Still Rockin’ After All These Years: Legendary St. Louis Radio Station KSHE 95 Rides The FM Airwaves With Open-To-The-Public DJ Reunion, July 31- Aug. 1

Organized by renowned radio historian Frank Absher, "Gateway to the West’s" loud, proud institution celebrates 37 years of music influence with KSHE radio personalities Q&A, July 31, and live remote broadcast with emcee John Ulett, from The Hard Rock Cafe, Aug. 1. First official gathering since the 1980s was dialed in as a result of co-authors Sam Kaiser and John Neiman’s historical opus
in progress, Real Rock Radio....The Long Strange Trip of KSHE 95.

It was 1961 when KSHE 95 signed on from station owner Ed Ceries’ basement, and it was 1967 when "the Lady of FM" changed her tune to progressive rock, reflecting the tenor of the times. If KSHE isn’t called "Miss Independent," it should be, as it remains one of the last hold-outs from the pervasive multi-media conglomerate syndrome. Because of this, and so many other reasons, the
"Gateway to the West’s" loud, proud, living institution for
37 influential years has cause to celebrate when its DJs, past and present, convene for KSHE’s first official reunion since the 1980s, when the gathering was a low key event.

This time, radio historian and event organizer Frank
Absher is turning up the volume to 95, and St. Louis is invited. The July 31-Aug. 1 reunion consists of several festivities, including an open-to-the-public roundtable discussion with KSHE DJs, 2 to 4 p.m., July 31, at the St. Louis Public Library, 1301 Olive Street, St. Louis, MO 63103.

The weekend culminates with a live remote broadcast, hosted by radio personality John Ulett, Aug. 1, from The Hard Rock Cafe. The multi-faceted celebration commences with an invitation-only banquet posthumously honoring Sheldon "Shelley" Grafman, who owned KSHE when the rock format was introduced. Soon after, Grafman was credited with transforming it into a nationally known rock powerhouse. His widow and sons are among the banquet guests.

Absher dialed in to the reunion idea as a result of discussions that co-authors Sam Kaiser and John Neiman had with him as part of the research the two have been doing for a historical opus they’re writing, Real Rock Radio....The Long Strange Trip of KSHE 95. They began working on it in mid-2003, and are currently in talks with several publishers.

Kaiser, a former St. Louis DJ who had worked at KSHE, as well as its competitor, recalls, "We were accessing so many KSHE staffers that nobody had been in contact with for years, it was turning into old home week. This reunion that Frank is putting together puts everybody in one spot, hopefully with a lot of memorabilia and physical material that will greatly add to this book.

"We could write a dry, crackly timeline," Kaiser continues, "but we’re delving deeply into the KSHE characters. You couldn’t dream up a more interesting, eccentric, wild, hysterical, wonderfully creative and talented group of characters than the people that have worked at this radio station over nearly four decades. KSHE has had an enormous impact on several generations within St. Louis, and I think, nationwide, as well, as a seminal progressive rock station and what was really happening and how it precipitated many cultural changes. KSHE greatly accelerated that cultural explosion; it was a gathering point."

Absher observes, "We’re talking about a time that doesn’t exist anymore and probably never will, and that’s a time when radio was very important to the listeners. They were actively involved in the radio station, but also the individual announcers; you felt as though you knew them. They were live in the studio and you felt as if they were talking to you. Most of the time nowadays, that’s not the case. With new technology, announcers are in a computer, and are nothing more than the deliverer of the audience so the commercials can be sold."

KSHE and St. Louis are very much on the same frequency – practically synonymous, in fact, making the reunion a citywide event.

Absher, a longtime news reporter with a KSHE competitor, explains, "The listeners took ownership of KSHE. They felt that this was their radio station and that the music was being played for them. They invested themselves in the station as much as the station reached out to them. KSHE is one of the few radio stations that still works toward the active radio listener by being actively involved in the music scene, promoting the bands coming through, and promoting the station, as well."

Still rockin’ after all these years, KSHE deserves a party weekend.