By Lynn Venhaus

First time Art Hill was used for sledding?

January 5, 1905. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported that Louisiana Purchase Exposition employees had discovered a new use for the hill in front of the Palace of Fine Arts. Now cleared of trees, “Art Hill” made a perfect toboggan slope. The employees used discarded folding chairs as sleds.

A five-home run day for Stan “The Man” Musial?

May 2, 1954. Stan Musial slammed five home runs and drove in nine in a doubleheader against the Giants in St. Louis. The Cardinals won the first game 10–6 but lost the nightcap, 9–7. Musial also set a record with 21 total bases in the two games. He went 4-for-4 with a
walk in game one and 2-for-4 with a walk in game two.

Eight-year-old Nate Colbert was in attendance that day. In 1972, Colbert would become the only other player to hit five homers in a doubleheader.

Those are just two fun facts out of hundreds in Joe Sonderman’s new book, “This Day in St. Louis History.”

A longtime radio host and traffic reporter, Joe enjoys fun facts about his hometown so much so that he’s been in search of interesting nuggets of information nearly his entire life. His fascination with our region has led to him publishing “The remarkable, the outrageous, the spectacular, and everything in between.”

The book, published by Reedy Press, arrives on area bookshelves on Aug. 31. He has book signings scheduled for September and October too. It’s his 18th book.

His answer to the most St. Louis of questions is: “Hazelwood West, 1980.”

Joe said he always loved researching history and trivia, and clipped “Through the Years” feature in the old St. Louis Globe-Democrat, which led to more library research that eventually turned into a database. On the air, he started doing a Day in History feature, which led to a project in 2002 called “St. Louis 365.”

Once he started a Facebook page called “Vintage St. Louis,” he posted daily, and it was so popular with followers that he dug back into research. And ta-da! Now a book.

“So what we have here is what I thought to be an interesting cross section of St. Louis history and trivia. It ranges from the important events to the trivial and pop-culture oriented,” he said.

The colorful book is laden with photographs, magazine covers and other interesting sites.

“The goal is not to present a serious historical work but to provide things you may not know about St. Louis history, personalities, historic
buildings, institutions, roads, bridges, TV and radio, and sports. I hope you find it interesting, no matter where you went to high school,” he said. (And for the record, Academy of Notre Dame, Belleville, Ill., 1972)

His first signing is Saturday, Aug. 31, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Eugene Field House Museum, 634 S. Broadway, St. Louis.

You may also be familiar with him as “The Route 66 expert” and he was a major contributor to the Missouri History Museum’s comprehensive Route 66 exhibit in 2016, “Route 66: Main Street Through St. Louis.”

His other books on Route 66 include:
Route 66 in St. Louis (Images of America)
Route 66 Missouri
Route 66 in Illinois (Images of America)
Get Your Pics on Route 66: Postcards from America’s Mother Road
Route 66 in the Missouri Ozarks (Postcards of America)
Route 66 Roadside Signs and Advertisements
Travel Route 66: A Guide to the History, Sights, and Destinations Along the Main Street of America

See more books by Joe on Amazon. He wrote about the 1904 World’s Fair in St Louis, more postcard books, and books on other Midwestern cities.

Take Ten Questions and Answers with Joe Sonderman

1.What is special about your latest project?

“It’s the culmination of decades of collecting dates, facts and trivia about St. Louis. I started collecting dates when I was a kid.”

2. Why did you choose your profession?

“It was a love of music radio as it was. I grew up listening to the great top 40 jocks of the 1970s on KXOK, KSLQ and then when KHTR signed on in 1982, it was like a lightning bolt.”

3. How would your friends describe you?

“A perfectionist. Almost to a fault. I want every thing from a traffic report to a book to be just perfect.”

4. How do you like to spend your spare time?

“Driving Route 66 in my pride and joy, a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air. But it currently is giving me a little difficulty. Old cars can be cantankerous and I think mine needs a little work. I also collect Route 66 memorabilia and have a collection of over 5,000 postcards from Route 66 on line at www.66postcards.com.”

5. What is your current obsession?

“That’s hard to say. In the winter, I would say I am obsessed with our Blues. Over the summer, it’s writing and collecting. And of course, work!”

6. What would people be surprised to find out about you?

“That’s a tough question. I think people might be surprised to discover we do traffic reports for cities all across the Midwest. I also do reports during the day in Kansas City, Des Moines and Springfield, MO. Technology makes it all possible.”

7. Can you share one of your most defining moments in life? 

“Meeting my wife Lorraine. She is my rock. We met while working at the old Flaming Pit Restaurant in Village Square, Hazelwood.”

8. Who do you admire most?

“That’s hard to say right now. I hate to get political but I admire Kamala Harris a great deal. Also Barack Obama.”

9. What is at the top of your bucket list?

“I really want to travel more…..I think I would like to take my wife to Europe one of these days.”

10. How were you affected by the pandemic years, and anything you would like to share about what got you through and any lesson learned during the isolation periods? Any reflections on how the arts were affected? And what it means to move forward?

“The effect of the pandemic years was to cause me to appreciate working with people more. I missed not coming into the office as much. Even now, when we are not required to come in every day, I still try to come in as often as I can because I like working from the office better than setting home alone. I think radio was affected in that we became even more isolated from the audience than we already were because of consolidation etc. We have to get that connection back somehow or our business is done for.”

11. What is your favorite thing to do in St. Louis? 

“Blues hockey!”

12. What’s next?
“I haven’t given it much thought. I am going to take a break from writing for awhile because this is my 18^th book and I still edit the Route 66 Association of Missouri’s magazine, which really takes a lot of my time.”

More Information about Joe Sonderman:

Name: Joe Sonderman
Age: 62
Birthplace: St. Louis
Current location: Hazelwood
Family: Wife Lorraine (Married since 1982). Two daughters, Cathy and Kim.
Education: St. Louis Community College – Florissant Valley
Day job: Traffic anchor at Iheartmedia
First job: Dishwasher, Flaming Pit 1978
Favorite jobs or work in your medium? I loved being a DJ and I also miss the days when traffic reporters were airborne. But those days are gone forever I am afraid.
Dream job/opportunity: My happiest times were on KHTR in the 1980s. I wish it could be like that again.
Favorite quote/words to live by: Each day is a gift. Live like it
A song that makes you happy: I would have a hard time picking just one. It would probably be 1980s pop though, something like “Walking on Sunshine” (By Katrina and The Waves”