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NC Iowa | remember chet randolph from market to market. he got his start in mason city iowa on kglo radio. he had a contest where he would do chores for some deserving farm couple so they could take a vacation. my dad must have sent of for a picture.
here is the newspaper story, and picture with rick riley, of him milking the cows in october 1949. ......
F A R M , OCTOBER, 1949 'FARM Readers to Watch Randolph Do Chores for Vacationing Farm Couple Some deserving farm couple in North Iowa or southern Minnesota is going to have an all-expenses-paid, 4 day vacation trip to Chicago starting Thursday evening, Oct. 27. Chet Randolph, KGLO farm service director, originator of the idea, has offered to do the chores for the couple while they are •gone.
The FARM editor and photographer are going to record the event and bring it to readers of the November issue. One of the highlights of the Chicago vacation will be the couple's appearance on a coast- to-coast broadcast on the National Farm and Home Hour. They will be guests of the National Broadcasting company and have the opportunity to be right in the studios and watch a network television broadcast. * * * -
The idea came to him last summer, Randolph said, when he had some free time and wanted to help out someone by doing the chores for one evening. But his trouble was he did not know who needed help. Later it occurred to him that 'many farm couples get no vacations because of the difficulty of finding someone to do the chores. And a really deserving family, he thought, probably would lack the finances for a vacation. So he started out to find a sponsor for the idea. While attending the National Barrow show at Austin, Minn., he was successful. The directors of the National -Farm and Home hour agreed to write to network officals for special permission to give the deserving couple's recognition on the coast-to-coast broadcast Saturday, Oct. 29. * * *
Randolph has asked KGLO listeners to write to him, nominating the couple they believe most deserving. He says the response has made him sorry the vacation must be limited to one couple because so many very deserving couples have been nominated. He reports that most of the letters have been in very serious vein but often the postscripts tire something joking him about a radio man doing chores. One lady wrote, "P. S. Does Randolph have any idea what he's letting himself in for? If he was raised on a farm, he'll survive, but i* he wasn't ... oh, oh. is he in for a surprise!" Randolph answers that he'll survive; lie was reared on a farm. * * *
A 19 year old girl nominating her parents put in an ending that lightened Randolph's worries. She said her 2 older brothers were at home ... so he would have help with the chores. In a letter nominating her son and his wife, a woman put in parenthesis at the close of her letter, ("Grandma will care for the boys unless Rick Riley has plans. Ha!") Riley, KGLO announcer, has offered to take care of the domestic duties M there are small, school children in the family.
A farm wife wrote that the date of the vacation seems made for them. Navy day, Oct. 27, is the date of their 13th wedding anniversary. She says that her husband has never had a day of rest from doing chores for 11 years, except for 3 days to be with their daughter when she was seriously burned. "Dear Sir: We wanted Dad to. write to you but he said, no, he'd never be lucky enough to win that trip. So my 12 year old sister and myself (I'm 13) decided we'd write, if he wouldn't. We know he and Mom would enjoy a trip like that and we think they really deserve it." The girls are from a family of 15, One couple was married in 1930 when, as the wife put it, prosperity was always just around the corner. It has been 19 years now and they have never spent one night away from home. Doctor bills plagued them the first 10 years, draining 1 all of their savings. Back on their feet again they were ready for a much needed vacation when her husband fell off a load, of hay and cracked his knee cap and had to remain in bed and on crutches 4 months. Another period of saving and then ulcers and more doctor bills. She concludes her letter: "We are both still smiling and hoping , something will turn up, so we can take that 'long wished-for' vacation. *
In nominating her son and his wife, a mother writes that he served in the navy more than 8 years, going in on D-Day and serving on a ship until it was sunk in the Pacific. He was given a medical discharge. His wife kept house for her father, uncle and invalid grandmother when they were married 5 years ago. This young couple has taken 2 homeless boys into their home. He is a 4-H club leader. His wife is active in church work and community service and they both sing in the church choir. In nominating their parents, 3 children say their mother and father were married 32 years ago but because of urgent work they didn't have a honeymoon then and haven't had a day's vacation in all 32 years. They have given up vacations to rear a family of 5. Randolph says the children added that he would have plenty of help with the chores. *- * *
A daughter tells of her father's plans to return to his native home in Switzerland but about the time he wanted to go someone asked him to help them. He never got started on his trip she says he and her mother have been working and helping others like that as long as she can remember. Pier father is 60 and still plans to take a vacation some day. "For 4 years we were financially unable to go on a vacation," one couple writes. "In the last 2 years there have been too many chores to do and hired help is definitely scarce when they find out how much work is connected with chores. (So, will Chet Randolph be scared away unless an easy chore farm is selected?)" Randolph's comment: "I'll get the chores done if I have to call Hank Hook, the station manager, out to help." * * #•
A 13 year old girl nominated her parents, saying they have reared 8 children in 22 years of married life . . . without a vacation. Her father took over a farm at 14 after his grandfather's death. She says all 8 children are hoping and listening now, and she adds that they are old enough to-take care of themselves while their mother ,and father are in Chicago, Another couple nominated has reared 2 foster children. They are always helping others in their neighborhood. This summer their little daughter was hospitalized at Rochester for 3 weeks. They lost most of their spring pigs. The letter says, "the vacation would be a grand surprise to this hard-working couple -and give them a needed rest," * # #
Those are from just a few of the letters received and many more deserving farm couples will be nominated, before the deadline, Oct. 20. A committee of 3 disinterested judges will make the final decision on Friday night, Oct. 21. The judges will be State Senator Herman M. Knudson, Clear Lake; Leigh R. Curran, Cerro Gordo farmer and president of the North Iowa Fak association, and Thor Jensen, Globe-Gazette farm editor. Randolph said the fortunate family will leave for Chicago on the evening train and arrive there Friday morning ready for a full "day of tours or. shopping, whichever the lady desires. Saturday they will be guests of the radio station at broadcasts and then appear on the radio themselves so that people from Maine to California can share the happiness of this deserving couple. Saturday. night the couple may choose to see a stage play or they might want to make that a Sunday afternoon feature. Football games, visiting relatives and friends, the civic opera, the grain exchange or a Sunday tour of all Chicago may all be crowded, in the free vacation if the couple so desires. They can take a taxi, ride the elevated, subway or all of them if they want to. The vacation will be planned as the deserving couple wants it, according to Randolph. They will ride a sleeper back to Mason City and be home Monday morning. Randolph says he'll try to have the chores done early enough Monday morning, so that he*can greet them at the station when they return. # * *
Randolph admits it has been a while since he milked, and he intends to practice some to get back to his old pull before the end of October. He has pledged himself to maintain the high milk production of the deserving couple's herd and to maintain the quality of their cream. He'll try for a No. 1 sediment test. When asked if he was going to broadcast his regular morning farm newscast from the farm while milking he said he hadn't figured it out yet. He says he doesn't want to get tangled up in a lot of mike cord if old 'Bossy' decides to move her right rear foot rapidly forward and backward. Randolph says he doesn't expect to call on the neighbors for help but he hopes they will stop in at the farm a minute and talk with him.
Edited by gene_champ 1/28/2016 20:30
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chet randolph from market to market. - your chore boy from 1949. pic.
