Yesterday in La Crosse
Radio stars in the spotlight, 52 years ago
In May of 1965, La Crosse radio station WKTY was featured in a newspaper ad. Lee Broadcasting was celebrating 10 years of owning 580 AM, on the air 18 and 3/4 hours a day from the Hotel Stoddard. The ad featured president and manager Herb Lee, vice-president Phil Dyer, and news director Milo Knutson, just ending a 10-year run in his other job as mayor of La Crosse.
That May, La Crosse was recovering from the worst Mississippi River flood on record. The Racquet newspaper at La Crosse State jokingly suggested names for books that could be written about the flood…such as “We Are Safe,” apparently a bad forecast by the La Crosse County flood inspector, and “How Do You Dispose of 6,000 Sandbags?”
At the end of a semester, college men were in the mood to buy engagement rings for their girlfriends. The Racquet ran ads for stores including Cremer’s Jewelry, Buol Jewelry, and Crescent Jewelers. Crescent is the only surviving store from that group which advertised 52 years ago, 1965, yesterday in La Crosse.