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| Broadcast area | Greater St. Louis |
| Frequency | 94.7MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | KSHE 95 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Classic rock |
| Subchannels | HD2: "KSHE Klassics” (Deep tracks) |
| Affiliations | United Stations Radio Networks |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KPNT,WARH,WIL-FM,WXOS | |
| History | |
First air date | February 11, 1961 (1961-02-11) |
Call sign meaning | The pronounshe, as the station originally had an airstaff of all women, who were its originaltarget audience |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 19523 |
| Class | C0 |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 309 meters (1,014 ft) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | kshe95.com |
KSHE (94.7FM - styled asK-SHE) is a commercialradio station licensed toCrestwood, Missouri, and serving theGreater St. Louis area. It is owned byHubbard Broadcasting and it airs aclassic rock format, using the slogan "KSHE 95, Real Rock Radio". The studios are on Olive Boulevard nearInterstate 270 inCreve Coeur.
KSHE is aClass C0 station. It has aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts, the maximum for most stations. The transmitter is off MacKenzie Road in Shrewsbury.[2]
After working as an engineer for 20 years with the Pulitzer stationsKSD andKSD-TV, Ed Ceries invested his life savings and his considerable engineering efforts in constructing his own FM station. He built some of the equipment himself. The stationsigned on the air on February 11, 1961. The studios were in from the basement of the Ceries' home in suburban Crestwood.
The station used thecall sign KSHE.[3] Initially it had aclassical music format. For a while, all the announcers were women, which was the reason the call letters were chosen to include "SHE." Most of the basement was used for the station operations, with theAssociated PressTeletype installed next to the clothes washer. The record library room doubled as an administrative office where Mrs. Ceries also did her ironing.
Listener loyalty was strong. At times, fans would come to the station with copies of classical selections they thought would be a good addition to those owned by KSHE. Advertisers were not convinced FM radio—-particularly classical music-—had much of an audience. After the first year, the format was adjusted to contain about 90%middle of the road (MOR) music and 10% classical, with nine daily news broadcasts. In 1964, the station was sold to Century Broadcasting.[4]
New general manager Howard Grafman was convinced by his friend Ron Elz to adopt a new format that Elz had heard on a trip toSan Francisco onKMPX:progressive rock. The individualdisc jockeys were permitted to decide what to play. The first rock song played on KSHE in November 1967 that ushered in their format change wasJefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit".[5] KSHE sometimes played music nonstop for hours withoutstation identification, which eventually was brought to the attention of theFederal Communications Commission (FCC). That triggered a warning to identify as required.
The station would play whole albums in the late afternoon and late at night as a special feature. Albums played in their entirety includedThe Firesign Theatre'sWaiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him,The Who'sTommy,Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band'sGorilla,Arlo Guthrie'sAlice's Restaurant, andIron Butterfly'sIn-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, KSHE helped launch the careers of several midwestern bands such asStyx,Cheap Trick,REO Speedwagon andHead East.[6] KSHE had aplaylist, which popularized international rock artists asLake from Germany,Stingray from South Africa, and rising bands from Australia and New Zealand includingMidnight Oil andSplit Enz. Starting in the late 1970s and continuing into the present day, Sunday evenings were dedicated to playing seven albums from seven different artists on a show called theSeventh Day. The albums usually were played from 7:00 pm until after midnight.
Instead of the standard reading of news ripped from theAssociated Press orUnited Press International wire machine ("rip and read"), early KSHE newscasts introduced news topics by preceding the story with rock music excerpts that had lyrics introducing or commenting on the topic.[7]
During the 1970s and into the 1980s, KSHE had the KSHE Klassics[8] Show with Ruth Hutchinson as the DJ. Ruth was the mother of one of the station personnel and was in her 80s during this run.[9] This 60-90 minute show, airing one night a week, featured songs that KSHE had listed as Klassics, usually deep cuts of somewhat popular bands, songs by bands that were largely unknown outside of the midwest, or songs by bands that had limited to little following in the United States. Among the more obscure KSHE Klassics are Blue Mist (Mama's Pride), Dead and Gone (Gypsy), Two Hangmen (Mason Proffit), Lake Shore Drive (Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah), Last Illusion (JF Murphy & Salt), The Martian Boogie (Brownsville Station), From a Dry Camel (Dust), Rosewood Bitters (Michael Stanley), Lady of the Lake (Starcastle), Sail On Sail Away (Moxy) and Lady Fantasy (Camel).
From 1996 to 2012, KSHE airedThe Bob & Tom Show in morningdrive time, syndicated fromWFBQ inIndianapolis.[10] The current wake-up program is "The A.D. Show" with A.D. Rowntree and station veteran John Ulett.
KSHE created a virtual museum on its website for its long-time fans. The site contains video clips, audio clips, pictures and memorabilia. The first inductees of the KSHE Museum in 2007 wereRush,Kiss,Ted Nugent, andREO Speedwagon.
At times, KSHE devotes an hour to a genre of rock music. They include Hair Band Doran (DJ: Mike Doran) from 8pm-9pm weekdays (previously called '80s at 8) and Monday Night Metal with Tom "Real Rock" Terbrock on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. KSHE DJ Lern has "Monday Night Metal," every Monday at 9 p.m. At 5 pm each weekday, KSHE plays "The Daily Dose of Led Zepplin" with Tim Virgin, twoLed Zeppelin songs presented with trivia about their creation or notable performances of the songs. The station carries "The Kshe Klassic Show" on Sunday mornings with John Ulett (Uman). He's been full time on the radio station for 47 years and is considered to be the longest running rock DJ in the world. He also co-hosts a show with St. Louis radio legend Mark Klose called Vinyl Exam on Sundays at noon.
The station mascot is a sunglasses-and-headphones-wearing pig named "Sweetmeat." Its likeness originally appeared on the cover of Blodwyn Pig's 1969 albumAhead Rings Out.[11]
Like the pig pictured on the LP cover, Sweetmeat first appeared with ajoint in his mouth. This "controversial" detail disappeared in the early 1980s in favor of an updated, cartoon "rocker" pig. In recent years, the station has returned to using the original image, along with the original KSHE-95 text logo.
Sweetmeat also inspired the name of Austin, Texas Christian punk/thrash bandOne Bad Pig.[12]
38°34′24″N90°19′30″W / 38.5734°N 90.3251°W /38.5734; -90.3251