Central technical institute, Kansas City

Central Technical Institute Kansas City, Missouri, CTI, W9XALTelevision, W9XBY , Midland radio and television school, Camp Crowder, Missouri electronic school

New Info added March 12, 2024	First National Television School, Midland Radio & Television Schools, Central Radio and Television School, Central Technical Institute, Central Institute of Technology..
	Central Technical Institute 1931 to 1969 when it was sold to Bell & Howell and eventually became DeVry Kansas City, MO

Webmasters search story: Some years ago, I thought why not look for CTI, I found virtually NOTHING.
Google had No information. I mean ZERO. So "me being me" knowing the past actually happened. Saying
to myself where is it.    I guess it only becomes history when someone take the time to write it down
or make a web, so I put what I knew (very little) on the web.

by accident I found a copy of 'THE CENTRALIAN" so I add it to what I had, then I knew I still had my study books,
when I went to get a few to take a picture of, I found a 1968-69 catalog about CTI, where most of this history is
extracted, and pictures of the instructors.

NOW         Added Sept 2020 the Missouri Institute of Technology 50-Yr Commemorative Publication PDF provided by C.L. Fosters daughter..
It's a treasure of History, Its a PDF, download it and enjoy. FYI: a big file
There's a lot of info presented in this PDF document for Historical purposes, well worth downloading and looking at

I've typed the History of the school, so search engines like google will find it.   Slowly, at first, graduates started sending in information about
themselves and pictures.. Now years later, the pace of incoming information has picked up steam..(a bit)........
I will be glad to add anything you might want to share..    If you have any class Pictures, other information you would like presented
please email me at johnwilson@k0ip.com

again, from the webmaster, Fellow CTI graduates,   THANKS to everyone, this web is getting a bit long, I generally add info about graduates in order received,
below the bio's, theres lots of pictures from the 1968-69 catalog, Teachers and other pictures.    Without any insult intended !!  WHAT A MOTLEY CREW
your webmaster is a self taught web person, and maybe it shows, :-)

HISTORY of CTI
Central was founded in 1931 by a group of officials then associated with the Columbia Broadcast System (CBS) , the Kansas City Power and Light Company, and the Midland Broadcasting Company of Kansas City. Originally known as FIRST NATIONAL TELEVISION SCHOOL, the Institute constructed and operated the first television station west of Chicago to broadcast on a daily schedule, telecasting up to 90 miles form Kansas City. The mechanical television broadcasting and receiving equipment used in the pioneering days of 1932 was crude and inefficient compared to modern electronic systems now employed in Central's training laboratories. Experimental Television Station W9XAL originated several programs in the studios which fed into the Columbia Broadcasting System's radio network. Ted Malone, John Cameron Swayze
and Count Basie were a few of the early day performers.

In 1934 the school was granted one of the three first "Hi-Fidelity" commercial broadcast station permits by the FCC. On 1530 Kilocycles, W9XBY pioneered the development of high fidelity radio broadcasting, using resident students as operating engineers and home study students as "listening posts." In 1937 the Institute was incorporated as the MIDLAND RADIO AND TELEVISION SCHOOL and was owned exclusively by the Midland Broadcast Company, also owners of radio station KMBC in Kansas City. The success of the Institute for training highly qualified broadcast technicians spread to the commercial airlines and in 1936 courses were offered in airline ground radio operation.

At the beginning of World War II , the Institute occupied the top four floors of the Kansas City Power and Light Building plus additional classrooms and laboratory space in the Keystone building at 1420 Main Street. Resident and home sturdy enrollment was then approximately 1,400 students. During the war years courses for civilian men were discontinued and full effort was devoted to the training of 23,000 enlisted men and women for the Army Signal Corps. Two additional schools war opened for this purposes, one in Athens George, and a second school in Kansas City whose facilities were devoted exclusively to the training in of high-speed radio operators for the Midwestern Signal Corps Training Center , Camp Crowder, Missouri

The Institute purchased its own building at the corner of 17th and Wyandotte Streets, in 1943. The building was formerly known as the Webster School, and was used for the "Quality Hill" section of the city. After complete rehabilitation, the new training quarters were opened for students in 1944. In 1945 the present administration purchased the Institute form the Midland Broadcasting Company and changed the name to CENTRAL RADIO AND TELEVISION SCHOOL. During the same year an office building was acquired directly across Wyandotte Street form the school building. Home study and resident enrollments were expanded beginning in 1945 and training courses were offered in nearly all areas of technical electronic.

Central was one of the founding members of the National Council of Technical Schools in 1944. This organization is recognized as one of the leading associations of quality technical institutes in the United States, dedicated to the purpose of maintaining high standards of college-level technical instruction. In 1949, Central's resident Engineering Technology curriculum was accredited by the Engineers' Council for Professional Development. In keeping with the recognition acquired by the Institute in industry and with nation educational organizations, the name was changed in 1953 to CENTRAL TECHNICAL INSTITUTE to better express the broadening aspects of Central's educational programs,

a note from the webmaster, in Sept 2020 I was contacted by
C. L. Foster's daughter, she provided a lot of history,
Missouri Institute of Technology 50 year commemorative publication. ITS a PDF and contains many details that were left out of the
1968-69 Bulletin , down the page

Webmaster: Being a Veteran and from Shawnee, and a bit interested in what must have gone at the school during WW2. and in Kansas City. its almost mindless !! see picture just below, WOW, This picture and lots more details about WW2 are in the pdf link just below...

23,000 military trainees HERES the Link to get the PDF ...
Take a look, it has a very extensive history of the school..

https://www.earlytelevision.org/w9xal.html

CTI Postcard

here's another post card, they did not train Airline Hostess's when I went there, must have been before 1965 ??

all the old buildings in that part of town have been bulldozed. and in the picture just below you can see the very impressive
Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts.. All very upscale !

Its now called the Webster House , In the KC Star it was announced April 2020 the Webster house will close ,

added June 2019: The CTI building, is no longer an electronics school, it's a fancy restaurant and antique store... The Webster House
occupies one of the oldest public school buildings in Kansas City. The Webster School officially opened in January 1885 and closed in 1932. More than
100 years later, proprietor Shirley Bush Helzberg carefully restored the historic building to its present beauty. The Webster House is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places and has won many awards for restoration. (webmaster) and from the looks of all the great pictures on their web
it must have cost a small fortune to restore.

Click this picture for a better view.

Here is a detailed description of the history of this building provided by Allen Hansen CTI graduate LINK

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Webmaster's comments: John Wilson KØIP,   I did attend CTI in 1965-1967, graduated,   went to work at Bendix in KC, BUT
the draft board knew my name and to avoid the draft I joined the USAF. Thanks to CTI, and my hobby of
Amateur Radio,   I ByPassed going to a USAF School, I got a great job, a PMEL technician,
Precision Measurement Equipment Lab, we repaired and calibrated all the test equipment in the Air Force inventory,

The Airforce took me around the world, 5years, 7 months E5
1. McCoy AFB, it's now Orlando international airport. every wonder why Orlando is MCO   -- McCoy
2. Takhli Royal Thai AFB, Thailand (HS6ADE)
3. Cam Ranh Bay - Vietnam
4. Edwards AFB CA.
5. AFCENT (NATO) southern part of The Netherlands (PA9VW)
                In actual fact, the Air Force a very exciting and educational part of my life.

After I was discharged,
I stayed and worked in Holland for Elektor Publishers for about 2 years. I was on the English Editorial Staff.
Uitgeversmaatschappij Elektuur B.V.   Beek (L)   The Nederland's.   https://www.elektuur.nl/

Then almost by accident, and because I was an avid Ham Radio op', I landed a great Job with Union Pacific Railroad.
I got to retire when I was 60, I mostly worked on data equipment, eventually I was a project engineer installing LAN
networks all over the western part of Union Pacific. Omaha to the west coast.
Right after I started with the RR , I was transferred from Omaha (HQ) to Pocatello, which is still my home.
if your interested(?) my ham radio web is https://www.k0ip.com

Webmaster: I'm in the very middle, center row 5th from the left

from the webmaster, hello everyone,
glad to know this page gets googles attention, heres a letter from another CTI graduate and his class picture

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NOW Some info from John Milford

For some reason I did a Google search this morning on CTI and up popped your website.    I see you graduated in March of 1968.
I graduated in December of 1968. You went into the USAF after school, I was in the USAF before school.   I see you have the
same degree as me, EET, but I don’t remember any classes in broadcasting. I went on to work for Bell Labs in Chicago for the
next 10 years. At the labs I learned that electronics technology was not the love of my life, software programming was.    I made
a career out of programming and project management. I will always feel very fortunate to have gone to CTI even though I really
didn’t use anything they taught me, except perhaps some of the programming skills I learned in class with Basic.   Like you, I never
returned to KC after graduating even though I was born and raised there.

I don’t have any new information for you on CTI for the website, just thought I’d drop you a line. I didn’t recognize anyone else
in your class, but I don’t remember seeing upperclassmen very much anyways. There was a break room downstairs somewhere
as I recall, but all I remember there are my own class mates and the chance to smoke (I quit a few years later).

I attached a picture of my class. As you can see the classes were getting smaller. We may have been one of the last classes to
graduate before DeVry bought them. I am third from the left standing. John Milford
John's email is jsm4343((at))gmail.com

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From KØGY George Yantis, seated 3rd from left .. George worked at King Radio from graduation until he retired.
This info added Oct 2022.... I was again reading through your CTI webpage. Lots of interesting stuff there. I don’t think I ever mentioned
that I can pretty much confirm that we were the last class under the Central Technical Institute name. Right before graduation in July 1969 we
were informed that Bell and Howell had just purchased the school. We were also told that we could continue education at DeVry in Chicago
where our CTI Associate degree would be accepted for the Bachelor degree program. I think there was one person who thought he would do that.

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This added from Leroy Umscheid 13 DEC 2020

Hi John

I ran across your CTI web page the other day and thought I would send you another class picture. I attended Central the same years you did and vaguely
remember seeing you from your class picture. I was a class or two ahead of you having done my Air Force time before rather than after Central. I graduated
in July of 1967 and went to work for Collins Radio Co. as an engineering lab technician. I worked as a lab tech for about 9 years and then as a design
engineer for another 25 years. I retired in 2001. I recognize some of the faces in your class picture but can't remember the names.
In the Air Force I worked for three years at Spangdahlem AB Germany, On F-105 fire control systems.

Attached is the class picture of class EET 665, July1967. I am in the back row, third from the left.

--... ...--

Leroy Umscheid KØIXH ex DL4JN

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NOW here is a good one from the Past, Midland Radio CLASS M67A July 17, 1943 (front and back , with all the class names and their home town's)
Picture provided by Stephanie Glotfelty Whos great uncle is Henry Rajchel of Milwaukee,, second row up and second from the right

Heres a list of names for this picture, I wonder where all these guys wound up in WW2.. Click the pictures to download a bigger picture with more resolution

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By the 1970's the name changed here's diploma from Shermie who credits CTI to his many interesting and successful jobs..

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----------- Thanks Warmer

Also we got some encouraging words from Warner Schler class of 862 employed by TWA and American Airlines.. WAØPYW

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AND NOW A WORD from Don Cochran , in Gardner Ks

Thanks for the time on the phone today. I enjoyed the visit and hearing about some of your background.
As I said on the phone, I graduated from CTI in 1968. My class number was 966 (September 1966 start month).
It was an exceptional school and I can honestly say it along with Amateur Radio and being a pilot shaped
my career in aviation electronics.

I was licensed in 1964 as WNØJOW and later that year passed the General class exams at the FCC office
in Kansas City, MO to become WAØJOW. In 1971 I passed the Advanced class exam at the FCC office in New York City.

After graduating from CTI in the Fall of 1968, I went to work at Collins Radio Co. in Richardson, TX. My
job was as an electronics technician in their Antenna R & D lab. This job lasted less than a year and ended
when I enlisted in the Army in the Spring of 1969. Following my training in Radio Wave Propagation at the
Army Signal School at Fort Monmouth, NJ, I was assigned as an instructor in the same class from which I graduated.

While working for Collins Radio Co. I became a private pilot and in latter years used the GI Bill to obtain a
Commercial pilots license with instrument and multi-engine ratings.

After the Army, I continued working in the aviation electronics industry until I retired in 2017. My employment was
with a number of companies all in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side.
These included King Radio Co., Wulfsberg Electronics, JcAIR, Goodrich, Airport Systems International and ending
with Airfield Technology. In the course of work, I did a lot of domestic and international travel that took me around
the USA and to 40 plus countries. All of the travel was technical support work and was made possible by the education
at CTI, being an amateur radio operator and a pilot. It was a fantastic career for a farm boy from East Central Kansas.

73's Don WAØJOW

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AND now from another graduate, that credits CTI with probably saving his life
FROM George McLain

In 1965 through 1967 the military was was drafting a lot of the men for the war. If you were fit
and didn’t have “connections “ you were going to be called up. I decided to enlist to get it behind me
and to get get a job that didn’t involve humping through the rice paddies and jungle getting my ass shot off.
Due to my training at CTI I scored well on the placement test so was assigned to the Signal Corp. went to
basic training at Ft Leonard Wood then to Ft Monmouth for line of sight microwave and troposphere comms.

After training I got orders for Vietnam assigned to 1st Signal Brigade. Arrived in country 28 January 68.
Tet started 31 January with LOTS of fireworks. I had several different jobs in my year and a 1/2 tour:
AN/TRC-29 line of sight, AN/TRC-90 troposphere, site support (putting up towers and antennas, convoys).
Had some close calls but didn’t do any bleeding. Fired my weapon one time in combat.

I made a good living in coms and SCADA systems the rest of my working days.
Glad to see the information on my old school.

You can post if you want. I remember classmates faces but not their names. Doubt anyone will remember me either. Lol

Regards, George McLain

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And another ,,, from Michael Holmen 1963

Webmasters note: after being sent these pictures by Mike, I ask him if he wouldn't share his story, this is what I got, WOW sounds exciting .

Just a short history, CTI degree got me at least 4 of these positions.
Feel free to change or edit as you see fit.
Mike Holmen

After graduating from, CTI on the drive home, to WI. I stopped in Minneapolis MN. and visited Mpls. Honeywell and got a job as an ET.

However, in less than a year I was laid off and took a job at Univac, this was my intro to computers as I was hired as a computer tech. I was sent to Joinville Pa. and worked at the Navel Air Development Center. I was there for two years.

I next went to Philco-Ford and worked on the AUTODIN (Automatic Digital Message Switch) project and was sent to England and worked on an Air Force Base. From England I was sent to an Army base in Germany. When I returned from Germany the only position was in Viet Nam which I turned down.

I next went to Raytheon as a Field service Engineer and worked on a system Raytheon was building for the FAA, called CDC (Computer Display Channel)

MY next position was my only non-government related position with a company called Searle Medidata, which produced a PDP-8 system for Multiphasic Medical Screening.

Next back to Raytheon starting with working at an Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC) in Fl. And later moving to Portsmouth RI. Working with the Navy.

In 1978 I went to work for Boeing in Seattle WA and stayed there for 21 years. While at Boeing I worked mostly as a Software engineer, but I also spent two years as an instructor for ATLAS programming. I also went back to school and earned a BS & MS in computer systems.

My final position was again at Honeywell, in Albuquerque, NM. As a Principle Software Engineer, I stayed there until I retired in 2005

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and info (a short letter to me) from Larry Bostwick

Hi John,

You lived in Shawnee at that time. Did you ever shop at the Burstein-Applebee store at 75^th and Metcalf in Overland Park?

I worked there after school and weekends from the Fall of ’64 until Spring of ’65.

B-A converted a store in a strip mall there and sold stereo equipment, TVs and parts. I worked the parts counter selling components.

I’ve forgotten the names of most of the instructors at CTI but I remember Mrs. Mackey.

She taught Business English and Drafting, I remember having to draw large sine wave and several harmonics of it in colored ink.

She had a great dislike for the phrase “where is it at”. “At” was redundant in that phrase and you’d better not use that phrase in her presence.

My draft board was breathing down my neck when I graduated in Feb’66. I had decided that broadcast engineering was what I wanted to do

and applied to several radio and TV stations, none of whom could provide a deferment.

I joined the Army Security Agency in April ’66. My knowledge of Morse code sealed my fate there and I went to ASA Morse intercept school at

Fort Devens, MA then to Germany for 3 years.

After I got back to the US in 1970, I went back to CTI to see if they had any broadcast referrals for me.

They told me if I wanted that path I was on my own.
however I got a job in broadcasting then moved on into manufacturing..

Broadcast Engineer Topeka, KS 1970-1980
Studio/Transmitter Engineer At KTWU-TV,
then KTOP/AM, KDVV/FM Chief Engineer, 1972-1980

J.A. Flesher Co. 1978-2017 (Manager and Tech - Retired)

I kept up my WA0EJX call through the years but was mostly inactive until I retired in 2017.

I work mostly RTTY contests now, but am working toward some CW activity soon, I hope.

73 Larry

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and info from Allan Hanson added Feb 2024

Following graduation in September 1966, I moved to Phoenix, Arizona and worked at General Electric’s Information Systems computer factory.

My job was maintenance of peripheral hardware, connected to mainframe computers going through final acceptance testing.

In 1970 General Electric sold the computer factory to Honeywell Information Systems. I continued in the same position until 1978,
and then transferred to Honeywell’s computer field service office in Colorado Springs, Colorado. My primary work was at the NORAD complex.

In 1999 I started at Schriever Air Force base, doing on-site maintenance for Honeywell. In 2007 the maintenance contract was awarded to
LVW Electronics. I continued with LVW working full time, and later on part time, finally retiring in December 2020. I’m still living in Colorado Springs.

In the Sept 1966 graduation picture I am sitting on the bench 2^nd from left.

Allan Hanson Feb, 2024

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Below, ,click for full size ,,

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A note about these pictures ,, if you need them bigger, Generally by right clicking them and saving them they are much bigger.

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Work Books, there were lots and lots of these,, from mid to late 1960's

unknown graduation class ??

Heres some old Airline Career books	Heres a sample from just after WW2

Webmaster: if you have any thing to add, please email me wa0dyu@gmail.com.