Jessie Young Explained

Birth Name:	Jessie Susanka
Birth Date:	7 February 1900
Birth Place:	Wahoo, Nebraska, U.S.
Death Place:	Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.
Spouse:	Floyd S. Young (1918–1966; his death)

Jessie Young (born Jessie Susanka; February 7, 1900 – September 12, 1987)^{[1] [2]} was an American radio commentator and magazine publisher, widely acknowledged as the first of the radio homemakers.^{[1] [3] [4] [5]}

Early life and career

Born in Wahoo, Nebraska,^[1] Young grew up in Essex, Iowa,^[6] the youngest of four daughters born to John Susanka and Rosa Cuhel.^{[7] [8]} She attended Penn School of Commerce in Oskaloosa, Iowa.^[1]

In 1926, after the bank at which she had been employed as head bookkeeper for several years failed, Young began working at KMA-AM in Shenandoah.^{[1] [9]} Hired initially as a singer,^[9] she had, by year's end, become the host of a new program, The Stitch and Chat Club,^{[9] [10]} later renamed Jesse's Homemaker Visit.^[11] Described by food writers Jane and Michael Stern as "the archetype of the radio homemaker show," the program not only covered "the niceties of housekeeping," but "also created an easygoing radio companion listeners could depend on every day."^[9] As fellow radio homemaker/author Evelyn Birkby acknowledged in 1985:

In May 1936, Young was elected president of the Iowa Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, having served the previous two years as recording secretary.^{[12] [13] [14]} Later that year, Young used her platform to stress the importance of women exercising their hard-won franchise in the upcoming presidential election.

On June 1, 1942, Young became the first host of WFIL's Kitchen Club in Philadelphia.^{[15] [16]} The following year she and her family moved to Nebraska (first Lincoln and later Greeley), from whence Young broadcast her program for approximately twelve years,^{[17] [18]} initially on KFAB and, beginning in 1950, on KLMS.^{[19] [20]}

From 1946 through 1980, Young published the magazine Jessie's Homemaker Radio Visit, which, as of 1971, had approximately 10,000 subscribers scattered across all 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico and Canada.^{[6] [10] [17]}

Personal life and death

From 1918 until her death in 1966, Young was married to Floyd S. Young,^{[1] [21]} with whom she had four children, one adopted.^[22]

In June 1987, Young had a stroke from which she never recovered, dying on September 12, 1987, in Fort Collins, Colorado.^[23]

Further reading

• "Manufacturers: WFIL, Kitchen Club". Radio Showmanship. March 1943. p. 105.
• News: KFAB is a Member of Our Family Circle; The Big Farmer of the Central States, KFAB. August 28, 1944. Broadcasting, Broadcast Advertising. 73. We are like most Nebraska farm families, I guess—depending on KFAB for both entertainment and instruction. I don't listen to all the programs, bit I play close attention to the news and the market reports especially. My wife works and listens at the same time—doing her mending while she listens to Jesse Young's home-making talks. And of course the youngsters have their favorite programs which they always tune to. So it is no wonder that we use so many KFAB-advertised products. [...] If you have a product you'd like for us to know about, you can advertise on KFAB with confidence that we'll hear what you have to say.. .

Notes and References

1. Howes, Durward, ed. (1937). American Women : The Official Who's Who Among the Women of the Nation, Vol. II (1937-38). Los Angeles, CA: American Publications, Inc. p. 763. .
2. Birkby, Evelyn (1991). "Jessie Young". Neighboring on the Air : Cooking with the KMA Radio Homemakers. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. pp. 52. .
3. Birkby, op. cit., pp. 38–39.
4. Zanger, Mark (2003). The American History Cookbook. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press p. 386. .
5. Stern, Jane & Michael. "Neighboring." The New Yorker, vol. 67. Issue 8, April 15, 1991, pp 84-85. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1991/04/15/neighboring.
6. Gale, Eleanor (October 31, 1971). "Lifestyle: Jessie Young at 71; Broadcast in Print Reaches Every State; First Radio Homemaker?". Fort Collins Coloradoan. p. 14.
7. Birkby, op. cit., p. 42.
8. https://www.newspapers.com/image/729047756/?clipping_id=126050874 "Mrs. Rose Susanka Dies in Lincoln"
9. Stern, Jane; Stern, Michael (2006). "Jesse Young's Radio Cake". Two for the Road: Our Love Affair with American Food. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 111. .
10. Puckett, Susan (1988). A Cook's Tour of Iowa. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press pp. 12–13. .
11. News: Jessie Young to WFIL. May 27, 1942. Variety. 27. Jessie Young, 'kitchen counsellor' for several midwestern stations, comes here June 1 to inaugurate WFIL's Kitchen Club. She began with 'Jessie's Homemaker Visit' on KMA, Shenandoah, Iowa. The WFIL program will be aired five times weekly from 10 to 10:15 p.m.. .
12. https://www.newspapers.com/image/131600778/?clipping_id=126002780 "Iowa Business Women Elect; Mrs. Jessie Young to Head Clubs"
13. https://www.newspapers.com/image/128207935/?clipping_id=126018905 "B.P.W. Names New Officers"
14. https://www.newspapers.com/image/130623497/?clipping_id=126019272 "New Officers"
15. https://archive.org/details/broadcasting22unse/page/n1367/mode/2up?q=%22jessie+young%22+%22kitchen+counsellor%22 "Behind the Mike"
16. https://books.google.com/books?id=HQwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PP7&dq=jessie+young "Jessie Young to WFIL"
17. Woodworth, Betty (July 13, 1975). "Jessie Young: 'They Know My Voice'". Fort Collins Coloradoan. p. 9.
18. https://www.newspapers.com/image/310315946/?clipping_id=126078055 "Radio-TV Programs"
19. https://www.newspapers.com/image/310658121/?clipping_id=126065152 "Good News! Jessie Young is Back!"
20. https://www.newspapers.com/image/310663215/?clipping_id=126065588 "Jessie Young is Back!!"
21. https://www.newspapers.com/image/589226987/?clipping_id=126430499 "Red Feather Man, Floyd Young, Dies"
22. Birkby, op. cit., pp. 42–43.
23. Birkby, op. cit., p. 52.