Hey, I just happened across this forum ’cause someone pointed out my name was in it.

Sure it’s almost two years old… but I’ll post to see if anyone is still here.

Working at KYET in the mall… those WERE the good ol’ days. I used to take my trumpet out into the empty mall – where I could still see that crazy automation system of course – and practice. The most awesome acoustics ever!

Yes – I worked in that garage turned studio, in the house where we had no hot water, and JR asked us to bring our own firewood to heat the building… ahem. Yes… there were days that made me appreciate moving to Boise and working in another old house – KIZN 93.1 – yes back when Fred Constant owned 93.1

Mark Westcott KYET 82-85

Rockwell

So funny to think that old 10-key automation survived KYET. We programmed it one hour at a time.

I worked at KYET from Jan. 1980 to Aug. 1982. I was in the station the day that Reagan got shot. We had a red reader board that I was responsible for updating that people could read from the mall. The place was a fishbowl. Everyone could see what we were doing.

It was really sad to see how it went down hill after leaving the mall. I can’t remember whether John Runkle still owned it at that time or not. I do remember when it went into that house. And it got so that the employees weren’t even getting paid. So sad, because I was there when they installed that 400 foot transmitter tower on top of Clay Peak. And then when the station went dark, I’d still see that tower and think of when we were in the mall.

After I had moved to Washington, I heard that it had been sold and was back up and running. I had also heard, but was not confirmed, that one of the people I worked with at KIDO, Dave Coombs was one of the purchasing partners.

Yes, I think Larry did go back up to Caldwell. The last time I saw him was when I was working in Boise at KIDO. Happened to see him on the street. That must have been in 1984. Does anyone know whatever happened to him?

Also, I saw on this board a photo of Ray Amaya in a boat at KWEI. Anyone know whatever happened to him?

Ray worked at KYET for a short time. And when I was up at KIDO, he got hired up there.

He was just out of high school if I remember right. Nice kid.

Dave Adams is at KBND in Bend, Oregon. He came to visit me about two years ago with his new wife (from New Zealand). They stayed at our home. Haven’t talked with him since then, though.

Now I’ll throw a couple of other zingers on here for those people familiar with KIDO in the 1980s. I came across an obit tonight for Mike Jorgenson. He was president and part owner of Sundance Broadcasting which owned KIDO in the 1980s. Apparently suicide in his home in Mexico about two years ago.

Better news is that I saw Roy Dittman about two years ago in Salem, Oregon. Roy was the manager/president of KIDO — my boss. Heckofa nice guy. He’s owned KBZY in Salem for years. When I talked to him, he was thinking of retiring. Maybe selling to one of the conglomerates and making it rich with a nice retirement. Not many owner-operated stations any more.

And I happened to see Doug Raper’s name on this site. Doug used to work at KWEI when I was at KYET. Here’s another name from the past: Rebecca Hale. Anyone wonder what happened to her? She landed in Seattle, worked for KIRO Radio, then for the city of Seattle, and last I heard, she was the spokeswoman for the Mariners.

Also, Don Wimberly of KBOI — Is he still at KBSU? Or what’s my competitive reporter friend doing these days?

Interesting where we all land, isn’t it?

And yes, it was quite an experience to be fresh out of college and into the local radio station.

Finally, has anyone heard of whatever happened to Ben Cook of KSRV?

I got an e-mail a long, long time ago from him. But haven’t heard since.

Well, there’s some names for ya. A lot of water under the bridge. Hopefully most of us are still afloat.

That was neat the way it worked out with the search. I dont think we ever met but you jogged my memory on that automation system. I have fond memories of watching Ken, use a fast ten key method to program the breaks and etc into it. Do you remember walking across the carpet in winter time touching the racks and the resulting sparks would cause it to skip around to the next segment? There were always sparks since it was on and near carpet.

When KYET left the West Park Plaza it went to a little house in a residential area on the south side of SW 4th Avenue and just across from Holy Rosary Hospital. I remember visiting it while trying to find a job. Larry Blackburn had left (to caldwell I think) and there was a new manager. The place was a real dump. They boarded up the garage and used part of that for the AM and FM automation and programming area. I think Ray might be able to tell us more about this phase since I believe it was him whom I spoke to that day of the visit)

They later changed the call signs on the FM to something like K-Love, but the specifics call signs escape me. The AM went from KYET to KACY (which last I looked, KACY is in California now)

Then the station went dark until about 1990 when it was brought back on the the air with the calls KIOV-AM and KQXR-FM. I was very active in that phase of the station and we ran it out of the Canyon Village Shopping Center near the Airport Corner for a few years. Then the partnership that owned it fell apart and it went into financial straits due to the fact that there was only one owner who did not have the funds (he had to pay off the other) to run the station correctly. I could go on about the demise of our local radio station and how it got moved to Boise etc, but I will save that for another posting…

Oh, and about that automation system…. I believe that it showed up out of storage and was put back into use as the KIOV AM automated wonder… At the time we were going through so much static spray that it got so expensive to use that our engineer at the time, Lem Allen, showed us how to use diluted fabric softner in a spray bottle to cut down on the cost of the commerical static spray… I am pretty sure that was the same brain. RDS can correct me if I am mistaken on that.

That automation system was wired together and it ran (such as it was) with two rotating cart units with four revox reel to reel tape units playing the worst AC format ever created. We ran the beatles, ghost riders in the sky,Thompson Twins, Conway Twitty, and just about anything the programming firm sent us on the reels just to keep her afloat. We also did live Spanish on the weekends with Chris Ruiz coming in to host as well as a few other notable Hispanic DJ’s who have since gone on to other pursuits.

The FM was done live from 6am to midnight with two home unit CD players and a Rusco board with a barely functioning cart unit at times. We routinely returned those CD units back to the local store since they quit all the time (no wonder) but somehow no one ever told the retailer how they were being used. The library was a Broadcast Programming classic rock format that we had to tone down due to the harshness of it, playing only the harder stuff in the evening.

Looking back on it now, oh, the mistakes we made all round, but hey, try to get that kind of experience today fresh out of college. Guess, I will say that it was fun….. Just the way the original KYET- KWBJ was back in the Mall. It was opportunity and experience you won’t get in a big corporately owned, consultant programmed, money above everything, station group of today.

Interesting to note that it was 26 years ago that I was at KYET. So wet behind my ears that poor Rocky had to use a towel to clean up behind me. It’s nice to see someone who remembers those years. Whoever you are, thanks for jogging the memories. Ah yes, Ken Dickinson, program director, and as I remember a blond beard, a party guy, and always upbeat. Dave Adams who gave his life to radio at the tender age of high school. Rocky, who could make a transmitter out of gum and wire. Larry Blackburn, all business and sales. I also remember Ray Amaya, still in high school if I remember. Barb Cowgill, our sales manager. Yup, even remember Ellen.

So where are we? Well, I left KYET in 1982 and worked at KIDO in Boise. And then in April 1984, I went to KPQ Radio in Wenatchee, Washington where I served as news director for six years. In 1991, I came to the Washington House of Representatives as an information officer. And 16 years later, I’m still here in the House writing press releases, speeches, talking points, newsletters and I’m also the webmaster for Washington House Republicans (This is my site: http://www.houserepublicans.wa.gov).

KYET was my first commercial radio station. A good foundation for my career in communications. I always appreciated the help that Rocky gave me when I first started out. Still remember the days of reporting from fires, chasing ambulances, and then meeting my fiance’ Debbie, who later became my wife (Now of 25 years). Rocky was our photographer at the wedding in Payette.

We live modestly in Shelton, Washington. I have three kids. My daughter is 18 and graduates this year from high school. My two boys are 16 and 14 years old.

That’s where I landed.

So can anyone tell me what happened to that old peg-board WBJ automation? If you remember that, you were one of us at KYET.

Keep in touch old friends!

The “ever-lovable” John Sattgast