Leanna Field Driftmier was an American radio personality and writer based in Shenandoah, Iowa

Shenandoah, Iowa

Shenandoah is a city in Fremont and Page Counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 5,546 at the 2000 census.Once referred to as the "seed and nursery center of the world," Shenandoah is the home to Earl May Seed Company and the radio station KMA, founded by Earl May...

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Driftmier’s daily 30-minute show Kitchen-Klatter was broadcast around the midwestern United States for five decades. It was the longest-running homemaker show in US radio history.

Early life

Driftmier was born Leanna Field April 3, 1886 on a farm near Shenandoah. Driftmier was one of seven children. Her sister Jessie Field Shambaugh was a founder of the 4-H movement; her brother Henry Field was a seed company and radio entrepreneur. After graduating from high school in Shenandoah, Driftmier taught school in Essex, Iowa

Essex, Iowa

-2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 798 in the city, with a population density of . There were 372 housing units, of which 333 were occupied...

. She moved to California to help care for aging relatives. While in California, Driftmier attended Los Angeles State Normal College, then taught school near San Bernardino for one or two years. On a visit to her hometown she met widower Martin Driftmier. They married June 25, 1913 and settled in Shenandoah.

Radio career

When Driftmier’s brother Henry Field built 500-watt radio station KFNF in 1924, Leanna began helping her sister Helen on The Mother’s Hour program. Helen left the show in 1926. Driftmier took over the show and renamed it Kitchen-Klatter.

For the first four years, Driftmier broadcast from the station’s studio with her young children sitting quietly in the corner. When a back injury forced her to bedrest in 1930, she hosted the show from her bedroom. She used a wheelchair for the remainder of her life and broadcast thereafter from her kitchen. Broadcasting from the home became a trend followed by other homemaker hosts of the time.

Kitchen-Klatter eventually moved to rival station KMA, also in Shenandoah, and was syndicated around the Midwest, reaching listeners in Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 and surrounding areas. Kitchen-Klatter was a "chatty" and "instructive" show, a welcome “friend” for isolated rural women. Driftmier shared recipes, talked about her family, offered gardening homemaking and parenting tips. She was the most well known of Shenandoah’s popular homemaker hosts, and described as an “authoratative,” “regal presence” on the air. A fellow Shenandoah radio personality said that during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Driftmier sent thousands of letters to parents who had lost their sons in the war.

Kitchen-Klatter Magazine and products

Early in the life of the program, Driftmier started writing a newsletter as a way to respond to listeners’ correspondence. The publication expanded and took on the name Kitchen-Klatter Magazine. It featured a newsy letter from Driftmier, recipes, health hints, poems and book suggestions.

Driftmier wrote and published cookbooks and books on sewing. The name Kitchen-Klatter was attached to home products such as flavorings, seasonings, and cleaning products, sold out of Shenandoah.

Later years

Driftmier was named Iowa Mother of the Year in 1954. She hosted Kitchen-Klatter until 1959, when her daughter Lucile Driftmier Verness took over the show and magazine. Driftmier appeared occasionally for another 17 yrs until her death on September 30, 1976.

The Kitchen-Klatter show and magazine continued under leadership of Driftmier’s daughter and granddaughter for another nine years.