Special Collections Department
403 Parks Library
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-2140

RS 5/6/2
Iowa State University

WOI Radio and Television
Biographical Files, 1925-[ongoing]


Descriptive summary

creator:

Iowa State University, WOI Radio and Television

title:

Biographical Files

dates:

1925-[ongoing]

extent:

0.84 linear feet (1document boxes and 1 card box)

collection number:

RS 5/6/2

repository:

University Archives, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University.

 

Administrative information

access:

Open for research

publication rights:

Consult Head, Special Collections Department

preferred citation:

Iowa State University, WOI Radio and Television, Biographical Files, RS 5/6/2, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library.

 

Historical note

WOI Radio (written by Dr. Charles Black and Don Forsling):
The history of broadcasting at Iowa State University dates back to 1911. That is when physics professor "Dad" Hoffman rigged a transmission line from the campus water tower to Engineering Hall and asked for money to establish a wireless telegraph station. In 1914 the Electrical Engineering Department installed and began operation of a small transmitter under the call letters 9YI. Newspaper reports indicate station 9YI was regularly sending and receiving weather reports by Morse code.

On April 28, 1922, with new call letters assigned by the Radio Division of the U.S. Department of Commerce, WOI-AM went on the air with its first regular feature, market news. At that time, Iowa State was one of 21 colleges and universities holding broadcasting licenses. In the fall, the station broadcast its first Iowa State football game. Andy Woolfries introduced the Music Shop, one of the longest running programs in radio history, in 1925. The Book Club began in 1927 and these 2 programs are still running.

In the 1930s and 1940s, the scope of the WOI program service broadened to encompass and extend to Iowans the entire range of the college's activities. Agricultural programs and programs for homemakers continued along with forums, lectures, and classical music. WOI-FM, one of the first FM stations in Iowa, aired on July 1, 1949, with stereo broadcasting coming in 1955. Fifty years ago the WOI-FM schedule would run on the air from 4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Programs offered would include Classical Concerts, Dinner Hour News, Articles of Interest with Norman Cleary, and Starlight Concerts. WOI-AM was on the air from 6:00 a.m. until 7:45 p.m. in July {7:15 p.m. in August, 6:30 p.m. in September, and so on} with such programs as Down on the Farm, Homemakers, Georgetown Forums, Sixty Plus...For Elder Citizens, German Today, and A Look at Australia. WOI AM also broadcast all the Iowa State University Cyclones football "thrillers" on Saturday afternoons in the fall of 1952.

Great local programs continue today with Talk of Iowa and Midday, although Saturday afternoon's play by play of Iowa State University sports have been replaced with The Metropolitan Opera and This American Life. National Public Radio (NPR), the news and information organization that brings Morning Edition, Car Talk, Fresh Air, and many more programs to the airwaves, was formed in 1970. On May 31, 1971 WOI was one 90 public radio stations to air NPR's first program, All Things Considered.

As of 2002, the WOI Radio Group includes WOI AM 640, KTPR FM 91.1 from Fort Dodge, Iowa, WOI FM 90.1, streaming on the web at www.woi.org, and 90.7 in Carroll, Iowa.

WOI-TV: WOI-TV was the first television station owned and operated by an institution of higher learning in the U.S., beginning in February,1950. At that time, the station was the only one to televise a regular schedule of programming into central Iowa, until 1954. The station was truly unique in that as an educationally owned television station, WOI-TV was also granted a commercial license by the FCC. The goal of WOI-TV:

"...is dedicated to bringing the best the (Iowa State) College has to offer to the schools, cities, and farms of Iowa, with programs of education, entertainment, and public service."

WOI-TV's pioneering activities in applying television to education helped stimulate support for the institution of educational television across the United States. Iowa State University was one of the first educational institutions to broadcast college-level courses, using WOI-TV as its outlet. WOI-TV is also historically noteworthy for its early experiments in Kinescope recording techniques, which the station used to film and distribute its locally-produced programming to other stations.

Iowa State University sold WOI-TV to Capital Cities Communications, Inc (parent company of ABC Television) during 1994.

 

Collection description

This collection (1925-[ongoing]) contains news clippings and other biographical information regarding the employees of WOI Radio and TV.

 

Organization

This collection is arranged alphabetically.

 

Container list

Box

Title

Dates

1

Anderson, Donald

1955-1956

1

Bateman, S.D.

1953

1

Bentley, R.C.

1965

1

Bishop, Wallace

1954-1958

1

Bodholdt, Rod

1997

1

Borsellino, Rob

1992

1

Brown, Clara

2008

1

Brown, Doug

1985-2004

1

Bryan, Karen

2008

1

Cannon, Winnifred

1945

1

Cech, Richard

1949,1968

1

Chase, Robert

1951

1

Clyde, Robert William

1963

1

Compton, Randy

2002

1

Cooper, Doug

1991

1

Cosgrove, Ken

1969

1

Crawford, James

2008

1

Crippen, Mel

1995

1

Crist, Lou

1970

1

Daale, Pam

1988-2004

1

Davis, James

1972-1975

1

Davy, Robert

1967-1968

1

Donaldson, Wilbur Dwight

1954

1

Douda, Dennis

1991

1

Dunlop, John

1952

1

Farquhar, Burkett

1952

1

Forsling, Don

1976, 2006

1

Frederickson, Rick

1995

1

Geise, Raymond C.

1953,1956

1

Greene, Richard Allen

1956

1

Grummer, Jeff

1997

1

Haas, Mabel

1958,1969

1

Haggart, Margaret

1925-1929

1

Halsey, George

1952-1955

1

Harper, Richard D.

1955

1

Hart, Ed

1980

1

Helmers, Bob

2005-2009

1

Hickman, Cecil

1991

1

Hinde, W. Craig

1970

1

Holmgren, Roderick

1939

1

Hulin, Bernice

1954

1

Jensen, Richard C.

1929

1

Johns, Ethia

n.d.

1

Kerans, John

1983

1

Ketcham, Keith

1983,2000

1

Khau, Craighton

1951-1968

1

Knouf, Ralph J.

1924

1

Kolb, John

1964,1969

1

Lamm, Diana

1991

1

Lawrence, Peter

2008

1

Lewis, L.L.

1950-1952

1

Love, John R.

2008

1

Ludwig, Merritt C.

1955

1

Macy, Janet M.

1965

1

Marvin, Janis

1970-2012

1

Mathew, Mark

1982

1

McGinnis, Dallas

1994

1

Milldyke, Bill

1971

1

Miller, Vince

1980

1

Monroe, Hollis

1999

1

Mundt, Todd

1995-2008

1

Murphy, Keith

1992

1

Nebbe, Charity

1998

1

Norris, George

1996

1

Olson, Wayne

2007

1

Pettit, William T.

1954

1

Pritchard, Jon

1969

1

Rockwell, Ronald James

1927

1

Smith, W. LaMar

1955

1

Snook, Curt

2008

1

Snyder, Frank

1978

1

Speer, Dorcas

1986-2009

1

Stewart, Mary

1983

1

Stewart, Ray

1953-1954

1

Stewart, Welby Earl

1978

1

Stover, Mike

1998

1

Szopinski, Victoria

2001

1

Theobald, Marguerite

1954,1986

1

Thomas, Alice

n.d.

1

Varnum, Betty Lou McVay

1965-1982

1

Varnum, James "Red"

2005

1

Vogl, Richard

1951-1981

1

Vohs, Dick

1981

1

Watkins, Catherine

1993

1

Wegener, Ed

1943-1954

1

Weiss, Ed

1986

1

Wilkins, Eleanor

1948-1975

1

Williams, Dale

1961

1

Williams, Verda

1985

1

Wilson, Paul

1979

1

Winkler, Kirk

1975

1

Wirth, Don

2006-2007

1

Woolfries, Andrew G.

1930-1975

2 Wylie, George 2010

2

Employee Card Files [RESTRICTED]

n.d.