Tag Archives: Periodicals

“Zion’s New Friend” – Radio Station KLDS

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Number Two in an Occasional Series of Odd and Obscure Periodicals.

Early studio at KLDS.

Early studio at KLDS.

KLDS Control Room

KLDS Control Room

Battery Room

Battery Room

KLDS Orchestry

KLDS Orchestra

KLDS Studio

KLDS Studio

Autumn Leaves was a monthly magazine published for the youth of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (since 2001 knows as Community of Christ).  The publication was produced from 1888 through 1928 out of Independence, Missouri.  The October 1926 issue was almost entirely dedicated to the church’s radio station, KLDS.

First Presidency member Elbert A. Smith penned an ode to the station entitled “Zion’s New Friend” that appears at the beginning of the magazine, setting the tone for the remainder of the publication:

“Free from the slumber that bound him so long,
Radio leaps to the air with a song;
Taking his journey from Zion’s high tower,
Bearing his message in haste, yet with pow’r…

…Roused from the slumber that held him since dawn,
Radio leaps to the air and is gone!
Go, thou bright messenger, Zion’s new friend,
Preach thou the gospel till time shall have end.”

At the time this issue was published, radio broadcasting was still a relatively new phenomenon.  One of Kansas City’s premier radio pioneers, Arthur B. Church, was the guiding force behind the implementation of KLDS.  Referred to as “A.B.C.”, Church contributed two articles to the magazine, detailing the development of KLDS from a small, weak station to a broadcasting powerhouse.

Programming was predominantly musical in nature, and the numerous musicians associated with KLDS are pictured throughout this issue.  Broadcasts of Sunday services were routine, and in the winter months lectures courses and special sermons were offered.

By 1927 Church has secured a separate license for KLDS – which, according to Autumn Leaves, stood for “Knowledge, Liberty, Divinity, Service” – and it then became Midland Broadcasting Company.  A second license was obtained for a commercial station, KMBC, with which Church found even greater success.  Much more about his work at KMBC can be found here.

A “Trip” Down Memory Lane

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Number One in an Occasional Series of Odd and Obscure Periodicals

1st Issue of The Aquarian, June 1969

Cover of The Aquarian, June, 1969

Published in Kansas City at 2 West 39th Street by an entity or individual who went by the moniker “Cornflower Hermaphrodite”, The Aquarian was a short-lived alternative magazine that dates from June and July of 1969.  Issue number one states that “this paper is printed under the auspices of good vibrations, creative industry, sleepless nights, gallons of cohesive optimism…we have no have no pressing need for straight capitalistic backers or would-be patronesses of the arts in Barbie doll minis so don’t bug us.”

 

Aquarian July1969

Cover of the Aquarian, July, 1969

Each issue features poetry, original artwork, reportage, and essays.  The “News” section in what is presumed to be issue number two offers articles on the local chapter of the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society), a “rebirth of the roundheads”, and a piece on the establishment of a “hip help center”, which offered a “crash pad, 24 hour coffee house, draft counseling…legal help, free clinic, and help for runaways”.  A visit to Iowa City by drug guru Timothy Leary is covered extensively in the same issue.

Masthead of the Aquarian, July 1969

Masthead of the Aquarian, July 1969

As intriguing as the magazine’s content are its advertisers, which number such establishments as Arsenic and Olde Leather at 429 Westport Road, the Genuine Article (“Bellbottoms, Incense, Shirts;  One-of-a-Kind Fashion, Now More than Ever”) at the same address as the magazine, and the Eletrologist [sic?] on 63rd Street in Raytown, the ad for which features what appears to be a woman with a mustache and five-o’clock shadow.  While not as colorful as it’s contemporary The Westport Trucker, nonetheless The Aquarian offers insight into a moment of Kansas City history long gone.