ORIGINS
Henry Field (1871-1949) as a child, went door to door selling seeds from the family garden, and always had seeds as a side business, printing a catalog in 1899. He was inspired since a child by Vick’s Floral Guide, 1876. He founded Henry Field Seed & Nursery Co., Shenandoah, Iowa, in 1907. His seed catalogs were chatty and homespun, but sophisticated in its offerings–they were mini-Sears catalogs. Besides seeds, the company sold farm and household goods such as coffee, pressure cookers, clocks, and everything “For the Man Behind the Hoe.”
In 1924 Henry Field built his own radio station, KFNF, at his seed business–in a day when people actually did those sorts of things– and continued the folksy rapport with his customers and anyone within reach of the station. He also hosted music, sermons, and agricultural discussions. Then he built an auditorium so people could watch the live broadcasts. In 1926 his station won “World’s Most Popular Radio Broadcaster” by Radio Digest magazine.
Besides Henry, his sisters became radio personalities. Helen talked about gardening, Jessie rallied for youth development, but it was his sister Leanna who hosted the cooking show, “Kitchen-Klatter” lasting from 1926 to 1986, the longest-lasting cooking show on radio, eventually involving three generations of the family.
Supposedly The Mary Lee Taylor Program was the longest running radio cooking show, November 1933 – October 1954. ” Let’s see how that compares to this other claim that Kitchen-Klatter radio show was the longest running — 1926 – 1986 — who wins?
The Magazine
In 1936 the Kitchen-Klatter radio show expanded into a family-run magazine. All of the Driftmier family wrote for the magazine, but mostly it was the women. Kitchen-Katter magazine had book dimensions but center-stapled and printed on newsprint. All in all the family was quite familiar with the medium of a magazine as Henry Field’s chatty-styled seed catalogs had been circulating for over 20 years.
Perceptions from an Outsider
I love antique malls, and everywhere I go I treat myself to local offerings. In the corn belt of the Midwest I began seeing the thin “Kitchen-Klatter” magazines, usually from the 1940s. They were peculiar to me–as a New Englander, and once a New Yorker. I was used to polished magazines. But because Kitchen-Klatter was not polished, it had a surprising charm.
