The Radio Preacher and His Tonics

Zzyzx was, above all, a broadcasting studio disguised as a spa. Curtis Howe Springer began his radio career in Chicago in the nineteen thirties, and from his desert oasis he built one of the largest religious radio operations of his era. At its peak, his program was carried by more than two hundred stations in the United States and by roughly one hundred more overseas.

He recorded sermons, hymns, and folksy health talks here, then mailed the discs out for broadcast. Between the music and the prayers came the sales pitch. Springer offered his listeners a catalog of remedies, and asked for donations that were really orders.

There was Antediluvian Tea, a blend of laxative herbs he claimed could prolong life. There was Re-Hib, an antacid that analysts found was mostly baking soda. There were Zzyzx tonics, marketed to cure ailments from hair loss to cancer, that turned out to be little more than celery, carrot, and parsley juice.

Guests could drink goat milk and take the mineral baths. Springer never charged a fixed price. He simply asked for a love offering, and the checks poured into the middle of the Mojave for nearly thirty years.