Skip to main content
The largest online newspaper archive
A Publisher Extra® Newspaper

The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • Page 82

Publication:
The Lincoln Stari
Location:
Lincoln, Nebraska
Issue Date:
Page:
82
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

2 CP a SB 5 £. CL V) cn Si A recording unearthed with this picture of a KFOR remote broadcast, believed to be in 1941, indicated it was a weekly program that originated in a local grocery store. Give aways for answering questions included sugar. Advertised specials of the day included hams at 18c per pound and sausage at 12c per pound. data on the picture do not identify any of the people shown.

Station Moved Here From David City in 1927 KFOR, 6Voice of Lincoln on Air for 50 Years By Betty Stevens The of Lincoln" is 50 years old. KFOR Radio, Lincoln's pioneer station, and the fourth oldest radio station in the state, began broadcasting the first week of March 1924. That is only four years after commercial broadcasting began with the announcement of the Harding-Cox election results in 1920 over station KDKA in Pittsburgh, according to Roger Larson, general manager since 1959. It was the marvel of getting election results so quickly that made radio a permanent fixture for the public, Larson said. KFOR began in David City where a license for 20 watts was issued to the David City Tire and Rubber Co.

The station had a broadcast radius of five miles, Larson said. The station moved to Lincoln in 1927 after it was purchased by the Lincoln Hatchery. Later that year, station manager Howard Shuman purchased the station which had increased its broadcast power to 100 watts. Owners of the station also have included the May Seed Nursery Shenandoah, low Fred S. Sidles and Stuart Enterprises which is owned by James Stuart.

The Sidles Co. etablished KFAB in 1924 and later purchased KFOR and KOIL. In 1935 the Sidles Co. sold a interest in the three stations to The Lincoln Journal and The Lincoln Star. The Federal Communications Commission's monopoly ruling which prohibited one owner from having two licenses in the same city resulted in KFOR and KOIL being sold to the Stuart Investment Co.

in 1943. KOIL moved to Omaha and was sold to the Nebraska Rural Radio Assn. in 1953. KFAB moved to Omaha in 1946. Radio history is very sketchy, but everyone old enough remembers the crystal set.

A lot of people also remember the radio "stars" of yesteryear like Texas Mary, Sunny Jim. man- on-the-street Foster May and Lyle DeMoss, still broadcasting occasionally over KFAB. Larson, and others who remember the era when KFAB, KOIL and KFOR operated out of the same studios in the Lincoln Hotel, recall that these stars as well as announcers and engineers worked for all three stations at the same time. Lincoln now has in addition to KFOR and its newly acquired FM outlet KHKS, radio stations KEC, KFMQ, KHAT-FM, KLIN, KLMS, the University of KRNU and Union KUCV. Larson said he sure all of previous locations but they include 46th and 136 So.

12th Security Mutual Bldg. (now the Anderson Bldg.) at 12th and the Lindell Hotel at 12th and the Lincoln Hotel at 9th and and its present location at 825 Stuart Bldg. KFOR currently broadcasts with a daytime power of 1,000 watts, a radius of about 65 miles, reducing to 250 watts at night. A 250-foot transmitting tower is at 46th and Vine Sts. The station employs 25 persons and business volume is in the neighborhood of $1 million annually, according to informed sources in broadcasting.

attempt to enter the television field was by the license freeze during the Korean War. KFOR-TV began telecasting on Channel 10 in 1953. But by that time Omaha stations had contracted for the network affiliations and most Lincoln antennas were beamed toward Omaha, Larson said. In 1954, KFOR sold Channel 10 to the Fetzer Broadcasting who gave its own Channel 12 to the University of Nebraska and switched call letters to Channel 10 Richard Chapin, executive president of Stuart Enterprises, became general manager of the station in 1954. Stuart Enterprises stations include KRGI, Grand Island; KMNS, Sioux City; KSAL, Salina, KOEL, KOEL-FM, Oelwein, Iowa; WMAY, Springfield, and KHKS.

KHKS has switched to full computerization in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the station. KFOR was the original station for Back to The Bible Broadcasts, now worldwide; originator of Operation Santa Claus, which has purchased an estimated 30,000 gifts for Lincoln's needy children during the last 26 Christmases, with all funds donated by listeners; and the originator of the Comhusker Football Network, broadcasting NU football for 25 years. KFOR has been the home of more Nebraska Broadcaster presidents then any other station. They were Harry Peck, Richard Chapin and Roger Larson (twice). Some other KFOR honors: Dick Perry has been named Sportscaster of the Year four times; Hazel Stebbins, woman's director, was just recently named the 1974 Nebraska Mother of the Year, and Richard Chapin has been named winner of the National Association of Broadcasters Distinguished Service Award, a member of the Nebraska Broadcasting Hall of Fame, a recipient of the Distinguished Broadcasters Award for Nebraska Broadcasters chairman of the combined board of National Association Broadcasters and chairman of the Radio Board of National Association of Broadcasters.

The Dick (Perry) and Bill (Wood) Show is considefwMtlFSTate most show, KFOR says. The station is observing its birthday with a public open house from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m today at the solar dome of the Holiday Inn- northeast..

Get access to Newspapers.com

  • The largest online newspaper archive
  • 300+ newspapers from the 1700's - 2000's
  • Millions of additional pages added every month

Publisher Extra® Newspapers

  • Exclusive licensed content from premium publishers like the The Lincoln Star
  • Archives through last month
  • Continually updated

About The Lincoln Star Archive

Pages Available:
914,989
Years Available:
1902-1995