Fifties local TV star Wester dies

Thursday, July 30, 1998 | 10:59 a.m.

Bostick Wester was a big television star in Las Vegas at a time when there weren't a whole lot of TV sets.

Still thousands of Southern Nevada children in the early to mid-1950s would come home from school and turn on KLAS-TV Channel 8 to watch "Bostick Wester Ranger," a half-hour cowboy-themed show.

"He was a fine gentleman and a good performer who really related well to children," said District Court Judge Jack Lehman, who in the mid-1950s hosted the Commander Lee afternoon children's show, also on KLAS.

"He would talk to the kids about the West and horses, which were very popular at that time. Back then, much of the town south of Sahara Avenue -- which was then San Francisco Street -- was nothing but desert."

Francis Bostick Wester, who would go on to become a radio star in his native Texas where he was known for using many imaginative voices, died July 7 in Los Angeles. He was 83.

A memorial service will be held Saturday morning at the Chapel of the Fountains at Brown's Funeral Home in Borger, Texas, where Wester was a resident from the late 1950s to last year.

After late Sun Publisher Hank Greenspun opened KLAS, the city's first TV station, Wester's show was one of the first programs to go on the air.

By the mid-1950s, rival station Channel 2 -- which today is KVBC-TV Channel 3 -- hired Lehman to host the Commander Lee show, which had an outer space theme. Lehman, who later became a newscaster, soon after jumped to Channel 8.

Lehman's hour-long show came on at 5 p.m., a couple hours after Wester's show.

"We only had a population of about 50,000 back then, and television was just beginning to come into its own," said Lehman, whose KLAS show had a submarine theme and featured cartoons and serials. "And it was all live back then. We didn't have video tape, so if you made a mistake it went out on the air."

Lehman estimates at one time he had 8,500 "submariners" -- the name he gave to his regular viewers. He says it is possible that Wester drew similar numbers.

Both Lehman and Wester had between five and 15 children as guests in the studio for each show and interviewed them during the broadcasts.

Mike Wester, of Los Angeles, said that while his father developed a good local TV audience, he first made his mark in Las Vegas on KLAS radio. And some pretty big stars of that era helped fuel his career.

"Through the encouragement of (famed ventriloquist) Edgar Bergen, he (Bostick) procured a dummy, named him Tex and (learned to be) a ventriloquist to better entertain the kids," Wester said.

"The popularity of the TV show began to grow until just about every kid in Las Vegas was a Bostick Wester Ranger and a member of the Clean Plater's Club -- an honor you received only after your mother certified you had eaten all your supper for two whole weeks."

Born Sept. 3, 1914, in Sulpher Springs, Texas, Wester left home after high school to work in a Texas bakery.

During World War II, Wester served in the Army in Europe, where he earned three bronze stars. He left the military in 1944 as a staff sergeant.

In the late 1940s, Wester attended San Diego State University but when his part-time radio announcer's job became full time, he left school to pursue a radio career.

Using various voices, Wester gained a following with listeners who thought more than one person was doing the show. At San Diego stations KYOR and KSDO, he played country-western records, becoming one of the nation's top DJs of that musical genre.

After his stay in Las Vegas, Wester returned to Texas in the late 1950s and got a job at KHUZ radio in Borger. His show featured many of his popular voice characters, including Tex Malarkey, Booker T. Jones and the Little Clock.

In 1963, Wester married Ann Obenhaus of Borger and together they opened a restaurant in the early 1970s which they operated for 10 years. She preceded him in death in 1992.

In addition to his son, Wester is survived by a brother, James Wester of Ennis, Texas; a sister, June Brim, of Sulpher Springs; and two grandsons, Travis and Austin.

DONATIONS: In Wester's memory to his favorite charity, Cal Farley's Boy's Ranch, P.O. Box 1870, Amarillo, Texas, 79174.

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