Veteran Media Broker Ralph Meador Dies

Longtime media broker Ralph Meador died Monday, May 25 He was 95.

“Ralph Meador was like the North Star, a fixed point of wisdom and integrity,” said Glenn Serafin, president of the National Association of Media Brokers. “He was role model for the rest of us and he will be sorely missed.”

Other brokers were quick to remember him:

• “A true gentlemen and a fiiend to many.” — Jody McCoy
• “Gentle inspiration provided to us for so many years.” — Dick Foreman
• “There may have been a nicer guy on the planet, but I doubt it.” — Bill Whitley
•  “Rest in peace, dear friend.” — Ken Hawkins
• “Please count me among Ralph’s many admirers.”— Jim Hoffinan
• ”From the Old School of ‘Business Gentlemen’; always first class.” — Frank Boyle
•  “He was truly a good person.” — Frank Kalil
• “Set the standards very high for all of us.” — Doyle Hadden
•  “He defined goodness.” — Andy McClure

Meador started his radio career in 1942 at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, as a crew chief installing and testing radio and radar systems in military aircraft. After completing courses in radio engineering at Dayton University, his first job in radio broadcasting at WING-AM Dayton. He later spent 18 months overseas during World War II with the Armed Forces Radio and American Forces Network, installing radio stations in Paris, France and in Frankfurt and Bremen, Germany. He was chief engineer at AFN Bremen.

Returning to the United States in 1946, he worked at radio stations in Joplin, Mo., and Spokane, Wash. In 1954 he moved back to the Midwest to Quincy, lll., where he was a development engineer for Gates Radio Co., now GatesAir. While working in engineering, several of his designs were issued patents by the U.S. Patent Office and by the Canadian Patent Office.

He applied for a construction permit and, in 1956, built KLEX-AM Lexington, Mo., later adding KLEX-FM. Meador owned and operated the two for 15 years. The FM station now serves Kansas City, Mo.

Over the years Meador supervised the installations of more than 10 radio stations and one television station. After selling KLEX-AM-FM in 1970, he founded the brokerage firm of R.E. Meador & Associates.

Meador served on the board of directors of the Missouri Broadcasters Association in the 1960s. In 2013 he was inducted into the Missouri Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame along with baseball greats Harry Caray and Joe Garagiola.

His wife Thelma died in 2005 after 65 years of marriage. They had two children, five grandchildren and a great grandchild.