Joan McKee

Joan McKee was born in Kansas but was raised in San Antonio. She studied theater and communications at the University of New Mexico where she married fellow student, Don McKee, and had her first child, Michael. After Don’s graduation, the family returned to San Antonio where their second child, Teri, was born. While raising two children and running a household, Joan began her career in broadcasting.

Doing the occasional voice-over was all she seemed to get until a nationally syndicated cooking show came to town and needed a host. Joan auditioned and became the first and only host of the Mary Carter Cooking show on WOAI-TV from 1955 to 1957. In the three years of the cooking show, Joan did TV commercials for various sponsors of the show and soon was in demand for radio commercials, as well.

The Mary Carter Cooking Show was the first live color TV show in San Antonio. She would joke, “During the 1957 season, you would never know what color your skin tone was going to be. No one really had any clue on how to adjust these new cameras. You might be green, blue, or no color at all. It was okay, because at that time, there was only a couple of color TV sets in the entire city.”

When her TV show ended, Joan’s next project was her third child, Tim, who would later follow in his mother’s footsteps and enter broadcasting. But Joan’s broadcasting career did not end there. In 1959 she transitioned to radio working on-the-air at KONO-AM 860 from 1959 to 1964. Always in demand for her smooth voice and professional delivery, Joan did countless commercials, recording many times with Eddie Morris at Master Sound.

Joan was also a TV co-host for the San Antonio Fiesta parades for many years, adding her silky delivery, style and grace to the parade coverage.

Joan McKee left broadcasting in the early 1970’s to concentrate on her calling to the ministry of God’s word in the Unity faith. She became a licensed teacher, councilor, and later ordained minister, and with her husband Don founded Unity Church of The Hill Country in Kerrville.

Joan McKee, a true San Antonio broadcast pioneer, passed away in 1999.