Idaho’s Best
Don Day | December 4, 2007Last month, I featured the outstanding work of Peak Broadcasting’s Robin Scott. I planned to make this a monthly feature – and ironically, was set to feature Peak’s Greg Williamson this month.
I want to know who you think is the best person working in Idaho radio, and why. Content, programming, sales, administration – they are all fair game — and in all markets. Instead of doing this in the comment thread, please send me an e-mail at idahoradio@gmail.com. I’ll try to feature several of these before Christmas, then again after the first of the year.
Please tell me who you think deserves recognition – and why. The why is key: I need to know what they do that’s so great.
Take 60 seconds and nominate someone. It’s easy. And I won’t include YOUR name, unless you expressly tell me it is OK.
Why not stick with profiling Greg Williamson? Just because Peak no longer finds value in his skills and experience doesn’t make him any less of a broadcaster. I’ve worked on and off with Greg since our days together at KGEM in the early 80’s.
The same goes for Melissa Dawn. She’s a strong talent with a great voice and company loyalty.
Lord knows both Greg and Melissa could use the publicity while they are job hunting during the holidays. Maybe, like I did in Tucson, they’ll get hired on Christmas Day to replace a guy who got drunk on the air Christmas Eve. Oops…with voicetracking that could NEVER happen today!
I got drunk on the air once in Tucson…
“Tucson’s *Hiccup* Country Leader…”
I second Robin’s motion. Let’s help Greg & Melissa out by profiling them in this forum. Great idea, Robin.
huh? Do you really think that is Robin Scott posting? Funny.
Whoever the Robin character is, I think a good idea was posted.
How about Bob Lee. He may not have been the best owner of Pirate Radio. But he had one hell of a good voice for the format. I didn’t think his voice fit Mix 95 FM very well when it was around.
Is this the same Bob Lee who worked at KFXD in the mid-90’s? If so, he was pretty well barbecued in this forum. It could be interesting to hear from him.
Lon Dunn, Carl Follick, Sam Bass, Barbara Babic, Larry Lomax, and Al Jackson might be worth efforting as well.
Did someone say Larry Lomax? Here’s where he’s been hangin’ around at…
http://www.spirit1053.com/index.php?id=184&title=LarryLomax
Is this the same Bob Lee who worked at KFXD in the mid-90’s? Yes it is. Where can I find comments about him on this blog? I have heard a lot of interesting things about him. I don’t know if I should repeet what I heard about him. But I really liked his voice and how he was on the air at Pirate Radio.
Speaking of people in radio, What ever happened to Tara Black. She was also on Pirate Radio then on B96.9 when Bob Lilly was the Program Director. Then she was the board operater for KBOI. Has anyone heard from her sense. Man she had a hot boice. I remember being 14 on up through the rest of highschool wanting to meet her.
Tara is the traffic gal for citadel…
Barrett Rainey and Doug Raper might be good “gets” as well.
Dave,
Thanks for the info on Larry Lomax. If memory serves correctly, he worked for the old KBBK Radio in Boise. We used to listed to him on the bus going to school. I was not a fan of the music, but remember Larry’s voice and (for some inexplainable reason) Mr. Science & Jimmy.
Commanderlumpy,
Bob Lee was discussed in last month’s blog under the “Rewind” thread. Enjoy!!! He was grilled pretty good.
Hey Buster, that brings back a lot of high school memories….God, I loved Magic 92 growing up… it was iconic…as iconic as you could get for the time and place! At that time Bad Bob was such a great DJ… and the station was just at the top of its game for what it was.
Does anyone recall a DJ named Rick Steele? I believe he was the midnight magic man on KBBK years ago.
Rick Steele use to work at Cool 104 years ago. He also worked at The Legond. Last time I heard, he owned his own mobel DJ sirvice. I wll talk to you later.
I don’t recall the Cool 104 part, but you would be correct in stating he owned his own mobile DJ service. He has been married for about 20 years. He and his wife live in Notus and operate a group childcare facility. Their daughter is a high-school-grad-newlywed and their son is a straight A athlete. Rick (real name Tom) was the maintenance man for the City of Notus until the relatively recent mayoral recall. I have not heard what he is doing for sure to date.
Rick Steele was one of the 92 KIYS disc jockeys in the late 80s, as were Bob Lee, Bridget Bonde, Dan McColly, Teri McColly, Gary McCabe, Dave Arthur, Scott Cruize, Kim Day, Don Kelly, Bob Anthony, Larry Lomax, Chris Walton, Tim Johnstone, Suzie Hill, Gene Hayes, Tom Evans, Wombat, Bob Lilly and about a dozen other people I can’t think of right now. Anybody able to think of the rest?
Bob Lee has been well discussed in previous entries. I am not familiar with Bridget Bonde, Dan McColly, Teri McColly, Kim Day, Tim Johnstone, Gene Hayes, Tom Evans, or Bob Lilly. Gary McCabe rings a bell (KFXD?) as does Dave Arthur (our fellow blogger), Scott Cruize, Bob Anthony. We know Larry Lomax is in Seattle, C-Dub is at KBOI. Why does Suzie Hill ring a bell?
SELR brought up KIYS “Kiss FM” … aaaahhh the good old days. The days when KF95 was handing KIYS its butt on a silver platter daily. The days when KF95 was #1 18-34 and to this day still the highest CHR numbers in the Treasure Valley. The days when KF95 was the only R&R reporting station for Boise and record reps like Freddie Zaeler, Micheal Rowlie and Mark Rose would ask us if we would mind if they gave KIYS some promotional product. The days when Dave Arther was killing it in the afternoons, Steve Ryan was pulling huge numbers on the evening show and doing a superior job as music director, the days of myself and Wombat doing mornings and always getting in the Statesman or on the evening TV news.
KF95, the first in Idaho and the 3rd in the Pacific Northwest to go all compact disc and gave away 95 CD players in the month of April ‘86. Yet, on the otherside, KIYS FM was telling their listeners we weren’t actually playing CDs. To this very day I credit some of KF95’s success to the advertising campaign KIYS ran for us. After all these years Dan, I’d like to say “thank you”.
Now, fast forward to 2007 …. it might be time to play a song from B.T.O.
“Big Jack”
P.S. Daver, call me!!!!
Wow BJ. I have to ask…how much do you love yourself anyway?
Egads Watson!!!! I do believe we have discovered Tim Johnstone of KIYS and CD-gate fame. We welcome your side of Jack’s story in the interest of fairness. Inquiring minds want to know who really was behind the Crazy CD caper.
selr… there was also “Johnny Roller”, Jerry Knight (Jerry Long), Pete Gregory…
Jack, your phone is ringing… answer it! :-)
WOW Tim, I have to ask …. WHAT? Just stating the facts! I don’t see how you get “how much do you love yourself anyway?” out of that!
The KF95 / Kiss FM battle in the late 80s was a great one, even though it was short lived and won by KF95! If what I wrote causes you to ask the question, then let me side with you and say … “If winning makes me love myself and those who participated in that great radio station (Wombat, Dave, Ryan, Amy, J.T., Mark) then I’m quilty as charged!!!”
In a closing note, I do applaud the likes of Tim Johnstone, Dave Arther, Ken Bass, Robin Lee and others who use their real names!
“…I do applaud the likes of Tim Johnstone, Dave Arther, Ken Bass, Robin Lee and others who use their real names!”
In the interest of full disclosure, my name is Rod. I am not affiliated with any corporation, radio station, participant, or political party or agenda in any way, shape, or form.
GO BRONCOS!!!!
Two things… First,it’s Arthur, not Arther :-)
Second, anyone seen Codger?
I remember Rick Steele…..The Man of Steel. Good guy! Hey big jack….tell them about calling drag races on Fairview Avenue sometime…..
RadioActive!!! YOU ROCK!!! Not many people now about that. Magic 92 (KBBK) was near Fairview and Maplegrove. This was 1978. The control room looked like an airport control tower. Sitting on the second floor with 360 degrees of glass, you could see EVERYTHING and EVERYWHERE!
Friday evenings when I was on from 6p-10p, street racers would gather in the 7-11 parking lot at Maplegrove and Fairview. They would wait for the light to turn yellow, be the first in line when it turned red. When the light turned green, they would race past the station and I would announce the winner on the air! It was about 900 feet.
Was called into work early on a Monday. Got there and found 2 Ada County Sherrif cars in the parking lot. Had a meeting with them and the owner. They weren’t very happy! So ended Friday Night Magic Drags!!!! Lasted almost 3 months!!!
Thanks Radio Active
Great story, Jack!!!! Thanks for sharing and thanks to RadioActive for asking.
Jack’s story reminded me of my Dad & Uncle telling about the old race track that used to be located on the Notus Hwy. near what is now the intersection of 20-26 and Labor Camp Road. I will need to check with Dad to get the stories correct. Until such time, I wish to refer you to the following website:
http://www.ihrs.org/history/stories/index.html.
This is the website of the Idaho Historical Racing Society. They are trying to preserve racing heritage in Idaho.
Thanks again for the great story.
Rod. :)
Oh, no, Big Jack….. THANK YOU!!! This is the stuff that made local radio so special! The first time you told me that story it sounded like something from the classic movie “American Grafeti” (spelling). I loved that old radio station…used to drive by in my younger daze and get some inspiration from it.
Thanks RadioActive for naming the movie I was thinking of when reading Jack’s story.
I spoke to Dad about the race track I discussed above. he recalls the name of the track was Wilkins Speedway. This is the speedway Stan Fuller refers to on the website I provided for you. Dad recalls his uncle, Floyd “Tiny” Ames was the crew chief for a gentleman named Garber in the early to mid 1950’s. Garber owned Garber Motors where Floyd worked. Dad recalled going to the speedway to watch races and was able to remember some names of racers involved. He also remembered the track was larger than Meridian Speedway.
Dad does not recall why the track closed and has asked for research on that question.
Jack, you mentioned, “…not many people now about that. Magic 92 (KBBK) was near Fairview and Maplegrove. This was 1978. The control room looked like an airport control tower.” What was the building used for prior to it becoming a radio station?
Bronco… That was NOT “full” disclosure. Maybe half or even a third. In some cultures you might have 4 or 5 names so it drops even more.
Like Jack, I too love myself (no one else will!)
Thanks Jack. Those days were fun, even for just a listener.
Last time I heard, Steve Ryan AKA Ryan Packeco(sp) was a cop in Payette.
BTW-Donsdad is David Day, and former neighbor of Big Jack and his brother.
I heard Steve had moved on to a sales manager job in television in Idaho Falls. He was at channel 2 in Boise and was very successful!
Jack… back in the day, the story goes that you would conduct drag races while on the air at KBBK in the “control tower”. Racers would line up going west on Fairview at Maple Grove… light turns green, the race is on… and you’d announce the winner who passed the KBBK studio tower first.
Truth or urban legend? Cool story either way.
Also, wasn’t there an AM tower located on that site then too? If so, what AM was it?
I believe that studio was the location of 950 AM. It was the station that was later “consumed” by Steve Summer and moved back down Fairview closer to Meridian. If memory serves me correctly that address was 9400? Yes, I believe there was an AM tower back their in as well in its day. KBBK, Magic 92 was the second FM on the air, after KFXD-FM, etc. I spoke with the founder and original owner of the stations back in the early 90’s and got to see black and white photos of the opening day of the AM station. Those cars full of chrome and big tailfins were cars filling up farm fields and lining up and down a very farm friendly and commercial free Fairview Avenue for the open house that he and staff had put on. It was amazing to see the photos. Another opportunity lost, I did not pursue the chance to do an interview about his station(s)and document oral history from someone who was there. He was a really nice older gentleman. His office was full of big game stuff and African Safarri artifacts…Can anyone help me with his name or additional history to fill in the missing info? I still have a couple of full day(s) on air operations – programming logs from KBBK from the late 70’s or early 80’s and they bring back a different day-thats for sure! That was when you signed each page not for the GM or secretary but for the FCC. Help me out guys… I want to know more too!
Would the radio station Jack speaks of have been located on the northwest corner of Fairview & Maple Grove where the fruit and vegetable stand is now and directly across from the Peterson Autoplex?
The man in question with the big game trophies was Ralph Fraizer. He owned the AM and FM located at 9400 Fairview. More recently a cell phone store was there. The control room was as described earlier — a replica of an airport control tower on the top of the building. That was removed soon after the stations moved out of that location sometime, I beleive, in the early 80’s. The tower was located a ways back on the same lot.
Ralph owned KATN which was on 1010 on the AM dial. When KBOI changed from 950 to 670 and went from 5000 watts to 50,000 watts, Ralph was able to change to the 950 frequency. KBBK (92.3) went on in 1968 from the same tower on Fairview. It barely covered Boise from that site. Somewhere in the early 70’s, Ralph sold the stations to Burt Oliphant, and the AM call was changed to KBRJ.
In early 1974 KBBK moved to Deer Point. KFXD-FM came along a year or so later later. At that time, the FM’s in the valley were KBOI, KBXL, and KBBK. Somewhere in there, the FM station in Emmett went on the air as well, but was not heard well in Boise. A fairly complete timeline was posted in this blog under another thread about a month ago, re-capping one of the Radio History meetings. Check HISTORY COME TO BUSTOS in the October Archives…..
I hope this helps jog a few more memories……
Or, this will get you to the previously mentioned archive–
http://idahoradionews.com/index.php/2007/10/09/history-comes-to-bustos/
Buster… the building is still standing… minus the “control tower”. It’s just west of that corner in between a coupler car lots (Combs and another one I can’t remember). Its now surrounded by a small office complex.
WOW!!! Thanks for all the awesome info. I remember seeing a lot of KBRJ bumper stickers around. I believe they were round and green with white lettering.
RDS mentioned “…Somewhere in there, the FM station in Emmett went on the air as well, but was not heard well in Boise.” It is intriguing you should mention the station. When my Great Grandfather was in an assisted living facility in Payette in the early 80’s, my Grandmother (his daughter) used to tape barn dances for him to listen to. Great Grandfather had called barn dances early in his life and Grandma knew he would enjoy the old dance calls and music. She taped the dances from KMFE 101.7 FM. I found the cassette among the historical trinkets she willed to me when she passed.
I ran KMFE through a search engine to see what came up. Interestingly enough the website, http://cgi.ebay.com/COMFY-BARN-DANCE-GANG-Vintage-Poster-Emmett-ID_W0QQitemZ7590807546QQcmdZViewItem
provided information about a poster placed on EBay. The poster, which promotes a local country & western band, was part of the seller’s parents estate and willed to him at their death. Judging from the clothing, I would guess the poster to be 40-50 years old.
Just interesting…thought I would pass it along.
Thanks for the clarifications on this. It makes more sense now. Yes, I do remember his name as Ralph Fraizer now. Keep up the good work and for keeping us historically honest.
Buster — Please get ahold of me if you would be willing to let me copy those cassettes for use on the Idaho radio history site. You can click on my name and e-mail me thru my website. I would love to hear some of those Barn Dances again. I used to tune them in when they were on the air. It was a sad day when the new owner removed KMFE from Emmett.
“BTW-Donsdad is David Day”
I knew that. :-)
Hey RDS- Do you happen to know the whereabouts of that really neat architectual rendering of the KWEI studio that used to hang upstairs in the original Weiser office? It was quite large 20 X30 inches (?) I would love to have a color photo or copy of it? Thanks.
Someone needs to splurge and shell out the 6 bucks or so for that KMFE poster for sale on Ebay right now and donate it to the Idaho Radio TV foundation folks before it ends up with someone out of state! Money is tight right now or I would!
Sorry, I don’t know what became of the KWEI rendering. I haven’t been over there for a long, long time….and I’m not sure it was still there or not last time I was there.
On another note, I stepped up and bought the KMFE flier off of eBay. One way or another it will wind up with the Foundation or on their website now.
From RDS:
“Buster — Please get a hold of me if you would be willing to let me copy those cassettes for use on the Idaho radio history site. You can click on my name and e-mail me thru my website. I would love to hear some of those Barn Dances again. I used to tune them in when they were on the air. It was a sad day when the new owner removed KMFE from Emmett.”
RDS,
Thank you for your interest in the barn dancing cassette. I will take time this weekend to listen to the tape and check it for quality. Great Grandfather passed away in 1983, so I would guess the recording was made in the very early 80’s. I am hoping Grandma wrote the date on the tape. The recording was done on a cheap cassette that has been around a long time. Hopefully, it did not lose any of the audio quality.
If the quality is high, I will make you a copy of it and send it to you free with permission to utilize it on your website. I will email you with information in the next few days.
Thanks again for your interest. I am honored to have been asked to contribute in some small way tot he preservation of Idaho radio history.
Secondly, “I stepped up and bought the KMFE flier off of eBay. One way or another it will wind up with the Foundation or on their website now.”
Congratulations on making a bid on the KMFE flier appearing on EBay. I hope you are the winning bid and the flier will become property of the foundation. I hope the artifact will be delivered to you already protected from the elements. If not, please promise you will place it in plastic and preserve it as a historical treasure.
Rod. :)