WHCO owner Jack Scheper dies
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The voice of Sparta has gone silent. WHCO's Jack Scheper died Friday at the Randolph County Care Center. He was 78. Funeral arrangements are pending through McDaniel Funeral Home in Sparta.
After many years at WHCO, Scheper purchased the station in 1987. He began his broadcasting career as a news reporter for KFVS, Channel 12 in his hometown of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in 1958.
He left a year later to become station manager at WHCO. Over the decades that followed he also oversaw operations at other stations affiliated with the Oscar Hirsch-owned radio station company.
Scheper also served as a news reporter for WHCO and hosted a popular public affairs program, "The People Speak." For many decades, he interviewed the movers and shakers and everyday citizens, putting Randolph County residents in touch with community leaders.
He served as a civil defense coordinator, coordinating emergency services for Sparta and the surrounding area. Severe weather usually saw him manning the microphone to provide up to the minute coverage from the weather bureau.
Very active in community affairs, Scheper used the radio to solicit funds for worthy causes. He established the WHCO Christmas Tree Club, providing toys for needy area children. He held annual radiothons to sell Easter Seals, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars. He provided the voice of Santa on the station's annual Santa's Workshop program. He ran the annual Miss WHCO Pageant and frequently served as a judge for the contest.
Scheper was active in the Sparta Rotary and served as the first president of the Sparta Chamber of Commerce. In 2006, he was honored by the chamber as its Citizen of the Year.
Scheper was born in Chicago January 20, 1931. His family moved to Cape Girardeau when he was six. He attended the University of Missouri and served in the U.S. Air Force.
Scheper was preceded in death by his wife Jackie. He is survived by three children and four grandchildren, none of whom live in the area.