E. Donald Kern

KERN E. Donald Kern, 85, Germantown, Tennessee. Don Kern was born on July 12, 1927 in St. Louis and was raised there and later in Cincinnati. After graduating from St. Ambrose College in Iowa, he served in the U.S. Army as a radio broadcaster in Germany. After his military service he came to Memphis to pursue his dream to work in radio broadcasting. In 1947 Bert Ferguson and John Pepper started the legendary radio station WDIA; they hired Don as the first Program Director, and later Production Engineer, Sales Director, and other roles. Along the way, he became the first person to record and broadcast the Beale Street Blues Boy, B.B. King, thus acquiring the sobriquet "The World's First Rhythm and Blues Disc Jockey." In 1960 he went from R&B to Country & Western music, going to work for The Might Nine Ninety KWAM owned by the great Nashville radio entrepreneur H.C. "Cal" Young, which would result in a business partnership and personal friendship that would span the rest of their lives. After that he moved to Nashville to join Young at WENO Radio during the heyday of the Grand Ole Opry. He and Young saw the connection between the grass roots sounds of C&W and the cajun fiddles of the Louisiana bayou, and in 1965, they fulfilled that vision and started WSHO AM 800, the first C&W radio station in New Orleans. Don moved to New Orleans and spent the next 40 years there, building WSHO into a national success story and selling it in 1978 when C&W went mainstream. He continued in C&W radio with WSDL in Slidell radio, and he and Young also operated WGUS in Augusta, GA. In New Orleans, Don and his exceptionally gracious wife Ann raised two children and built a legacy that will not be forgotten. He promoted concerts with singers such as Eddy Arnold and Dolly Parton, put on Easter Egg hunts at Pontchartrain Beach, and during Mardi Gras parades handed out 45 RPMs while driving a 1918 Model T Ford or a double-decker London bus, ideas both big and small that he and his resourceful team at WSHO dreamed up from scratch. He was active in the Catholic religion in New Orleans through his parish at St. Pius X and supported the Academy of the Sacred Heart and Jesuit High School. Don had a strong passion for community service, and through Associated Catholic Charities, he donated his service and radio time to any disadvantaged group that needed a single voice to keep their community going, whether they were displaced Vietnamese refugees or South Louisiana natives determined to keep the their Cajun dialect alive. Don was invited to join the Sugar Bowl organization in New Orleans in the 1970s and leaves the organization as an Emeritus Member. He helped to grow the business and entertainment communities in New Orleans through the Sugar Bowl and its sponsorship of so many sports events, both big and small - from the 1973 Sugar Bowl game between Ara Parseghian's undefeated Fighting Irish of Notre Dame and the undefeated Crimson Tide of Bear Bryant, through many years of tennis tournaments that gave juniors a place to learn. Don and his wife relocated to Germantown after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Baptist Hospital, St. Francis Hospital, and the Germantown Regional History and Genealogical Center were just a few of the beneficiaries of Don's incredible energy and desire to help, and, most of all, to have fun with other people. He was preceded in death by his mother, Helen McHale Kern, his father Roy Creel Kern, and his wife, Ann Walsh Kern. He is survived by his brother Robert F. Kern of Atlanta, his sister Joan Renier of Bainbridge Island, WA, his daughter Marguerite Kern Kingsmill (Tommy) of New Orleans and son Kevin Walsh Kern (Kathleen) of Germantown, his five grandchildren, Adair, Alison, Danielle, Christopher and Ryan, and his many wonderful nieces and nephews and their children, all of whom he loved dearly. Visitation will be at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, August 21 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church at 8151 Poplar Avenue in Germantown followed by mass at 10:00 a.m. Burial will be at Calvary Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that friends consider donations to the Academy of the Sacred Heart, 4521 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, LA 70115 or St. Agnes Academy, 4830 Walnut Grove Road, Memphis, TN 38117. Canale Funeral Directors 901-452-6400 www.canalefuneraldirectors.com