Background
McElroy was born on March 6, 1910, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States. His childhood was plagued with problems associated with poverty and an alcoholic father.
McElroy was born on March 6, 1910, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States. His childhood was plagued with problems associated with poverty and an alcoholic father.
Dropping out of school after the eighth grade, Ralph McElroy eventually took a job as a stock boy with F. W. Woolworth during the day while he attended school at night.
Ralph McElroy entered the company’s manager training program, but after uninspiring stops in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he changed careers. While working in Cedar Rapids, he became interested in radio and accepted an advertising sales job in WMT radio’s Waterloo office. Ralph McElroy was involved in local service groups and was a supporter of the Waterloo baseball franchise and an unabashed booster for Waterloo.
During World War II, Ralph McElroy sought an officer’s commission but was rejected because he did not have a high school diploma. He ultimately served as a supply sergeant in the U.S. Army, spending part of his time in the Pacific Theater.
On his return to Waterloo, Ralph McElroy tried to attract 31 local investors to establish the Black Hawk Broadcasting Company and KWWL radio. He developed the station as a community-oriented alternative to KXEL. The station went on the air on November 4, 1947.
In 1952, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made one VHF television license available to Waterloo, both KWWL and KXEL applied. Ralph McElroy sued DuMond, the owner of KXEL, in federal court for conspiracy and restraint of trade. KWWL purchased KXEL’s equipment and went on the air on November 26, 1953, initially as an affiliate of the DuMont Television Network and then with NBC in 1955. The station was profitable enough to purchase television stations in Austin, Minnesota, and Sioux City, Iowa, along with three radio stations. Ralph McElroy remained a strong and active proponent of Waterloo growth and continued his Voice of Northeast Iowa man-on-the-street interview program until 1959.
After McElroy's death, Black Hawk Broadcasting came under the leadership of his friend and business associate Robert Buckmaster, who reinvigorated KWWL with new equipment and personnel. The management transformation was rewarded with first-place rankings in the Waterloo-Cedar Rapids market.
Ralph McElroy believed that successful entrepreneurs should reinvest some of their profits back into the community to assist those who, like himself, did not have the advantages of a good education or supportive family.
McElroy's gregarious style and expert salesmanship made him a success, and his handsome looks and popular "man-on-the- street" interview program brought him celebrity status. His organizational strength was in sales, not management. He was considered to be a workaholic.
In 1956 Ralph McElroy married Betty Fullar. He had a stepson.
