Absher's Hall of Fame is more than just radio ...

I should have mentioned this in the piece below. Since my retirement last Fall, I have passed along control of both of Absher's media history websites to the STLMedia History Foundation.  The websites, www.stlradio.com and www.stlmediahist.org include a facebook site.

Each year there will Hall of Fame inductees in Print, Radio and Television categories.  Here are this year's inductees:

Print:
• Alice Belcher, the first woman employed by the St. Louis Democrat, forerunner to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat;
• Linda Eardley, the first woman to work on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch city desk;
• Selwyn Pepper, long-time St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter and editor, credited with helping the newspaper win three Pulitzer Prizes;
• Carl Schurz, founder of several papers including Westliche Post, a St. Louis German newspaper, and who hired Joseph Pulitzer as a cub reporter; and,
• Elaine Viets, long-time columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the author of two, national best-selling mystery series.

Radio:
• Doug Eason, whose 40-year career began with Armed Forces Radio and Television Service and included work on-air and in management at several local stations;
• Gentleman Jim Gates, who served as a broadcaster, co-owner and general manager for several stations, and is a Peabody Award winner;
• Columbus Gregory, who was named one of the nation’s top 25 gospel disc jockeys. He was not only an announcer at several stations, but played one in the movie “Say Amen Somebody”;
• Prince Knight (Ron Lipe), whose name is synonymous with St. Louis rock radio from his years as a KSHE disc jockey in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s; and,
• Nancy Pool, who was president of KADI-FM, VP/GM of KSHE, WIL-AM/FM and was brought in to resuscitate the operations of KMOX-FM, KXOK/KLTH, and KWK/KGLD. She’s listed in several “Who’s Who” lists.

Television:
• John Auble, long-time KTVI/KSD/KSDK-TV news reporter and anchor, whose journalistic range enabled him to do everything from entertaining features to hard-nosed crime stories.
• Howard DeMere, a pioneer weatherman on KSD-TV, set the standard for reporting and forecasting the weather. His memorable sign-off -- “That’s all from here, Howard DeMere” -- was his trademark.
• Ray Hoffstetter, who started in the early days of the medium at KSD/KSDK-TV as a stagehand and worked his way up to videographer/editor.
• Herb Humphries, of KMOX/KMOV-TV, where his street reporting earned him the respect and trust of newsmakers and viewers alike.
• Sharon Stevens, who at KTVI-TV and KSDK-TV has specialized in education reporting throughout her long career.
• Parker Wheatley, a ground-breaking KMOX-TV program producer and talkshow host, was a pioneer in providing quality, serious discussion-focused programming in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

For more information, contact Frank Absher.