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MISSOURI STATE SYMBOLS
STATE ROCK RADIO STATION
KSHE 95
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In summer 2025, KSHE 94.7 FM (popularly known as KSHE 95), became the official rock radio station of Missouri. Based in St. Louis, the station purports to be the oldest continually-operating rock station in the U.S.
The station made its first rock broadcast in 1967, but obtained its call letters and FM frequency about a year earlier as a classical music station. The founders called it KSHE (pronounced “kay she”) because the first deejays were women. Fast forward, and KSHE 95’s “real rock radio” became a local cultural icon offering hard rock to listeners. The station opened a rock music museum, a café, and created a hard-rocking pig mascot named Sweetmeat. Rolling Stone readers named KSHE the best medium market radio station for 1987.
KSHE promotes live rock concerts and helped launch the careers of several bands. They also have their own celebrity deejays, one of whom was Ruth Hutchinson (1894-1984), who was billed as the oldest rock deejay in the country throughout her career from 1976-1982. Hutchinson appeared in People magazine and national television shows That’s Incredible!, To Tell the Truth, Good Morning America, and The Today Show.
Revised Statutes of Missouri (RSMo)
§10.260. KSHE 94.7, also known as “KSHE 95”, is selected for and shall be known as the official rock radio station of the state of Missouri. (HCS SCS SB 348 (2025))
approved 24 June 2025
effective 28 August 2025
Photo Gallery:
Click on an image below to enlarge and read a caption. This will open a new window in the Missouri State Symbols Flickr album.
Additional Resources:
Dahlgren, Charlie (Missouri News Network). “Bill Would Designate Official Rock Radio Station for Missouri.” Jefferson City News-Tribune 160 no. 16 (19 March 2025): A8. Online. https://www.newstribune.com/news/2025/mar/19/bill-would-designate-official-rock-radio-station/
Gelb, Joe. “Happy Birthday KSHE.” Radio & Records no. 458 (12 November 1982): 22. Online. https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Archive-RandR/1980s/1982/RR-1982-11-12.pdf
KSHE’s website: https://www.kshe95.com/
“Readers’ Picks: 1987 Music Awards.” Rolling Stone. no. 521 (10 March 1988): 54-59.
The St. Louis Media History Foundation maintains a collection of dozens of KSHE photographs and related items: https://artifacts.stlmediahistory.org/
On Ruth Hutchinson:
The American Woman flyer, which mentions Ruth’s appearance on To Tell the Truth and in Rolling Stone and People magazines, online through the St. Louis Media History Foundation: https://artifacts.stlmediahistory.org/items/show/7319
Kuh, Joyce. “How America Lives: Spare-time Moneymakers.” Ladies’ Home Journal 99 no. 4 (April 1982): 32.
“Obituaries.” Variety 314 no. 12 (April 1984): 230.
Shinkle, Florence. “Digging a DJ Who’s 82.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch 99 No. 8 (09 January 1977): Sunday Pictures Section 1-2 & 4-7.
“St. Louis.” Boxoffice 110 no. 25 (March 1977): C2.
That’s Incredible! flyer, which also mentions her previous appearances on The Today Show and Good Morning America, online through the St. Louis Media History Foundation: https://artifacts.stlmediahistory.org/items/show/11137
UPI. “And By the Way…’Hard Rock’ DJ is a 87-year-old Granny.” 18 August 1981. Online. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/08/18/And-By-The-WayHard-rock-DJ-is-a-87-year-old-granny/7146366955200/
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