OSCAR HIRSCH DIES, 96; WAS A PIONEER IN RADIO, TELEVISION

Broadcasting pioneer Oscar C. Hirsch of Cape Girardeau, who founded the first radio and television stations in the region, died Monday night at Southeast Missouri Hospital at the age of 96.

Hirsch, of 3120 Independence, died about 6:30 p.m., family members said.

From meager beginnings, he brought radio and television broadcasting to Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, continually striving to entertain and inform his audience.

He established the first radio stations at Cape Girardeau, Flat River and Sikeston, and at Cairo and Sparta in Illinois. Hirsch Broadcasting Co. was responsible for securing a license for the area's first television station, KFVS-TV, in October 1954.

Visitation will be from 4-8 p.m. Wednesday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel.

Burial will be private, followed by a memorial service at 11 a.m. Thursday at the First Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Charles Grant officiating.

Hirsch considered the founding of the television station his biggest accomplishment. "It's the biggest thing that ever happened to me," Hirsch was quoted as saying in July 1975, 50 years after he started the first radio station in Cape Girardeau. "Television is a mirror of American life," he said.

Don McNeely, the longtime weatherman at KFVS, said Monday night that he was saddened by the news of the death of his former boss.

"He was one of a kind, and certainly a unique gentleman," said McNeely.

McNeely began his career working for Hirsch's KFVS radio station.

"I started working for Mr. Hirsch in 1943 during the middle of World War II. All the young men were away in service. I was in high school and they asked me to audition as a radio announcer, and I got the job," he recalled.

McNeely said Hirsch was a "planner and a builder."

"He was always planning ahead. He had tremendous foresight. He was planning television long before anyone else ever thought of it around this area," said McNeely.

"Mr. Hirsch was an entrepreneur and one of a kind, one of the real pioneers of electronics and radio in this part of the country. He built his corporation and television and radio stations from scratch," McNeely said. "He started out with a little battery shop."

McNeely said Hirsch worked tirelessly to obtain approval from the Federal Communications Commission to establish a television station in Cape Girardeau.

"It was a big, big deal when KFVS went on the air," recalled McNeely, who moved from the radio station to the television station in 1954, serving as program director and chief announcer.

Prior to that time, area residents had to have tall antennas just to receive signals from TV stations in St. Louis or Memphis. Even then, reception was poor, McNeely said.

In 1960, the old KFVS television tower was replaced with a new, larger one north of the city. At 1,676 feet, it was the tallest structure in the world when it was built.

In 1968, McNeely said, a high-rise structure was built on Broadway to house the television studio.

McNeely said Hirsch helped put Cape Girardeau on the map, and the TV station served to link the people of the region.

Howard C. Tooke, former mayor of Cape Girardeau, was a friend of Hirsch.

"He was a fine gentleman and he did a lot for Cape Girardeau with his business and the way he conducted it," said Tooke.

Hirsch, he said, was a "substantial contributor" to charitable causes in Cape Girardeau.

When Hirsch founded the TV station, there were some residents who questioned if it would prove to be a good investment, Tooke said. "But it was."

Tooke said what was most outstanding about Hirsch was "his integrity and the way he ran his business."

Dennis Slinkard of Columbus, Ga., worked for Hirsch for 30 years, from 1951 to 1981.

"I was office manager for Oscar. I was pretty much his right-hand man for a long, long time," Slinkard said when reached Monday night at his Georgia home.

American Family Corp. of Columbus, Ga., purchased KFVS-TV in 1979, and Slinkard subsequently moved to Georgia to work for the corporation.

In 1985, Hirsch Enterprises sold its Cape Girardeau radio station, then known as KGIR, to Zimmer Broadcasting.

Slinkard, who grew up in Chaffee, said Hirsch was "an entrepreneur of the first grade. He had the stamina, the ability to see in a given direction, to go that way despite all opposition.

"He was a good manager of money and of people, and he was probably the best friend I ever had while I was working in Cape Girardeau. We were very close.

"I thought the world of Oscar Hirsch," said Slinkard.

Hirsch was born on Feb. 23, 1896, in Cape Girardeau, the son of Christian John and Christina Maevers Hirsch.

He made his home here most of his life. He was educated at Lorimier Elementary and Central High schools, and Southeast Missouri Normal College in Cape Girardeau.

From 1917 to 1926, he owned and operated Hirsch Battery and Radio Co. During World War I, he served in the Signal Corps of the Army at Romarantin, France, installing wireless radios on airplanes. After the war, Hirsch attended the University of Montpelier, France. After returning to the United States, he studied at Smith Electronic Institute in Cleveland, Ohio, and at seminars in electronics at the University of Ohio.

In 1925, he built his own composite radio transmitter, applied for a radio station license and received Federal Communications Commission approval to start KFVS radio in Cape Girardeau, which remained the city's only local commercial radio station for 27 years.

He began broadcasting in July 1925 from the living room of the family home. The first broadcast lasted less than two hours so long distance receiving wouldn't be interrupted.

In 1942, he helped establish WKRO at Cairo; in 1947, he established KFMO at Flat River; in 1948, he and his brother, Ralph, started KSIM radio in Sikeston; and in 1955, he helped start WHCO at Sparta. In 1956 his company, Versatile Television Productions, was incorporated to produce commercials for KFVS-TV.

Eight years later Hirsch Broadcasting Co. established the Oscar C. Hirsch Foundation in his honor. The foundation has been able to match contributions given annually to churches, hospitals, schools and other non-profit charitable organizations and institutions.

Hirsch received broad recognition and won numerous awards for his accomplishments in broadcasting, including the United Cerebral Palsy Distinguished Service Award in 1977 for his work on behalf of the charity; distinguished service awards as an affiliate of the Emergency Broadcast System; and the Golden Deeds Award in 1976 for his "service to broadcasting, the community, business and civic affairs.

Beam International, published by the radio-television commission of the Southern Baptist Convention also recognized his accomplishments, and the First Baptist Church of Paducah, Ky., proclaimed a day in 1978 as "Oscar Hirsch Day" in honor of his "outstanding career as a broadcaster and for his great contribution to his community."

Other awards include: A resolution in 1979 from the Missouri House of Representatives; 1982 American Library Trustees Association Award; Life Membership Award of the Salvation Army in 1983; Oscar Hirsch Day in Cape Girardeau, March 21, 1983; honorary member of the Southeast Missouri Hospital board and a Gold Arrow Partner in the patrons' project of the "Million Dollar Club" of the Southeast Hospital foundation.

On Jan. 27, 1990, the first ever Rush H. Limbaugh Sr. Award was presented to Hirsch by the Chamber of Commerce "in recognition and appreciation for his immeasurable contributions and many years of sustained community service."

In a letter dated Oct. 3, 1955 KFVS-TV's first anniversary the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce described Hirsch as a man "whose entire life has been a shining example of what may be accomplished by one man when he sets his heart and mind to a dedicated purpose, when he accepts the responsibility that always goes along with a free man in a nation where there are no restrictions on personal accomplishment and where our laws grant to the individual the right to guide his own destiny and carve out his own future as he so desires."

On July 19, 1913, he became a member of First Presbyterian Church of Cape Girardeau, where he eventually served as deacon, elder and a member of the building committee for the new church.

He also was active in Masonic orders: Wilson Chapter and Cape Girardeau Council of St. Mark's Lodge and 32nd degree Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

Hirsch was a member of several radio and television organizations, including the National Association of Broadcasters; Radio Pioneers of the United States; life member of the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers; Maximum Service Television; Columbia Broadcasting System affiliate; board member of the Emergency Broadcast System for Civilian Defense in Missouri; president of Hirsch Broadcasting Co., Cairo Broadcasting Co., and Lead Belt Broadcasting Co.; treasurer of Hirsch Communications Engineering Corp.; and the Sikeston Community Broadcasting Co.

He was a charter member of the Cape Girardeau Lions Club and founder of the Tower Club. Over the years he was very active with the Salvation Army. He was a life member of the local Salvation Army board.

He served on the board of directors of Southeast Missouri Hospital for 20 years.

He also was a member of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, 65 years; the First National Bank board, 17 years; First Federal Savings and Loan of Southeast Missouri board, 50 years; and United Cerebral Palsy board, nine years.

Hirsch married Geraldine Fitzgerald on Sept. 16, 1925, in Warrensburg. She survives.

Also surviving are two sons, James Hirsch of Cape Girardeau, and Robert Hirsch, The Woodlands, Texas; one daughter, Marjorie Deimund, Cape Girardeau; a brother, Ralph Hirsch of Cape Girardeau; one sister, Helen Workman, Cape Girardeau; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Two brothers, one sister and two grandchildren preceded him in death.