hiram higsby - Inducted 1995

Hiram Higsby was a multitalented entertainer known as "radio's original rube." Higsby, a Kansas native, got his start in 1924 while still in high school, performing on KFBI in Milford, Kansas, as part of the McOwen Hillbillies. Three years later, Higsby was on Topeka's WIBW, where he got the call to become a regular on the National Barn Dance on WLS, Chicago. Higsby then came to Kansas City and began a 15-year association with KMBC and the "Brush Creek Follies."Along with announcing, telling jokes, and playing straight man to the show's comics, Higsby was a singer, guitarist, and harmonica player. He also served as a Follies staff writer, hosted other KMBC programs, and was a serious musicologist, amassing a large collection of traditional American sheet music. In the '40s, Higsby left Kansas City and the Follies for the similarly named and formatted "Bluff Creek Roundup" on Oklahoma City's KOMA. Higsby returned to KMBC and the Brush Creek Folliesin the 1950s, with the demise of live radio. The next 20 years found Higsby working at country radio stations from Kansas to Canada, hosting a kids' TV show in Tulsa as Uncle Hiram, and, in 1974, celebrating his 50th year in country music. Higsby died in 1975 at age 66.Hiram Higsby was inducted into the Country Music DJ Hall of Fame in 1995.