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Former local radio stalwart Frank Absher recently picked up high ratings from the Missouri House of Representatives.

Absher was honored earlier this month with a proclamation for his work in preserving the media history of the St. Louis market.

Absher is the founder of the St. Louis , which preserves records and old recordings of radio and television broadcasts.

The foundation, which now is housed at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, also maintains the St. Louis Media Hall of Fame.

In addition to his local work, Absher also started an outstate archive of radio recordings at the State Historical Society in Columbia. And through his work with the national Radio Preservation Task Force, he is sharing local radio recordings with the Library of Congress.

A resident of Lafayette Square, Absher grew up in Nashville, Illinois, about 50 miles east of St. Louis. Then he attended Westminster College in Fulton.

After college, Absher worked in radio in Sedalia, and then Alaska. In 1970, he joined the Air Force, where he worked for Armed Services Radio. After his discharge, Absher returned to this area and worked at WIBV in Belleville.

A few years later, he landed a job at KADI, an FM station that was in the mid to late 1970s was giving classic-rock KSHE a run for its money. He and Jim Doyle became the station’s popular morning team.

Absher left KADI in 1979 and worked at KMOX until 1983.

The honors for Absher were spearheaded by state Rep. , D-St. Louis.