On warm nights with the bedroom window open, a young Max McCoy could hear the endless stream of traffic on Route 66 rushing past his family's home at the edge of Baxter Springs — the shifting of gears, the bellow of trucks hauling freight to Oklahoma and Missouri, the sound of the wider world passing just beyond the pasture. That memory, woven into McCoy's commentary "Growing Up on Route 66," has now earned HPPR statewide recognition. The Kansas Association of Broadcasters has awarded the HPPR Radio Readers Book Club second place in the Editorial/Commentary category, Medium Market division, for the piece — produced as part of this year's Spring Read, "Route 66: 100 Years on the Mother Road."
McCoy's essay, originally published in the Kansas Reflector and adapted for air as part of the Book Club's BookByte series, traced his own coming-of-age alongside the Mother Road itself, fitting programming for a year when the highway marks its centennial. The recognition places HPPR's Radio Readers in good company statewide, and it's a reminder of what the Book Club has quietly built over the years: an on-air, online community of readers across Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and the Texas Panhandle, exploring books and ideas that speak directly to life on the High Plains.
None of that happens without steady hands behind the scenes, which is why this award belongs as much to Kathleen Holt and Lynn Boitano as it does to any single commentary. Kathleen has coordinated and produced the Radio Readers Book Club, now in its 11th year, shepherding everything from seasonal reading selections to the BookBytes that bring listener voices to the air. Lynn's work keeps the club running and reaching listeners across HPPR's coverage area. Their behind-the-scenes commitment is exactly the kind of work that rarely gets a spotlight of its own — so consider this ours.
The Kansas Association of Broadcasters will formally present the award on October 19th in Wichita; this is the second award that the Radio Readers Book Club has won from the KAB.
Congratulations to Max McCoy for the commentary that earned it, and to Kathleen Holt and Lynn Boitano for the work that makes the Radio Readers Book Club possible, month after month, book after book!
Hear the winning commentary here:
Growing Up on Route 66 - Part 1
Growing Up on Route 66 - Part 2
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