Neighboring on the Air: Cooking Kma Radio Homemakers

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.

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.