Jessie Young

Jessie Young as Radio Host
Jessie Young
Born
Jessie Susanka

(1900-02-07)February 7, 1900
Wahoo, Nebraska, U.S.
DiedSeptember 12, 1987(1987-09-12) (aged 87)
Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.
SpouseFloyd S. Young (1918–1966; his death)

Jessie Young (born Jessie Susanka; February 7, 1900 – September 12, 1987)[1][2] was an American radio commentator and magazine publisher, widely acknowledged as the first of the radio homemakers.[1][3][4]

Early life and career[edit]

Born in Wahoo, Nebraska,[1] Young grew up in Essex, Iowa,[5] the youngest of four daughters born to John Susanka and Rosa Cuhel.[6][7] She attended Penn School of Commerce in Oskaloosa, Iowa.[1]

In 1926, after the bank at which she had been employed as head bookkeeper for several years failed, Young began working at KMA-AM in Shenandoah.[1][8] Hired initially as a singer,[8] she had, by year's end, become the host of a new program, The Stitch and Chat Club,[8][9] later renamed Jesse's Homemaker Visit.[10] Described by food writers Jane and Michael Stern as "the archetype of the radio homemaker show," the program not only covered "the niceties of housekeeping," but "also created an easygoing radio companion listeners could depend on every day."[8] As fellow radio homemaker/author Evelyn Birkby acknowledged in 1985:

Jessie was the first. The first to become a longterm KMA homemaker. The first to broadcast directly from her home. The first of the KMA women broadcasters to share her experience, her housekeeping, sewing and cooking expertise with her listeners in depth and in detail for many years...[9]

In May 1936, Young was elected president of the Iowa Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, having served the previous two years as recording secretary.[11][12][13] Later that year, Young used her platform to stress the importance of women exercising their hard-won franchise in the upcoming presidential election.

Perhaps it is a sentimental reason, but women especially should vote because for a century they demanded they be allowed to do so. A great price was paid to secure our right of suffrage and that should not go unheeded. There are additional reasons why women should vote. They are the guardians of human welfare, they bear and train the young, their interest is primarily in persons rather than things. It is short-sighted for them to content themselves with wishful thinking.[14]

On June 1, 1942, Young became the first host of WFIL's Kitchen Club in Philadelphia.[15][16] The following year she and her family moved to Nebraska (first Lincoln and later Greeley), from whence Young broadcast her program for approximately twelve years,[17][18] initially on KFAB and, beginning in 1950, on KLMS.[19][20]

From 1946 through 1980, Young published the magazine Jessie's Homemaker Radio Visit, which, as of 1971, had approximately 10,000 subscribers scattered across all 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico and Canada.[5][9][17]

Personal life and death[edit]

From 1918 until her death in 1966, Young was married to Floyd S. Young,[1][21] with whom she had four children, one adopted.[22]

In June 1987, Young had a stroke from which she never recovered, dying on September 12, 1987, in Fort Collins, Colorado.[23]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Howes, Durward, ed. (1937). American Women : The Official Who's Who Among the Women of the Nation, Vol. II (1937-38). Los Angeles, CA: American Publications, Inc. p. 763. OCLC 435906904.
  2. ^ Birkby, Evelyn (1991). "Jessie Young". Neighboring on the Air : Cooking with the KMA Radio Homemakers. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. pp. 52. ISBN 0-87745-316-0.
  3. ^ Birkby, op. cit., pp. 38–39.
  4. ^ Zanger, Mark (2003). The American History Cookbook. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press p. 386. ISBN 978-1-57356-376-5.
  5. ^ a b Gale, Eleanor (October 31, 1971). "Lifestyle: Jessie Young at 71; Broadcast in Print Reaches Every State; First Radio Homemaker?". Fort Collins Coloradoan. p. 14.
  6. ^ Birkby, op. cit., p. 42.
  7. ^ "Mrs. Rose Susanka Dies in Lincoln". North Bend Eagle. July 27, 1950. p. 1.
  8. ^ a b c d Stern, Jane; Stern, Michael (2006). "Jesse Young's Radio Cake". Two for the Road: Our Love Affair with American Food. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-618-32963-2.
  9. ^ a b c Puckett, Susan (1988). A Cook's Tour of Iowa. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press pp. 12–13. ISBN 0-87745-191-5.
  10. ^ "Jessie Young to WFIL". Variety. May 27, 1942. p. 27. ProQuest 1285807750. Jessie Young, 'kitchen counsellor' for several midwestern stations, comes here June 1 to inaugurate WFIL's Kitchen Club. She began with 'Jessie's Homemaker Visit' on KMA, Shenandoah, Iowa. The WFIL program will be aired five times weekly from 10 to 10:15 p.m.
  11. ^ "Iowa Business Women Elect; Mrs. Jessie Young to Head Clubs". The Des Moines Register. May 17, 1936. p. 15.
  12. ^ "B.P.W. Names New Officers". The Des Moines Register. May 13, 1934. p. 14.
  13. ^ "New Officers". The Des Moines Register. May 20, 1935. p. 12.
  14. ^ "State B.P.W. Head Urges Women to Vote in Election". Cedar Rapids Gazette. October 25, 1936. p. 15.
  15. ^ "Behind the Mike". Broadcasting. June 1, 1942. p. 35.
  16. ^ "Jessie Young to WFIL". The Billboard. June 6, 1942. p. 7.
  17. ^ a b Woodworth, Betty (July 13, 1975). "Jessie Young: 'They Know My Voice'". Fort Collins Coloradoan. p. 9.
  18. ^ "Radio-TV Programs". The Lincoln Star. February 19, 1954. p. 22.
  19. ^ "Good News! Jessie Young is Back!". The Lincoln Star. June 7, 1943. p. 12.
  20. ^ "Jessie Young is Back!!". The Lincoln Star. September 3, 1950. p. 40.
  21. ^ "Red Feather Man, Floyd Young, Dies". Fort Collins Coloradoan. February 9, 1966. p. 3.
  22. ^ Birkby, op. cit., pp. 42–43.
  23. ^ Birkby, op. cit., p. 52.

Further reading[edit]

  • "Manufacturers: WFIL, Kitchen Club". Radio Showmanship. March 1943. p. 105.
  • "KFAB is a Member of Our Family Circle; The Big Farmer of the Central States, KFAB". Broadcasting, Broadcast Advertising. August 28, 1944. p. 73. ProQuest 1285686707. We are like most Nebraska farm families, I guess—depending on KFAB for both entertainment and instruction. I don't listen to all the programs, bit I play close attention to the news and the market reports especially. My wife works and listens at the same time—doing her mending while she listens to Jesse Young's home-making talks. And of course the youngsters have their favorite programs which they always tune to. So it is no wonder that we use so many KFAB-advertised products. [...] If you have a product you'd like for us to know about, you can advertise on KFAB with confidence that we'll hear what you have to say.


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