Media moguls

For several decades, Oscar Hirsch was radio in Cape Girardeau. Later, he was the region's source for television.

But his rise to broadcast pioneer began humbly, with a small battery/radio shop in Cape Girardeau.

Hirsch was born in Cape Girardeau on Feb. 23, 1896, the son of Christian and Christina Hirsch. He graduated from Central High School and Southeast Missouri Normal College.

His interest in communications began in 1912, when the luxury liner Titanic sank. Another boat was in sight of the Titanic at the time, but its wireless operator had gone to bed.

"Many lives could have been saved if that operator had been awake," Hirsch explained in a 1975 interview with the Southeast Missourian.

During World War I, Hirsch installed wireless radios on airplanes. After the war, he attended the University of Montpelier in France and then returned to the United States where he studied at Smith Electronic Institute in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1917, he opened Hirsch Battery & Radio Co. in Cape Girardeau.

Living room broadcast

He built his own composite radio transmitter in 1925 and began broadcasting from his living room at 318 S. Frederick St. The first broadcast featured Cape Girardeau's Peg Meyer orchestra and lasted less than two hours.

A few months after his first broadcast, Hirsch married Geraldine Fitzgerald in Warrensburg, Mo.

During the 1940s, Hirsch helped establish radio stations throughout Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri. Radio, Hirsch said, was the backbone for his next accomplishment -- television.

On Oct. 3, 1954, Hirsch's KFVS12 broadcast for the first time. The moment was historic, though primitive, for Southeast Missouri viewers.

The station didn't own a camera at the time. Instead, the broadcast included slides with voice-overs showing the station's new transmission tower being constructed off U.S. 61.

Outside of broadcasting, Hirsch was known as a civic-minded person and was very much involved in the community.

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

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

But television, Hirsch said often, was his greatest accomplishment.

"He was always planning ahead. He had tremendous foresight. He was planning television long before anyone else ever thought of it in this area," longtime KFVS12 weatherman Don McNeely said at the time of Hirsch's death in 1992.

A year or two after first going on-air, KFVS12 finally purchased two television cameras at an auction. News stories were shot on 16-millimeter film that was sent to Memphis, Tenn., to be developed.

The station began broadcasting "The Breakfast Show" with local personalities in the late 1950s when morning programming was rare.

In 1960, the original KFVS12 television tower was replaced with a larger one north of the city. Seven years later, a new 13-story building at 310 Broadway opened to house the station. Hirsch Tower has been the home of KFVS12 for nearly 40 years now.

In 1979, Hirsch sold KFVS to the AFLAC Broadcast Division of American Family Corp., in Columbus, Ga.

Recognition, awards

Over the years, he received widespread 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."

Other awards included 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 Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce "in recognition and appreciation for his community service."

Hirsch died in August 1992 at the age of 96.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128