Inside the Secret Cookbook of Missoula’s KGVO Radio Station

Radio station storage rooms can feel like time capsules. You can find outdated technology, equipment, and some of the radio station’s history. 

Recently I was in one of our storage rooms and came across a piece of Missoula’s radio history. I would like to know more about it if I can.  

The Discovery: What We Found in the Storage Room

In a box of old gear, I found an old copy of a Tinsley Palmer KGVO Radio Cookbook. I am interested in cookbooks and have a very big cookbook collection. It piqued my interest, so I started reading it.

READ MORE: This Old Missoula Radio Sticker Sparked a Wave of Memories 

It was obviously a promotion for KGVO at one time, but there isn’t a lot of information to go on. There’s no date listed when it was published, and no opening introduction. I asked some of my co-workers about the book, and none of them had any idea who Tinsley Palmer was or when the book was created. 

This book is amazing. The entire thing is handwritten with hundreds of recipes all written out. Some pages even include drawings. It must have taken a long time to put this book together.  

Palmer credited all the people who contributed recipes, and there are a lot of them. The recipes themselves are a look back at a different time.  

There’s a recipe for Date Beef Cookies, Pink Cloud Fluff, Pickled Venison Heart, and Easy Jell-O Shrimp Salad, just to name a few. There are many traditional recipes also, like Oven-Baked Spareribs, Pleasing Split-Pea Soup, and Gingerbread Muffins. 

What Should We Do With the Cookbook? Ideas for Preservation

Finding this book has brought up so many questions. Who was Tinsley Palmer? She obviously worked for the station. What recipes should I try, and what should we do with the book? Something like this, that took so much time and effort to create, should be in a museum.