KXIC Radio – Sports & Talk – Two Iowa City Icons.

On December 15, 1947, the Federal Communications Commission issued a construction permit to the Johnson County Broadcasting Corporation, and with it, a new daytime-only radio station in Iowa City was created. While the University’s WSUI had been on the air for decades, other local radio stations had come and gone. But on June 6, 1948, KXIC Radio – 800 on the AM dial – serving as an independent outlet – broadcast its first program, and it’s been on-the-air in Iowa City ever since.

While there have been numerous radio personalities who’ve worked at KXIC-Iowa City over the years – State Representative George M. Ludwig – for example – who served as farm editor for nearly a dozen years, and NBC’s Tom Pettit – who worked here while going to school at Iowa – there are two names that stand tall above all the others…

Gene Claussen was one of the founding investors (1948) of KXIC-Radio, and served as news & sports editor for forty years until his retirement in 1988. Gene was probably best known to many for his quality work in sports – calling University of Iowa football and basketball games from 1948 until 1986, and assembling the original Iowa Radio Network for Hawkeye sports in the 1960’s.

Gene E. Claussen was born November 20, 1920, in Manning of Carroll County, Iowa – the son of Claus and Clara Claussen. He grew up and attended school in Manning, graduating from Manning High School in 1938, and receiving his BA from the State University of Iowa in 1942. Gene served in the Merchant Marines during World War II, assigned to both New York City and in the Mediterranean. Upon his return, Gene married Margaret “Marmee” Miller (June 1946) in Cedar Rapids, and the couple made their home there while he worked briefly for WMT Radio before moving, for a short time, to St. Louis, where he was associated with KMOX Radio. In 1948, the Claussens moved back to Iowa, settling in Iowa City, where he was one of the four founders of KXIC Radio, and later KKRQ-FM Radio.

Gene was an active member of the Friends of the University of Iowa Museum, a member of the Presidents Club, the National Association of Broadcasters, the Iowa Broadcasting Network, served as President of the Iowa Broadcasters Association, and was awarded their ‘Broadcaster of the Year’ award on three separate occasions.

In September 1987, at the start of the Hawkeye football season, The Iowa City Press-Citizen had a special article covering the **Voices On Press Row** – featuring blurbs on Ron Gonder, Gene Claussen, Frosty Mitchell, Jim Zabel, and Bob Brooks. Read more about these Hawkeye icons in broadcasting here.

Gene & Margaret Claussen lived at 2364 Willowbrooke Lane in Iowa City, and was the only Hawkeye sportscaster who, actually, lived in Iowa City – right across the street from long-time UI Athletic Director – Bump Elliott! Sadly, Gene died, at age 81, on October 26, 2002, at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics following a short illness. The Iowa City Press-Citizen published his obituary four days later – on October 30, 2002.

Bob Brooks – retired sports broadcaster and sports analyst for KCRG-TV – spent many years broadcasting alongside Gene at University of Iowa football and basketball games and had this to say in 2002…

“(Gene) loved the Hawks,” Brooks said. “We enjoyed a lot of Iowa wins. He had a great ride of it.” Brooks tells of how, in 1980, the NCAA began limiting the number of radio stations that could air college games, so Claussen – who owned KXIC – invited Brooks, who was the sports director for KHAK-FM in Cedar Rapids, to join him in broadcasting UI athletic events. “That’s how kind and generous he was,” Brooks said. “He allowed me to come in and join him and we could do the games together. He was a gentleman broadcaster, a delight to be around and to work with. I had great respect for him, not just as a sports broadcaster, but as an owner as well.”

George Wine – former UI sports information director – worked with Claussen for 20 years, said this about Gene…

“(Gene) was a real broadcast icon for the Hawkeyes – a real professional and highly thought of. He will be missed by the Hawkeye family because he was a part of it for forty years,” Wine said, adding that traveling with Claussen to UI games was a pleasure. “He was a connoisseur of wine, and enjoyed food. When Gene said we should have a certain wine with our meal, why, we generally did!”

Thanks, Gene, for your years of service to KXIC, Iowa City, the University of Iowa, and, of course, to Hawkeye fans across the state of Iowa!

The news on August 9, 2016 was sad, indeed. Dottie Ray, the woman who united and informed Eastern Iowans for 15 minutes each day on KXIC 800 AM radio for nearly 60 years, has died. Dottie was 93.

Dorothy “Dottie” Klein was born to Fred W. and Mary Klein on September 20, 1922 in Eagle Grove of Wright County, Iowa. After graduating from Eagle Grove High School and Eagle Grove Junior College, Klein became a journalism major (1942) at the State University of Iowa in Iowa City.

While at SUI during World War II – with most of the men in the service – Dottie became editor-in-chief of The Daily Iowan (1944-1945), leading an all-female editorial staff, putting the first female sports editor in the Hawkeye press box, and covering big stories such as D-Day (June 6, 1944), and President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death (April 12, 1945).

While on campus, Klein also volunteered as a student announcer with the University’s radio station – WSUI, before graduating from Iowa with BA and MA degrees in journalism.

Interestingly, it was in her role as editor of The Daily Iowan when Dottie first met her husband-to-be, Robert F. Ray (above left), when he came into her office to complain about the quality of the editorials being run. Her solution? Dottie immediately offered Ray a job – and you guessed it – it was for writing editorials! By October 1947, Klein had eloped with her former editorial writer, who was now serving as a speech writer for Thomas Dewey (above right) and his run for governor in Albany, New York.

By 1950, the Rays had returned to Iowa City, where Robert joined the SUI faculty as the first director of the Institute of Public Affairs, while Dottie worked for a Cedar Rapids advertising agency and the Iowa Development Commission.

In the 1950’s, Dottie returned to WSUI – this time as a paid announcer. It was here, Ray would do live broadcasts from SUI commencements, and according to her peers, Dottie’s almost unworldly knowledge of the students, their parents, and their parent’s parents was remarkable, “She would anchor the coverage, describe the scene, and she always came equipped with so many interesting stories about the graduates and what they accomplished,” one co-worker said. “She was the ultimate people person.”

By the the late 1950s, the word had spread around town about Dottie Ray, so when Gene Claussen (above left) was looking for some radio talent for his new station – KXIC – he immediately contacted Dottie with an idea he had for the station. Located on the third floor of the Whetstone building – on the corner of Clinton and Washington streets – Claussen invited Dottie – who was a full-time mom at the time – to host a Saturday morning show called President Alice – with a focus on the children of Iowa City.

“I became President Alice on Saturday morning,” Ray told the Press-Citizen in 2006. “Any child who had a birthday over the last week could come up those three flights of stairs, be interviewed, and I’d give them a cupcake and a party on the air. If I’d had my druthers, I would have only interviewed children all my life.”

Well, President Alice was a big hit, and after three years of successfully playing the role, Clausen went back to Dottie with the hopes of expanding her air time to five days a week. With two daughters at home, Ray said she wouldn’t be able to be in the KXIC station every day, so Clausen brought the mic to her, setting up a makeshift sound room in her home, and on September 4, 1959 – The Dottie Ray Show was born!

The format was simple – 15 minutes per day – for years, from 11:45 am to noon, with Dottie interviewing local guests, inviting them into her living room/radio studio to chat about upcoming community events, fund-raisers, non-profits, the arts and culture.

It’s been said that if anybody had anything going on in the community in Iowa City, they had to be on the Dottie Ray Show in order for it to be truly successful. Your humble author knows that truth very well, for in the spring of 1969, when my high school friend Rinde Eckert and I appeared on Dottie’s show, promoting City High’s upcoming Variety Show – sure enough – the people came “because they heard it on Dottie!”

Amazingly, Dottie’s show ran for 55 years (1959-2014) on KXIC, broadcasting 14,444 shows, while interviewing 32,397 people! To show you how popular Dottie Ray was, in 1980, when Gene Claussen and his team sold KXIC to new owners, it was decided that Ray’s show was outdated, so they canceled it. Immediately, the feathers hit the fan, as KXIC’s advertisers threatened, en masse, to cancel their contracts. And wallah! Dottie and her “unimportant public affairs show” was returned to the air within the week!

Dottie Ray’s popularity led to her being voted into the Iowa Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2008, and receiving the national Marconi Small Market Personality of the Year award in 2014. In June 2016, the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts screened a moving documentary – Staying Tuned: The Dottie Ray Story – a tribute, not only to Dottie, but to her ground-breaking work for women in journalism. Indeed, Dottie Ray made a big impact in the “herstory” of successful women in Iowa City!

The final episode of The Dottie Ray Show was broadcast from Dottie’s home on May 13, 2014, and it was a one-hour show with KXIC radio personality – Jay Capron – interviewing Ray about her long career in journalism.

Dottie’s husband – Robert F. Ray – Director of the University of Iowa’s Institute of Public Affairs – died in 1982, and, as we told you earlier, Dorothy “Dottie” Klein Ray passed, at the age of 93, on August 9, 2016. Both are buried at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Iowa City.