Marshall Granros (1929-1997) was born in Milwaukee to Frank E. and Emma Jean Granros. He
served for four years in the Army, before moving with his wife, Sue, to Appleton, Wisconsin.
Granros worked in advertising for the Appleton Post-Crescent newspaper, WLUK-TV in Green Bay
and the Miles Kimball Company in Oshkosh. Both Marshall and Sue were active in the Fox
Valley Human Rights Council, supporting progressive political and social organizations.
Granros began collecting folk, blues, country and jazz music in the late 1940s. In the
early 1960s, he began presenting a children's music show named "Kaleidoscope for Kids" on
WFLM, the radio station of Lawrence University in Appleton. Over time, the show was renamed
"Kicking the Dog Around" and expanded its repertoire of folk music and related genres for a
more general audience. Episdoes of the radio show were often themed around topics of musical
and social history, or focused on individual folk artists. The show was picked up by
WPNE-FM, Green Bay in 1974, and was also broadcast by the Wisconsin Educational Radio
Network. Granros continued to present Kicking the Dog Around until 1990.
Marshall Granros died in 1997. His music collection was donated by his son, Michael
Granros, to Mills Music Library, along with the papers and recordings associated with his
radio shows that make up the contents of the Marshall Granos archival collection.
