Ralph D. Foster

In 1932 Hall moved to California, and Foster and his brother-in-law, Art Johnson, relocated the station to Springfield (KGBX-AM was licensed for 1310 kHz on November 3). Unable to get its transmitting power increased, the next year he bought the license of a station in Grant City and moved it to Springfield, signing on December 25, 1933, on 560 kHz. KWTO was founded by Lester E. Cox and began broadcasting on December 25, 1933. Cox applied for and got the call sign KWTO, which stands for "Keep Watching The Ozarks." As president and general manager, Foster made KWTO-AM the dominant station in the region. In 1944, KGBX-AM (operating by then on 1260 kHz) was sold under new FCC ownership rules.[3]

Foster began to realize radio's full potential after World War II. The Assembly of God, with national headquarters in Springfield, sponsored a 30-minute program on KWTO called Sermons in Song. He began transcribing the show for other stations, and eventually 200 carried the program. To expand his business into country music, Foster started RadiOzark Enterprises, Inc. with Si Siman as vice president and local businessman Lester E. Cox as a financial backer. They produced transcription disks of programs starring Smiley Burnette, George Morgan, Bill Ring and Tennessee Ernie Ford (Ring was producer for 260 15-minute episodes of The Tennessee Ernie Show), and ABC Radio picked up Ring's show, sponsored by General Mills.[4] Eventually, more than 1,200 U.S. and Canadian stations aired their programs.[5]

Live broadcasts, however, dominated KWTO's programming. Many country music stars either got their start or performed on the station, including Porter Wagoner, Chet Atkins, the Carter Family, The Browns, Wynn Stewart, Les Paul, Homer and Jethro, and Slim Wilson. Korn’s-A-Krackin’, a weekly “hillbilly variety” program, was carried nationally by the Mutual radio network.

Foster believed Springfield might overtake Nashville, Tennessee, to become the "crossroads of country music," and knew his best opportunity would be to put his local TV show, Ozark Jubilee, on national television. He named his new enterprise Crossroads TV Productions, Inc., with Siman and Foster's nephew, John B. Mahaffey, as managing vice presidents and KWTO commercial manager Leslie I. Kennon as vice president.

In April 1954, Siman lured Red Foley, considered America's top country music star, from Nashville with the promise of hosting a national TV program. Foster leased the Jewell Theatre and spent nearly $100,000 to outfit it for live TV production. On January 22, 1955, Ozark Jubilee debuted on ABC-TV, the first network television series featuring national country music stars, which ran for almost six years.[6] Known by the cast and crew as "the Skipper," Foster made his only appearance on its final telecast (by then renamed Jubilee USA) on September 24, 1960, singing "Woodman, Spare That Tree".

Crossroads TV also produced the show's spin-off, NBC-TV's Five Star Jubilee (1961); as well as The Eddy Arnold Show (1956) and Talent Varieties (1955), both ABC. From 1960–1961, the company produced Today on the Farm for NBC from Chicago.

The networks, however, passed on two other efforts to expand programming from Springfield: early in 1957, Crossroads produced a pilot for a proposed ABC-TV series called Pig 'N Poke, a quiz show (popular at the time) with a country theme hosted by Smiley Burnette;[7] and in January 1960, Crossroads videotaped a pilot for a pop-variety TV series, Snooky Lanson Time. Guests were Brenda Lee, the Anita Kerr Singers, Betty Ann Grove and Paul Mitchell's instrumental combo.[8]

To represent the regular performers on KWTO and the Jubilee, Foster established Top Talent, Inc. (under general manager W.E. "Lucky" Moeller); and to publish their compositions, he founded Earl Barton Music, Inc. in partnership with Si Siman, John Mahaffey and Lester Cox, originally headed by C.R. "Lou" Black, KWTO's program director, who was succeeded after his death in 1956 by Moeller.[9] Crossroads also sold outdoor advertising. The combined companies grossed $2.5 million annually.[10]

In 1963, Foster, Siman and Mahaffey formed Tele-Color, Inc., which in 1964 filmed color segments for ABC's Wide World of Sports and other programs.

Foster was a member of the board of directors for the Ozark Empire Fair in Springfield for more than 20 years and was involved in many other civic activities. He died August 11, 1984, in Springfield and was buried in St. Joseph Memorial Park Cemetery. His widow, Harriett, died December 5, 1986.