Radio Historian Honored by Missouri House of Representatives

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., March 7, 2025 – Frank Absher, who worked as announcer at KFAL in the ‘60s, has been honored by the Missouri State House of Representatives for his work preserving Missouri history.

In a presentation ceremony at the Jefferson City office of Representative Marty Joe Murray on March 7, Absher received a legislative resolution citing his efforts of many years to seek out, preserve, and make available to the public all aspects of the history of media in St. Louis. In addition he worked in partnership with the Missouri Broadcasters’ Association and founded an outstate archive of radio recordings at the State Historical Society (SHSMO) in Columbia.

His first recording donated to the Columbia archive was a tape of Ron Lutz’ Rooster Creek Show, a staple on KFAL for decades. And through his work with the national Radio Preservation Task Force, Absher is sharing radio recordings from Missouri with the Library of Congress. Chad Mahoney, President and CEO of the Missouri Broadcasters Association, said that donation from Fulton was particularly appropriate because it’s a perfect example of the place radio held in the community for many years. The recordings in Columbia are available to be listened to at SHSMO.

Absher praised the State Historical Society, noting they have a vast collection of newspapers from Missouri communities dating back to the 1800s. Their recent inclusion of radio archives gives patrons an additional perspective of life in the past.

Both Mahoney and Absher stressed that the aircheck preservation at the State Historical Society is an ongoing project, and that airchecks of any local shows are needed. All scoped, digitized files go to SHSMO in Columbia. Absher says it’s particularly appropriate to preserve them since, in the past, radio was not being preserved as an important medium.

The legislative resolution notes Absher’s founding of the St. Louis Media History Foundation to aid in fundraising to support the project. The research website supported by the foundation is at www.stlmediahistory.org. The supporting Facebook page is listed under STLmediahistory.

Image: State Representative Marty Joe Murray, Frank Absher