 1908 - 1993 (85 years)
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| Name |
Streeter S Stuart |
| Born |
03 Jun 1908 |
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
28 Jun 1993 |
Jamaica Plain, Suffolk County, Massachusetts |
| Person ID |
I115318 |
Strausstown Roots |
| Last Modified |
17 Jan 2013 |
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| Sources |
- [S201] Miscellaneous Newspapers, Boston Globe.
Former WBZ television and radio news commentator Streeter S. Stuart died yesterday in Faulkner Hospital, Jamaica Plain. He was 85.
Mr. Stuart was born in Oklahoma City, Okla. At the age of 5 he accompanied his family on a trek by wagon train from Oklahoma to Colorado.
He attended Anderson College in Indiana, where he sang baritone in a quartet that traveled and sang throughout the country. He returned to Oklahoma and earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in modern languages from the University of Oklahoma, where he played trumpet in the marching band.
Mr. Stuart did graduate work in the French language at the University of Toulouse in France and studied at Tufts, Boston and Harvard universities at various times.
He was a high school teacher in Oklahoma before becoming professor of modern languages at Southeastern Oklahoma University.
In 1940, he was the first person hired for the staff of Boston radio station WBOS. He later moved to WBZ radio, and later WBZ-TV.
For a brief time during World War II, he supervised progamming in Spanish that was broadcast to Latin America over NBC and CBS from New York.
Mr. Stuart broadcast some of the first live FM broadcasts in New England as announcer and narrator of "Sunday at 4:30" from the Boston Opera House, with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. As a reporter and commentator for WBZ he covered the sinking of the Andrea Doria, the hunt for the Boston Strangler, the Brink's robbery and other major events. He was the White House public address announcer for the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.
In later years, his late-night banter with talk show host Larry Glick attracted a wide audience.
Upon retirement in 1973 at the age of 65, he joined the World Radio Mission and traveled the world as a lay missionary.
Later, he and his wife and daughter operated the Belmont Nutrition Center, dispensing vitamins, natural food products and nutritional advice.
He had lived in Lexington since 1944.
He leaves his wife, Merle; two sons, Dr. Streeter S. Jr. of Stephens City, Va., and Dr. Douglas K. of Boxford; a daughter, Twyla M. of Lexington; two half-sisters, Esther Oriel of Golden, Colo., and Josephine Gaines of Denver; and a half-brother, Col. William Lancey of San Antonio.
Burial will be private. A memorial service will be held in First Church Congregational in Boxford at 4 p.m. on July 3.
- [S201] Miscellaneous Newspapers, Boston Herald, 30 Jun 1993.
Author: MIKE BELLO
Streeter S. Stuart, a former university professor and legendary Hub radio and televison newsman, died Monday at Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain. He was 85.
Thousands of New Englanders remembered Mr. Stuart's powerful voice, delivering the news on WBZ radio for more than 30 years. "When Stuart said it on the air, that damn well was the way it was," WBZ-radio newsman Gary LaPierre said yesterday. "It was a Walter Cronkite thing. A Cronkite-approach to the news. He was a class act."
WBZ-radio reporter Don Batting recalled hearing of Mr. Stuart's reputation before he even started working at the radio station. "If you grew up in the area you knew the name," said Batting. "He was an institution here. He was very helpful to new people starting out and showing you the ropes."
Mr. Stuart was born in Oklahoma City, Okla., June 3, 1908. He earned a bachelor of arts degree and later a master of arts in modern languages at the University of Oklahoma. He had a keen interest in music, playing first trumpet and flugelhorn for the Pride of Oklahoma marching band.
After graduating, Mr. Stuart was a high school teacher in El Reno, Okla., before becoming professor of modern languages at Southeastern Oklahoma University in Durant.
Mr. Stuart got his break in broadcasting in 1940 becoming the first person hired for the staff of the 50,000-watt international shortwave station WBOS operated by the Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. in Boston. He later become a regular on the WBZ-radio news team. Art Amadon who hosted a free-wheeling radio talk show with Mr. Stuart said he was "very particular" about his speech. "Someone would mention something wasn't quite right and he would be mad about it," said Amadon. "One time he was interviewing then Massachusetts Gov. James Michael Curley on the radio and Streeter got his name confused on the air and he corrected it right away."
Mr. Stuart did the first live FM radio broadcasts in New England as announcer and narrator for "Sunday at Four Thirty" with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra.
With the advent of television, Mr. Stuart and Arch MacDonald were the first TV newsmen in New England broadcasting over WBZ-TV. He was featured by the Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. as the "The News Voice of New England" covering such stories as the great Brinks Robbery in the North End and the sinking of the Andrea Doria off the Bay State coast. "He was a true reporter," said former WBZ-TV anchorman Jack Chase. "A lot of times people would take stuff off the wire, he went out and dug for his stories." Mr. Stuart retired from Westinghouse in 1973 at age 65.
Mr. Stuart leaves his wife, Merle of Lexington; two sons, Dr. Streeter S. Jr. of Stephens City, Va., and Dr. Douglas K. of Boxford; and a daughter, Twyla M. of Lexington; two half sisters, Esther Oriel of Golden, Colo., and Josephine Gaines of Denver; a half brother, Col. William Lancey of San Antonio, Texas, and 10 grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at the First Church Congregational, Boxford, Saturday at 4 p.m.
Arrangements are by Douglass Funeral Home, Lexington.
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