Broadcasting the Ozarks: Si Siman and Country Music at the Crossroads has been reviewed in the Missouri Historical Review.
“Like most creative scenes that unexpectedly blossom, Springfield was willed to prominence by a single person: Si Siman, who helped develop the careers of key figures like Chet Atkins, Red Foley, Porter Wagoner, and songwriter Wayne Carson, but whose work on national radio and television—namely ABC-TV’s Ozark Jubilee—served as one of the platforms that mainstreamed country music for suburban America. Siman’s legacy is neatly covered in Broadcasting the Ozarks, written by two people who knew him well: His son Scott Foster Siman, a music executive, and Kitty Ledbetter, a Texas-based writer and academic. Together they document how Siman operated at almost superhuman speed to transform his hometown, at least temporarily, into a city that commanded the attention, and respect, of coastal media. Broadcasting the Ozarks doesn’t just fill a critical gap in country music history; it tells an American success story that could be mythic if it was not so real.”
—Mark Guarino, Missouri Historical Review, January 2025
Broadcasting the Ozarks explores the vibrant country music scene that emerged in Springfield, Missouri, in the 1930s and thrived for half a century. Central to this history is the Ozark Jubilee (1955–60), the first regularly broadcast live country music show on network television. Dubbed the “king of the televised barn dances,” the show introduced the Ozarks to viewers across America and put Springfield in the running with Nashville for dominance of the country music industry—with the Jubilee’s producer, Si Siman, at the helm.
Siman’s life story is almost as remarkable as the show he produced. He was booking Tommy Dorsey, Ella Fitzgerald, and Glenn Miller during the mid-1930s while still a high school student and produced nationally syndicated country music radio shows in the decades that followed. Siman was a promotional genius with an ear for talent, a persuasive gift for gab, and the energy and persistence to make things happen for many future Country Music Hall of Famers, including Chet Atkins, Porter Wagoner, the Browns, and Brenda Lee. Following the Jubilee’s five-year run, Siman had a hand in some of the greatest hits of the twentieth century as a music publisher, collaborating with such songwriters as rockabilly legend and fellow Springfieldian Ronnie Self, who wrote Brenda Lee’s signature hit, “I’m Sorry,” and Wayne Carson, who wrote Willie Nelson’s “Always on My Mind.” Although Siman had numerous opportunities to find success in bigger cities, he chose to do it all from his hometown in the Ozarks.