Neighboring on the Air: Cooking With the KMA Radio Homemakers (Shenandoah, Iowa) [Paperback]

Evelyn Birkby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1991

In 1925 Earl May began broadcasting KMA Radio-960 from Shenandoah, Iowa, to boost his fledgling seed business. The station aired practical information designed to help with the day-to-day activity in midwestern farmhouse kitchens. Before long KMA was a trusted friend throughout the wide listening area, offering inspiration, companionship, and all manners of domestic counsel. Hosting the daily radio programs—Home Hour, the Stitch and Chat Club, and the KMA Party Line—and the live cooking demonstrations that drew thousands to the KMA auditorium was a changing roster of personable, lively women who quickly became known as the KMA Radio Homemakers.

Now, in Neighboring on the Air, we can hear the voices of the KMA homemakers and sample their philosophy and—best of all—cooking. Through recipes, biographies, and household advice we get to know such enduring women as "The Little Minister," the Reverend Edythe Stirlen, and Leanna Driftmier and the whole Kitchen-Klatter family, part of the longest-running homemaker program in the history of radio. Learn how to make Sour Cream Apple Pie from "The Farmer's Wife," Florence Falk; Varnished Chicken from the first long-term KMA Radio Homemaker, Jessie Young; and E.E.E. Missouri Dessert (nobody can remember what the "E.E.E." stands for) from the indomitable host of the Edith Hansen Kitchen Club. This endearing scrapbook of people, places, and foods charts the continuing adventure of the KMA homemakers as they broadcast into the 1990s. Neighboring on the Air is an enchanting piece of Americana. Anyone interested in cooking, cultural history, or the Midwest will want to own and use this book.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Much of this nostalgic and occasionally saccharine account of 65 years of broadcasting in Shenandoah, Iowa, will entertain only KMA listeners, particularly those old enough to remember most of the "homemakers" profiled here. However, elements of the narrative by Birkby ( The Festival Cookie Book ), who herself became a "radio homemaker" in 1950, may interest those exploring popular culture or women's history. Birkby easily falls in with KMA's euphemistic lingo, terming the broadcasting work of these women "daily visits" to their "radio friends." They would discuss their families and the details of their daily lives as well as offer suggestions for "making the home a more pleasant, worthwhile place to live." Birkby notes that fans would follow the doings of favorite homemakers for years, tuning in each day the same way they'd listen to episodes of radio soap operas. Of course recipes figured prominently, and many are reproduced here, lackluster dishes like cheese lima bean casserole, pork chop corn bake, sauerbraten with gingersnap gravy, and cherry loaf cake ("a Bachelor's Delight"). Illustrated.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"If there is an poet laureate of radio homemaking, it is Evelyn."—Jane and Michael Stern in the New Yorker

Product Details

• Paperback: 349 pages
• Publisher: University Of Iowa Press; 1 edition (June 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877453160
• ISBN-13: 978-0877453161
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #590,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History From the Heart, October 19, 2001

By 

J Keistler "[e-mail]" (Lake Jackson, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Neighboring on the Air: Cooking With the KMA Radio Homemakers (Shenandoah, Iowa) (Paperback)

This was one of those 'recommended' books popping up under a cookbook I was ordering. I follow these threads because I've made some delightful finds that way. I'd never have known this book existed, had it not shown up under another book. I consider this the closest thing I can do to browsing in a 'real' store. Thank you, Amazon!

I occasionally come across a book covering something about which I know nothing. Other than hearing of Mary Margaret McBride's show during the Depression, I knew nothing of these local radio pioneers, sending news, advice and recipes to small towns and rural areas alike. Radio is still the most democratic of our media, accessible to anyone for pennies, and still a vital force in many third-world countries. We used to have radio that encompassed far more than just news and talk-radio; people expected more from the radio back then, and they got it.

The book is broken up into chapters covering the careers and recipes of women broadcasting from KMA radio in Iowa. There is no doubt that the part of a farm housewife could be lonely, and these radio programs would have provided good company. We have no true equivalent today; these broadcasters usually knew their audience personally, and vice versa. Into the sixties, these women broadcast their programs from their own homes, often from the kitchen, where they'd make recipes while giving them out over the air. Most of these women had an 'open door' policy where any listener coming through town could stop by their home and have refreshments without notice! Who would, or could, do that nowadays?

The recipes are excellent. I've made a dozen of them and all have worked well. My favorite so far is Jo Freed's carrot cake; unlike many, it's subtle with the spices and makes a large, juicy sheet cake.

Truly, though, it's the stories of the women working as 'radio homemakers' that makes the book. Most of these women were working because they had to, and mainstream broadcasting was still unheard of for women. Therefore, these women made successful careers appealing to women.

The author was herself a well-known broadcaster and brings personal knowledge of the other radio pioneers to add texture and substance to the book. It is beautifully written in a straightforward and informal style.

I appreciate the author documenting a small, but important, part of American history before all the radio homemakers are gone. Her book is valuable and engaging reading, even without the excellent recipes.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The kind and helpful world of "radio homemaking", October 31, 2000

By 

Eileen Galen (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Neighboring on the Air: Cooking With the KMA Radio Homemakers (Shenandoah, Iowa) (Paperback)

I sent for this unusual and interesting book after hearing its interesting and kind author in a radio interview. Not being a midwesterner I had never heard of Iowa station KMA or its "radio homemakers." The author informs us early on that the station "relied on talented and creative women" from the outset, in 1925. These Iowa women were radio journalists, home economists, and radio personalities - all in one. There were call-in shows. Their communities depended on them for weekly entertainment, information, humor, and continuity. These women and their shows, which had great longevity, were loved by their listeners, who considered them a part of their lives.

This book assembles recipes and life stories with equal ease. The careful stories are of the various women who had shows on the radio, the topics they explored on-air (mostly homey ones of interest to Iowa farm wives), and their effect on their listening community.

The photographs are poignant and wonderful. The recipes are mostly high-fat, high-calorie dishes that should probably be eaten in moderation. They are perfect for any one who longs for typical old-fashioned midwestern American food: meat and more meat, potatoes, hearty casseroles, vegetables cooked in old-fashioned ways, cheese balls and dips, cakes, pies, cookies, and candy. Some did not sound like anything one might like to try - "Chipped Dried Beef Deluxe," "Six-layer Washday Dinner" and (to this reader) improbable party foods such as "Crockpot Chili Dip." Some are downright disturbing to read, such as "Chipped Beef Chicken," which combines creamed cheese, chicken, bacon, and beef. Heart attack!

The main thing, though, is the size and the goodness of the personalities profiled here, along with the picture of a mostly vanished world. It's really not about replicating the food. A very worthwhile read about a group of interesting and truly nice people.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous Midwestern Memories, April 4, 2007

By 

Polkadotty (Mountains of Western North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Neighboring on the Air: Cooking With the KMA Radio Homemakers (Shenandoah, Iowa) (Paperback)

Homemaking shows provided valuable information for those who lived on isolated farms, newsy gossip, and some scrumptious recipes. (Just look on eBay sometime and see how much the Kitchen Klatter cookbooks go for these days.) An extension of the broadcasts were the magazines published by these on-air homemakers, which arrived monthly at many a rural route mail box. I have an extensive collection of Kitchen Klatter and Jessie's Homemaker magazines (today a box of JH arrived with all the issues from 1949 - 1980) and can attest to the wonderful writing contained within these pages. These homemakers cared about their audience. They were a Dear Abby, a Heloise's household hints, a financial advisor, a party and club meeting planner (parties and clubs were extrememly important in those days before TV and email, and thrived as social outlets) and spiritual encouragement (churchgoing was no less valued.) Reading this book about these admirable ladies you will learn what a grueling schedule they endured, sometimes running a radio show out of their kitchen as their own family life went on about them, printing their magazines on presses run from their garage. These were ladies like their audience. They knew about hard work and hard times, and making do. And in between they shared news about their children, their vacations, their pets, what they made for supper the night before, and their current craft projects. Wonderful reading, written by an old KMA on air hostess herself. Worth preserving for posterity.