The Pursuit

After 9 years, 95 interviews, hunting down 100 hours of vintage KSHE broadcasts, and reviewing thousands of artifacts and photos (900 images made the cut), the book is finished. This is likely the most complete book ever put together about KSHE, or any radio station for that matter. An odyssey that began in 2000, this book has given me access to things I could never imagine — photos that hadn’t been seen by anyone but the photographers and countless recordings unheard since they were broadcast decades ago.

KSHE is the longest-running FM rock radio station in the United States. After switching from classical to rock music in 1967, KSHE became an influential player in rock history by becoming an early proponent of many legendary rock bands. KSHE’s impact has been felt far beyond the reach of its broadcast signal by giving bands such as REO Speedwagon, The Eagles, Heart, ZZ Top, Journey, Kiss, and countless others airplay before other radio stations touched their music.

1972

At times the work has been painstaking to construct this book. Anyone who has attempted to splice together a brittle, moldy reel-to-reel that breaks every three seconds knows how tedious it can be. What made it more daunting was that the person who originally taped it hit pause every time he heard a commercial. The reward for reconstructing the hour-long tape was six seconds of a commercial broadcast back in 1968. Not just any commercial, but a promotion for the first concert sponsored by KSHE: Cream at the Kiel Opera House.

What makes this book different from other books about rock music is that the photography of bands at shows is shown alongside announcements and promotions broadcasted on KSHE. You will see Cream from the orchestra pit at the Kiel Opera House in a photograph so clear, that a bandage is visible on Eric Clapton's finger. There are pictures and commercials for bands such as Gregg and Duane Allman of The Hour Glass (pre-Allman Brothers) at a teen club in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, called Castaway. You will see photographs of The Rolling Stones at Kiel in 1972 and The Who at the Mississippi River Festival in 1971, alongside the words that the DJs used to promote those shows and their legendary albums. There is Deep Purple from stage left at Kiel Auditorium in 1972 for their breakout album Machine Head. With the photo are the words from the KSHE voice that brought the fans to the show: "Monday, January 24th Kiel Auditorium, 7 p.m.: Deep Purple, with special guest Buddy Miles and from England: Uriah Heep..."

Photos that made the cut include Alice Cooper, The Stooges, Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes and Muddy Waters, who all played at the Rainy Daze and Castaway, teen clubs located in suburban Chesterfield and Ferguson, respectively. Few photographs have ever been published from those clubs, and now they are combined with the stories of those performances. For those who were fortunate enough to witness Jimi Hendrix on November 3, 1968, you will see him again. This time from an on-stage vantage point six feet from the icon playing his Stratocaster with his teeth. On the same spread is a photo of Hendrix taken by former KSHE DJ John Williams. Williams photographed Hendrix in a trailer when he interviewed him at a California festival in 1969. And from that meeting is a business card on which Hendrix simply wrote his name and phone number.

The book is filled with never-seen photos taken by professional and amateur photographers alike. The design weaves the body copy with photography and artifacts to tell the story of KSHE and the St. Louis music scene for the last four decades.. Unlike most coffee table books, which adhere to a rigid cookie-cutter style format, this work is painstakingly done to give the owner something visually compelling with every turn of the page.

1972

Artifacts include:
• A December 1970 letter from Marv Tabolsky, a booking agent for Chartwell Booking Agency, gushing about a new artist he hailed as "the next Beatles" to Todd Kromer, the former co-owner of the Rainy Daze. That artist was Elton John
• Concert contracts and photos for the Amboy Dukes in 1969, Alice Cooper in 1970 and The Grateful Dead in 1971
• A wire service copy from "Earth News" reporting the 1975 Kite Fly, and a handwritten note from Shelley Grafman to legendary sound man Bob Heil agreeing to pay $300 plus commercial time for the sound system for the 1974 KSHE Birthday Party
• Hundreds of signatures from a 1978 handmade birthday card sent to KSHE from students attending Collinsville High School in Illinois
• Internal memos from the 1970s and 1980s include the announcement to the KSHE staff of the hiring of radio host J.C. Corcoran; the birth of the "Real Rock Army", and the Blood Drive in 1984
• Reel-to-reel production tapes from 1967 through the 1990s include everything from a commercial for Big Brother and the Holding Company at Kiel Auditorium to a 1973 recording of the KSHE phone-in concert line. On that recording Yes and Poco were seheduled to play at Kiel Auditorium
• Photography and stories of legendary bands such as The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Big Brother and the Holding Company playing in St. Louis as well as concert photos of bands that made a name for themselves in the local area, such as J.D. Blackfoot, Dust, Finnigan and Wood, Brownsville Station, Zebra and many more