Art, Rocky & the gang will meet on May 30th at 11:30 a.m. at the Smoky Mountain Pizza on ParkCenter. Details after the jump.
The History of Idaho Broadcasting Foundation is pleased to announce our next Public Meeting, which is scheduled for Friday May 30, 2008 from 11:30-1:30 P.M. (Please note the earlier meeting time)
The meeting marks the Foundation’s Two Year Anniversary and will take place at Smoky Mountain Pizza and Pasta located at 415 E. Parkcenter Blvd. in Boise and includes a no-host lunch (you order off the menu).
Please see our website www.historyofidahobroadcasting.org
for a map and directions on how to get there,
The Program will feature excerpts from some of the Foundation’s most recently acquired radio airchecks. We’ll play some tapes from 50s, 60, and 70s, which will include something for everyone! Foundation Vice President Frank Aden Jr. will share some newly acquired information on Eastern Idaho Television. Foundation Webmaster and Journal Broadcast Group Radio Chief Engineer Rockwell Smith will bring KGEM’s original application for 10,000 Watts, filed in the early 1950s and some aerial photos taken by Member R.W. Egelston that show the Cassia Street tower site!
You are urged to attend and bring anything you have to share with the group. An RSVP is not required for this meeting, and you don’t have to purchase lunch, or be a member of the Foundation to attend. This is no charge to attend other than the cost of whatever you choose to order for lunch. The History of Idaho Broadcasting Foundation is now 2 years old and has over 50 members, including Journal Broadcast Group, Peak Broadcasting, and Banks Broadcasting of Boise, owners of KNIN-TV, Channel 9. The Foundation also wishes to thank to Randy Hyatt, Darla, and Shawn Kimmel for hosting last month’s meeting at Impact Radio Group in Nampa.
on Jun 2nd, 2008 at 7:07 pm
The History of Idaho Broadcasting Foundation held its May 30th, 2008 Meeting from 11:30-1:30 Smoky Mountain Pizza on Parkcenter Blvd. in Boise. Attending were Foundation officers President Art Gregory, Vice President Frank Aden Jr., and Webmaster Rockwell Smith. 10 other members attended including; Kitty Fleishman, Bob Ahmann, Marty Holtman, Byron Johnson, Tip Goss, Tom Scott, Bill Hatch, Mike Pullin, Gerry Dean Moser, and R.W. Egelston. Joining the Foundation and becoming a member at the May 30th meeting was guest Judy Fisher, wife of the late Sammy Fisher, former KATN radio announcer. Special guest was Carrie Cornils, daughter of the late “Radio Wayne” Cornils of KFXD AM & FM.
Rockwell Smith, who is Chief Engineer for KGEM-AM now owned by Journal Broadcast Group, brought the actual late 40s’ early 1950s application for KGEM’s move from 250 watts at 1340 to 10,000 watts at 1140. Included were aerial photos that were determined NOT to be the ones by Member R.W. Egelston while leaning out of airplane! The photos and application were still impressive, and were enjoyed before the lunch began. Thank you Rockwell!
Art Gregory urged all members (and viewers of the website) to submit their “bio” for inclusion on our website. Webmaster Rockwell is trying to “fill in the blanks” about who worked where and when in Idaho Broadcasting, as well as make sure each broadcaster receives proper credit for their work and accomplishments. Submitting a “bio” and some videos, pictures, or audio airchecks of your career is the best way make sure your place in broadcasting history is preserved! We are all about you, the people who have worked in and loved broadcasting, and about their many friends and family members who wish to preserve those memories too.
Art then introduced everyone at the table and let them give a brief “audio bio” of themselves and what they are doing now. These were recorded and we hope to feature the edited audio clips of what they said, along with each person’s bio on the website.
Vice President Frank Aden Jr. spoke of his new research on Eastern Idaho Television, particularly KTLE. Look for Frank to do a major article in an upcoming newsletter on the history of Eastern Idaho Television.
We then heard 4 different audio clips dating from 1954, 1972, 1973, and 1974.
First was an edited excerpt of a November 1954 High School Football Game carried on KFXD-AM. Announcer Doyle Cain (Father of Member Larry Cain) did a fantastic job of play-by-play announcing for the Nampa vs. Caldwell “Big 6 Championship” game of 1954. This aircheck, which was courtesy Larry Cain, featured the rapid-fire delivery of Doyle Cain complete with live on-the-scene commercials for Nafiziger/Banks Men’s Store and Home Federal Savings, both of Nampa. Shirl Black was the announcer, and you could hear the cheerleaders and the crowd in the background as Shirl read the spots - live on the scene! It was an exciting game with Caldwell scoring first but then missing the extra point. Nampa finally broke the 6-0 score with their own touchdown , and they made the extra, putting them ahead of Caldwell 7-6. That’s the way the game ended 7-6, Nampa, with Doyle Cain pointing out that it was a hard fought game between two evenly matched teams. Ed Troxal coached the Caldwell Cougars that year, and future Capital High Coach and Boise Schools Athletic Director Jack Acree played in this 1954 game as a senior! A superb example of the reason our organization exists! Where else could you hear this?
Sidenote: Member Byron Johnson remembers playing against this very tough 1954 Nampa team. Byron played for Boise High School that same year and had some great stories to tell about the players on the team. Watch our website for the audio clip of Byron telling this story at the meeting on May 30th. We hope to have it up soon.
Next came the famous KEEP sign-off as voiced by Ben Tracy of KGAL Bend, Oregon. Ben Tracy is best known as the voice of Les Schwab and now “Grover’s” Plumbing & Lighting. Here’s the text of the sign-off announcement that we heard played from a tape right off the air in July of 1972!
That’s It. The Day is Night.
K-Double-E-P relinquishes the rest of it to a “different” set of “stars.”
We hope your evening’s been fun…and that you’ve had a good day…and that tomorrow, gives us the opportunity to share with you once again, the “Magic” of 1450.
If anyone should ask…K-E-E-P is owned and operated by Inland Broadcasting Incorporated…with studios and transmitter out here on Blue Lakes Boulevard North. With Night time power of two-hundred-fifty…and a THOUSAND watts of daytime power, K-Double-E-P broadcasts on an AM frequency of 1450 Kilocycles as authorized by the Federal Communications Commission in Washington D.C.
Entertainment…Information…and Community Service is what “Keep” is all about.
If this is YOUR kind of station, then we’d like to be your “Twin” companion again tomorrow.
Better get some sleep. We sign on early, at Six.
Goodnight.
Next we heard a late 1973 aircheck of KBBK-FM in Boise featuring Rockwell Smith. One of the highlights of the aircheck was a commercial KBBK played for the Ada Theatre for a “late night” screening of the 1930s black and while documentary called “Reefer Madness.” The tag for the radio hilarious spot was voiced by none other than History of Idaho Broadcasting Foundation Member Pat McCurdy (”yes Dirty McCurdy” from KYME)! Pat said a special “Beatles movie” was also on the bill as a bonus. Rockwell sounded very good on the air, but a lot of the music was stuff we had never heard.
Finally, we heard a brief excerpt of a 1974 KBBK-FM aircheck by “Bill Bailey” (aka David Faught, David Terrell, Major Gridlock, etc. etc.). “Bill” sounded great, just as he does now, but somewhat younger (he was still in his teens). The highlight of this aircheck was the 1974 “Feeling Free” Pepsi Jingle with Roberta Flack belting out “All across the nation…it’s the Pepsi Generation…here today…here to stay…feeling FREE !!!” Bill of course gave us his contribution to this spot and the end when he said “Pepsi bottled by the Nagel Beverage Company of Boise.” Bill’s entire aircheck, as well as Rockwell’s above can be heard on Rocky’s site at http://www.engineer-exchange.com
After a few final comments the meeting adjourned at 1:30 P.M. and we all went back to work and returned to the year 2008! But for two hours, we went back in time. If you weren’t there, you missed a great meeting and perhaps some great ideas for promotions that have worked in the past.
We hope to have be able to announce the location of our June Meeting so soon…so as Paul Harvey says…stand by for news! For the latest, or to leave your bio, check our website at http://www.historyofidahobroadcasting.org
on Jun 3rd, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I am sorry I missed the meeting. I have missed a few now.Sounds like it was a great informative meeting
on Jun 29th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Hi folks, Don was out of town when I sent him the notice of this meeting, so please forgive us if you wanted to attend and missed our meeting June 27th Meeting. We are working on a “80th Anniversary as KIDO” meeting at Peak Broadcasting for July that I will announce soon. In the meantime, if you want to see more go to http://www.historyofidahobraodcasting.org Here’s the re-cap of our June meeting:
The History of Idaho Broadcasting Foundation held its June 27, 2008 Meeting from 11:30-1:30 P.M. at the Parkcenter Smoky Mountain Pizza in Boise.Officers attending included President Art Gregory and Vice President Frank Aden Jr. Members attending included Jim Johntz, Marty Holtman, Bob Ahmann, Bill Hatch, Judy Fisher, Shawn Kimmel, Larry Chase, Rick Hogue, Al Hale, and our guests of honor, Members Shanna-Dodds Jones and her husband Brent Jones. Bringing Jim Johntz to the meeting was guest was Andy Johntz, who also joined the organization that day. Welcome Andy!
After lunch, President Art Gregory did a brief introduction of all those in attendance. The June 27th Meeting was tribute to KIDO, KDSH, and KBOI Radio announcer Dar Dodds who passed away in Boise on June 4, 2008. Our tribute started with the viewing an excerpt from video of the 2005 Fox News Special called “War Stories” hosted by Oliver North. In the video, North came to Boise and interviewed Dar and several others who were there on Wake Island in 1941. They working for Morrison Knudsen as civilian contractors building a Military base there. Dar and the others gave first hand descriptions of what it was like to be attacked by the Japanese, captured as a prisoner of war, and then survive the ordeal and return to Boise in 1945.
The next segments were audio clips from various KDSH and KBOI airchecks, some dating back to the early 1950s. These segments were taken from the June 25, 1968 aircheck of KBOI’s “Big Switch” to 50,000 watts.
First, we heard Dar Dodds deliver a KDSH promo for the CBS Radio Network show “Gangbusters,” and then heard Bill Gratton do a promo for “Stump the Band” using his former air name of “Bill Graham.” Stump the Band was a popular “request” show co-hosted by Gratton and Dar Dodds in the late 40s and early 50s. Gratton also mentions the time C.G. Curt “Kiddo” Phillips called in complaining about someone signing along with the band during an Elks Ballroom remote broadcast on KIDO in the early 1940s. Yes, it Dar who was doing the singing, and Gratton told Mr. Phillips that. But Phillips refused to believe it saying “even Dar could not sing that bad!”
We then heard several more segments from KBOI’s June 25, 1968 KBOI switchover to 50,000 watts. All segments saluted Dar Dodds and credited him with being one of the people who signed-on KDSH in 1947. Those mentioning Dar included; Bill Gratton and Gene Perkins (who were on the air that day), Bruce Whitehead from Salt Lake City, and Bill Ames from KNXT-TV in Los Angeles.
Next, we heard an early 60s radio commercial for All Jersey Milk from Young’s “Quality Checked” Dairy voiced by Dar Dodds. Dar’s voice was within the announcer “donut” of jingle produced by Gib and Jeanie Hochstrasser at “Music Ads” located above KBOI on 10th Street in Downtown Boise. According to a 1962 Statesman article brought to the meeting by Shanna, Darr was Sales Manager and sold jingles for Music Ads at the time.
We then heard excerpts from actual airchecks of the “Bru-Dar” Show on KBOI radio, the first of which dated back to June of 1958. KBOI broke new ground with their “two-man” morning team Bruce Whitehead and Dar Dodds. The two had a sort “Bob and Tom” approach to their show complete with lots of clever comments and regular characters that dropped by the show from time to time. After the show ended in the early 1960s, Bruce Whitehead migrated to Salt Lake and worked in radio. After that, he joined Utah’s premiere Public Relations firm of the day, W.S. Adamson & Associates. When Bill Adamson died in the 1980s, Whitehead stayed with the firm, eventually purchasing it from his widow. Last we heard, Bruce Whitehead is still running the agency.
The tape first featured a live Fathers Day commercial for Lee’s Candies and pre-recorded National ads for Double Mint Gum and Chesterfield Cigarettes. A 2nd aircheck from 1959 featured their one year anniversary at KBOI and featured live ads for First Federal Savings and a pre-recorded ad for Brookover’s Ladies Store read by Louise Davis. We also heard a taped mention of Bruce and Dar’s show by Arthur Godfrey, saying he’d previously worked with Bruce at another radio station.
Bruce and Dar wrapped up the segment, and our tribute to Dar, by singing the song “Heart of My Heart.” The duo used to sing on the air all the time and was actually quite good together. Heart of My Heart, which was made popular by the Four Aces in 1953, reminisces about a gang of kids that used sing on the street corner saying “We were rough and ready guys, but oh, how we could harmonize!” Indeed, the last couple of lines said it all and was a fitting tribute and “send off” to our fellow broadcaster and good friend Dar Dodds when they sang…
“Too bad we had to part,
I know a tear would glisten
If only I could listen, to the gang that sang
“Heart of my Heart.”
The meeting adjourned at 1:30. but several members stayed on to visit with Shanna and Brent who brought some great pictures of Dar, which they are giving the Foundation access to. A few other members then stayed and watched the entire 1 hour Fox News Program “War Stories” hosted by Oliver North that featured the story of Darr Dodds. After watching that program, one has even greater respect for Dar Dodds and the others who survived Wake Island, and we all realized, just how special of a man, Dar Dodds really was.
We miss you Dar, but your memory lives on with us.