Stay tuned…
A love letter to radio
By Rick Alloway
Lincoln radio station KFOR turned 100 years old in March of this year. A remarkable achievement, particularly since the radio industry itself isn’t much older. Nebraska’s fourth oldest station, KFOR signed on in David City in March of 1924. The station was sold and moved to Lincoln three years later.
The decades that followed brought remarkable events, both good and bad. And KFOR, like most full-service stations of its kind, was there to cover them all.
Beginning as a young boy in the early 1960s, KFOR was a regular part of my family’s morning routine. I vaguely remember the ABC radio network morning show called Don McNeill’s Breakfast Club from Chicago. And then the move to a local morning show called The Musical Clock with long-time KFOR personalities Dick Perry and Bill Wood.
The mix of voices, music, news and entertainment coming from our kitchen radio made quite the impression on me. It was the beginning of a life-long fascination with audio storytelling — creating mental images with sound. Radio has always provided examples to fuel my interest — from historical recordings like The War Of The Worlds broadcast in 1938 or Edward R. Murrow’s live reporting from London during World War II to more recent examples like A Prairie Home Companion or play-by-play coverage of Nebraska’s national championships on the gridiron. And the examples keep coming.
For 12 of its 100 years, I was a proud employee of KFOR. I started as a member of KFOR’s Explorer Post — the high school career development division of Scouting. That led to part-time work throughout my college career and then several years of full-time employment. The station gave me the opportunity to polish my radio skills — in announcing, audio production, writing, public affairs, remote broadcasts, news, sports, station promotions and eventually, station operations.
This summer will mark 40 years since I left the station. My time there was filled with opportunities for creativity, community involvement and collaboration with some wonderfully talented colleagues, many of whom are still close friends four decades later.
The station is located on Cornhusker Highway now, but in the years I worked there, it was housed in what was then called the Stuart Building on the corner of 13th & P Streets. The eighth-floor studios were some of the nicest I have ever seen, with custom-built cabinetry, comfortable work spaces and the best audio gear available. As a young radio employee, I really didn’t know just how fortunate (or spoiled) I was by my work surroundings.
As fine as the surroundings were, KFOR’s greatest asset was (and continues to be) its staff. And there were a lot of us when I worked there. I recently found an old staff list, and it showed 31 employees at a stand-alone AM radio station. That included a full roster of announcers and news department staffers, three writer/producers, two engineers, several account execs, a half-dozen clerical members and multiple part-timers. All led by one of the best bosses I have ever had — general manager Roger Larson.
The size of the staff allowed KFOR to be part of nearly every facet of Lincoln life. In fact, Roger was fond of saying there should not have been anything of importance happening in Lincoln that KFOR wasn’t involved in somehow. Several KFOR events became Lincoln institutions — Operation Santa Claus, the KFOR Bridal Forum, the KFOR Sportscasters Club banquet, a yearly lawn and garden show, a Summer Fun Run, the Picnic Patrol, a hot-air balloon festival, etc. The station’s staff served on committees and boards for nearly every civic and community organization in town.
I had many of those opportunities for service. And that kindled a second, but equally powerful, reason for my love affair with radio at the local level. I got to know my community better. And I learned what an important role the station played in that community. KFOR’s staff involvement ethic helped me develop my own interest in volunteerism and community engagement that lasts to this day.
Since my years at KFOR, the radio industry and the local broadcast market have changed in dramatic ways. The elimination of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 paved the way for the rapid proliferation of increasingly partisan talk programming. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 lifted the historic limits on the number of stations one radio company could own. Instead of one AM and one FM, a station group in Lincoln could now operate several, usually from one facility. Station automation and syndicated programming replaced live and local announcers in some formats. Broadcast radio’s prominent role in introducing listeners to new music began to face new competition — largely among younger audiences — due to the Internet. Many of those who continued to listen to traditional radio began doing so on nontraditional devices, like their phones. From streaming to podcasts to AI announcers, the challenges to radio stations keep coming. And stations these days have smaller staffs to deal with those challenges.
But radio has a history of rising to challenges. And to many listeners, their local radio experience has not changed dramatically, nor has their radio listening dramatically diminished. In fact, despite changing formats and increased competition for our ears, annual listenership stats show the overwhelming majority of Americans still listen to radio on a regular basis. Stations continue to provide local news, sports and information to their listeners. Smart station managers have embraced the changes in technology to attract and engage with new, younger audiences (and the advertisers who wish to reach them) across multiple media platforms.
The audio storytelling traditional continues. The connections with their local communities continue. And I continue to feel bullish about the future of radio. It’s a different industry than the one I entered in the 1970s, but then, what industry hasn’t faced challenges since then?
The changes to radio will no doubt continue, but I have faith in the industry’s commitment to the local communities it serves. I’m excited about the future.
To borrow from a Huey Lewis & The News song from several years back, they say the heart of radio is still beating, and from what I hear I believe ‘em. Now the old boy may be barely breathing, but the heart of radio…the heart of radio is still beating.
As we always say in the broadcasting business, stay tuned…
