It may seem strange on this patriotic holiday to be talking about a horse thief.
But it's OK; this horse thief was a good guy.
Neighbors carried an inquiry recently from someone asking if anyone remembers Horsethief Harry, the name of a radio guy on KDLM, Detroit Lakes, Minn., years ago.
Yes indeed.
Walter Lenius, Detroit Lakes, writes that he was Harry's relative by marriage.
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His real name, Walter says, was Harry Kirchman.
"We often listened to Harry," he says. "We especially listened after he married my cousin Carole. She was a little dark-haired beauty who also worked at KDLM.
"After leaving Detroit Lakes, they continued to work in radio, for a time
in the Quad Cities (of Illinois/Iowa) and later in the Chicago area.
"They raised three children and worked in radio until their retirement," Walter reports. Both are now deceased.
Ken Brodsho, Mahnomen, Minn., remembers listening to Harry as he drove around while working as a line maintenance man for Wild Rice Electric in the Detroit Lakes area.
"If I remember right," Ken says, "he sometimes called himself 'Harry the Habitual Horse Thief.' "
Mike Knudson, Mayville, N.D., thinks back to the early 1950s, which he calls BBE (Back Before Elvis), when he was living near Clifford, N.D., (Mike, not Elvis) and was hospitalized and listened to the radio a lot, including Horsethief.
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"He affected some kind of brogue or accent, kind of like (another radio personality) Wolfman Jack," Mike says.
This got Mike reminiscing about other radio programs back then. Among them:
- Two afternoon request programs on KROX, Crookston, Minn., for which "Tippin' In" was the theme song for one and Glenn Miller's "String of Pearls" was the theme for the other.
- A country music show from KTRF, Thief River Falls, Minn., at 4 p.m., to which Mike tuned in on his way home from school.
- Local radio stars Lem Hawkins, "Dirty Dewey, your Cowboy Companion," Smokey and Mary, Tex and Rex, Bernie Ostrom.
Late at night, you could tune in the "Border Blaster" show from XERF, Del Rio, Texas, which, Mike says, "had 10 minutes of music per hour and 50 minutes of commercials delivered by Paul Kallinger, who sold everything from yo-yos and baby chicks to autographed pictures of Jesus on black velvet."
Also, Mike listened to live music from the Canadian stations CKY and CKRC. The star on one or maybe both stations, he says, was "Porky" Jean Charbonneau.
And, back in Detroit Lakes, there was Horsethief Harry.
Happy memories, neighbors. And happy July Fourth.
If you have an item of interest for this column, mail it to Neighbors, The Forum, Box 2020, Fargo, ND 58107; fax it to 241-5487; or email blind@forumcomm.com
