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Old 03-13-2023, 12:43 AM
 
Location: Old Mother Idaho
29,175 posts, read 22,146,578 times
Reputation: 23792

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KID 590 AM was, supposedly the oldest radio station in Idaho, according to all the elders I grew up among.
I never knew if that was true or not, but I learned any station with only 3 letters in the call sign is very old and early. Commercial Radio began in 1920, the year the first station began broadcasting out of Cincinnati.

For sure, it must have been one of the very first in the state, as it commenced operations in 1928 and had a 3-letter call sign, indicating an extremely early station license.
1928 was before most of the small villages and farms in Idaho were electrified.

When I grew up here, it was the station everyone listened to, even though it had competition, and it broadcast the most powerful signal. For the longest part of every day, going off-air at midnight and coming back on around 4 a.m. for the farmers.

The company that owned KID changed many times, but KID was the very first radio station in S. Idaho to broadcast television; KID-TV first came on air in 1953 or 1954.

From the beginning, both radio and TV were always part of CBS. Way, way back, my father said when he was a kid KID would broadcast private messages every morning to all the folks who could hear the radio but had no other way to contact them.
That was quite a few folks back then; sheepherders, ranchers, loggers, and lots of of people who lived year round in places where no telephone lines had been strung. Many of them had no mail delivery either, except to the closest mailbox and post office.

In it's early days, KID was also a frequent victim of a radio pirate, who would hack into the radio frequency with his own transmitter and then read the sunday newspaper comics just for the hell of it.

No one was ever able to track him down, but other than costing a small loss of revenue to the broadcast company, the guy didn't do any damage, so I suspect no one ever looked for him very hard.

There are lots of other stories about both the radio and TV's early times here.

The current owners were renting the land the three broadcast towers KID used were on. They had all been erected in 1952, along with their control shack.

In 2021, the farmer accidentally broke some of one tower's guy lines with an implement, and the tower fell over later.
When the owners of the radio company contacted their insurace company, they learned the farmer had alreqady received the insurance check.
And then, the farmer had the two remaining towers taken down.
By then, the remote radio shack was no longer needed, so it was also demolished.

Who was supposed to get the insurance money is now the subject of a lawsuit.

But FCC regulations demand Use It or Lose It. KID-AM had to have a functioning transmission tower or lose the call sign.
A new tower would have cost $2 Million, too much to spend on a radio format that now gets so few listeners. So even though the call sign had been designated a Heritage, it was surrendered and is now stricken from the books.
The Kid With a Punch was once the station's motto.... a little baby wearing big boxing gloves.

Time goes on, and the kid has lost his punch at last.

Last edited by banjomike; 03-13-2023 at 12:53 AM..
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Old 03-13-2023, 06:26 AM
 
5,322 posts, read 18,198,820 times
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Yes, I read about this last week. Quite sad and an end to an era. I’m old enough that I listened to AM radio, quite often on a transistor radio that I had.

Back in my days with one of our humane societies, I was even on air with KID and Bob Ziel. Now that’s gone along with the KIDK studio that was behind Baskin-Robbins on 17th which I had been on with adoptive pets.
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Old 03-13-2023, 06:22 PM
 
Location: Old Mother Idaho
29,175 posts, read 22,146,578 times
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The TV studio was also pioneering back when it was first built.
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Old 03-14-2023, 04:33 PM
 
Location: Madison, Alabama
12,591 posts, read 9,097,603 times
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Not only are stations with 3-letter call signs early and unusual (some have converted to 4 letters, like WSM in Nashville because WSMV), stations west of the Mississippi River start with K and those east of the river start with W.

But there are exception. KDKA in Pittsburgh and WFAA in Dallas come to mind.

AM radio is pretty much obsolete since an FM signal is so much better. FM has limited range and signals don't bounce off the ionosphere like AM signals do (at the frequencies used) but you also don't get static.
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Old 03-14-2023, 06:30 PM
 
3,223 posts, read 2,231,060 times
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This reminded me of listening to KYA 1260 on my transistor radio long, long ago.

I'm not in your area but I'm sorry you lost this station. As you say, end of an era.
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Old 03-15-2023, 11:12 AM
 
Location: Old Mother Idaho
29,175 posts, read 22,146,578 times
Reputation: 23792
Quote:
Originally Posted by cjs123 View Post
This reminded me of listening to KYA 1260 on my transistor radio long, long ago.

I'm not in your area but I'm sorry you lost this station. As you say, end of an era.
Yup. It was a mighty long era, too.

The signal was so strong KID could be heard all over this region of Idaho, and on good days, could be heard on the other side of the Great Divide, in Wyoming and Montana. A driver would know how close to Idaho Falls they were once they could tune into KID.

My folks moved into Idaho Falls in 1954 from our farm in the country. I remember riding a bike around my new neighborhood getting acquainted with it in August; all the houses' doors and windows were wide open in the heat in hopes of catching a breeze.
I listened to a full episode of a radio show that was broadcast on KID as I rode around the neighborhood. Folks were sitting outside, catching some shade, and had their radios turned up inside their homes so they wouldn't miss a minute of their favorite shows.

7 years later, I rode the same neighborhood again during the same month after KID-TV began broadcasting. The windows and doors were open again, but everyone was inside, watching the Lawrence Welk Show on TV.
And once more, I didn't miss a minute of it, but never saw a minute of it while cruising around the neighborhood.
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Old 03-19-2023, 08:00 PM
 
1,539 posts, read 1,443,688 times
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Thanks for the note, BJM. At least we got to hear KID when roaming around rural ID a few years ago. Sorry to see it go. Times change.....

I literally grew up in AM radio.... my dad started his radio station in 1956... WBLU in Salem Va. AM was the money-making machine back then; FM was still pretty low use. Have spent lots of time listening AM stations from Boston to Atlanta to Havana to Montreal to Des Moines and Dallas, and everything in between. Even heard Denver while driving in KY a few years back, and I still turn off the satellite radio from time to time and tune around.

BTW, KDKA in Pisttsburgh was the first commericial radio station.. started and owned by Westinghouse.
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Old 03-20-2023, 12:04 PM
 
5,557 posts, read 4,899,546 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cjs123 View Post
This reminded me of listening to KYA 1260 on my transistor radio long, long ago.

I'm not in your area but I'm sorry you lost this station. As you say, end of an era.
1260 KYA was a great station back in early 70's as well as KFRC 610 AM.
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