broadcaster Hall of Fame, was a news reporter at KWTO.
  Les Garvin, creator of MTV.
  While not originating his program from KWTO, Ralph Foster's close 
friend Paul Harvey frequently broadcasted live from the KWTO studio.
  More contemporary alums from KWTO now hold important positions in 
business, education and broadcasting including Greene County Clerk 
Richard Struckhoff, President of the St. Johns Foundation Mike Peters, 
and Vice President of University Advancement at Missouri State 
University Brent Dunn, just to name a few.
  KWTO has long provided vital information to its family of listeners 
on local and world events. It's where Ozarkers learned on a cold 
December morning about the attack on Pearl Harbor and heard President 
Roosevelt's response a day later. KWTO was also the source for news of 
the surrender of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces. Its broadcasters 
reported the shocking news of President Roosevelt's death as well as 
the elation of President Harry Truman's surprise win in 1948. KWTO was 
home to the Lone Ranger and many other radio favorites for generations.
  KWTO's commitment to community involvement has also been an integral 
part of its mission to enhance the quality of life for its listeners. 
There was ``free ride day'' that started as a charity event cosponsored 
with the Salvation Army at the Ozark Empire Fair and the hugely 
successful KWTO Christmas Parties held at the Shrine Mosque that drew 
crowds so large some people had to be turned away.
  Local news has always been a critical part of KWTO's commitment to 
the region. Reporting on a wide range of social, political, law 
enforcement, and events that marked and shaped the area was a mainstay 
of everyday programming. In more recent years, the KWTO microphones 
have been opened to the public for talk show programming that gives 
voice to a range of opinions.
  This Christmas Day AM 560 KWTO Radio will celebrate its 75th year of 
operations and its continuing dedication to serving the Ozarks. I wish 
KWTO and its current owner Kenneth Myer continued success and many more 
years of ``Keep Watching the Ozarks.''

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