Robert Hyland, Jr. (1920–1992) was CBS regional vice president and general manager of

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

KMOX KMOX (1120 AM) is a commercial radio station in St. Louis, Missouri. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it is a 50,000 watt Class A clear-channel station with a non-directional signal. The KMOX studios and offices are on Olive Street at Tucker Bouleva ...

in St. Louis, Missouri for four decades.

Personal life

He was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1920. He attended both

St. Louis University High School St. Louis University High School (SLUH) is a Jesuit Catholic high school for boys. Founded in 1818, it is the oldest secondary educational institution in the U.S. west of the Mississippi River, and one of the largest private high schools in Misso ...

and

St. Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

. Before going into radio he embraced the idea of becoming a professional baseball player and even an actor, but these ideas were shot down by his father or other reasons. Hyland was the son of the longtime Cardinals team physician, Dr. Robert F. Hyland, M.D.

Contributions/Career

Hyland emphasized and leveraged KMOX's relationship with the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

; he also made the decision in 1960 to eliminate the station's afternoon music programming in favor of

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featu ...

, a critical change which led to the station's subsequent dominance of the St. Louis radio market. He also introduced the first listener call-in programs at KMOX in 1960. Hyland was very much involved in civic ventures. He founded the drug and alcohol treatment center at St. Anthony's Hospital (St. Anthony's Medical Center), which was named after his father. He served on the boards of the St. Louis Zoo, the St. Louis Symphony, and the Municipal Opera, and received many honorary degrees and awards. In 1988 he was chosen as the St. Louis Man of the Year. inal Resting Place, p. 145 Hyland was the man who brought the Big Red Line Cheerleaders to the St Louis Football Cardinals Organization.

Death

Hyland died in 1992 due to cancer. New York Times Obituary
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References

External links

www.stlradio.com
The hall of fame section contains a biography of Hyland.
stlcin.missouri.orgKMOX Radio Special on Robert Hyland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyland, Robert 1920 births 1992 deaths American radio executives Lindenwood University people Saint Louis Zoo people 20th-century American businesspeople