(LISTEN): Jefferson City’s Newsradio 950 KWOS turns 87 today

President Harry Truman’s whistle stop presidential campaign stops in Jefferson City on June 16, 1948. KWOS broadcast President Truman’s address live (file photo courtesy of Zimmer Radio’s Steve Morse)

Our Zimmer sister station Newsradio 950 KWOS in Jefferson City is celebrating its 87^th birthday today.

KWOS engineer Steve Morse says KWOS, which stood for “Keep Watching Our State”, went on the air on January 30, 1937 at 12:30 pm. KWOS’ launch in 1937 made the front page of the Jefferson City newspaper, with then-Governor Lloyd Stark praising the station’s aim of public service. Then-Jefferson City Mayor Means Ray presented the station with a key to the city. Numerous well-known broadcasters and reporters have worked there over the years, including Jack Renner. Listen carefully and you’ll hear the old CBS Radio News theme.

“Goodbye everybody. This is KWOS, Jefferson City, Missouri. Dan Beauty follows the news next at ten. (Old CBS Radio jingle). From Jefferson City, Missouri … this is KWOS total news,” Renner says.

Longtime KWOS morning show host Johnny Muessig was also a part-owner of the radio station (file photo courtesy of Zimmer Radio’s Steve Morse)

The station has carried carried live presidential speeches from the back of a train and it earned awards for its live coverage of the deadly 1954 prison riot at the old Missouri State Penitentiary (MSP) in Jefferson City. Longtime KWOS newsman Dick Chapman and the station earned national awards for their coverage. The riot made national news. Four inmates were killed in the riot, and 50 others were injured. Damage was estimated at $5-million.

“KWOS’ location at that time was so close to the prison (the old Missouri State Penitentiary) that we were able to cover it rather quickly. And in so doing, KWOS and myself won the Sigma Delta Chi award, the National Professional Journalism Society’s award for spot radio coverage that year. And I’ll we could do was run down the street as fast as we could and start with tape recordings and then get as best we could some phone hookups going,” says Chapman.

That audio is courtesy of KWOS’ Morse. Mr. Chapman ended up moving to Minneapolis, where he was a reporter for heritage news station WCCO Radio. Other well-known former KWOS reporters include Don Roberts and Earl Fleer, who moved on to Kansas City. Other broadcasters and reporters who’ve worked there over the years include Johnny Muessig, Rex White, Fran Mooney, Art Dulle and Kevin Kelly. Art Dullie earned the Billboard magazine DJ of the year award in 1971.