April 22, 2005
"On the Road" about
50 miles south of Omaha ...
Thousands of radio industry executives, programmers and managers
have gathered in Las Vegas this week for the NAB Show. If, among
their many missions, one was to discover the secrets of success for
the future of radio in communities outside of the major and medium
markets, they needed to travel no farther than Shenandoah, a small
town in southwest Iowa, to listen to Regional Radio KMA 960.
Take a moment to visit the KMA Web site
(click here) and get to
know their format, the services and features which have made KMA one
of America's greatest regional radio stations. You can even
listen
live online to KMA’s programming.
The blueprint for the success of KMA was printed in 1924 when Earl
May, Sr. founded KMA. He also owned the Earl May Seed Company. In
addition to other print advertising and promotions he used in that
era, KMA, in its infancy, served the purpose of promoting the sale
of products from Earl May’s thriving seed and plants business.
During the 30’s and 40’s, in the large auditorium of KMA, hundreds
of residents from the four state area (Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska,
Kansas) regularly filled the seats to watch and listen to live
broadcasts featuring local and nationally known big bands and solo
acts who toured the country. KMA brought big time talent to
the rural people who lived and toiled in the midlands.
Located in the center of “The Corn Belt,” the southwest Iowa area
not only produced plentiful crops of corn, it also seemed to be rich
in natural born talent.
Big band legend Glenn Miller was born in nearby Clarinda, Iowa. Just
a few miles down the road in southeast Iowa, Johnny Carson was born.
Other famous people worked at KMA during the 40’s and 50’s. The
Everly Brothers, Don and Phil, first began performing at KMA in the
late 40’s. Their father, Ike Everly, had taken a job as a guitarist
at KMA in 1945 and performed live with his wife, Margaret. The boys,
known then as “Little Donnie” and “Baby Boy Phil,” aged 8 and 6,
were featured on KMA. “By 1950,” according to the Valley News Today,
“nearly everyone in the southwest corner of the state of Iowa tuned
into KMA to listen to “The Everly Family Show.”
(click here to
read more about the Everly Brothers during their Shenandoah days)
In 1952, the Everly family moved to Evansville and, soon, the Everly
Brothers became teen idols, rocking the nation’s Top 40 stations
with hits like “Wake Up Little Susie.”
Well-known “Laugh-In” announcer Gary Owens remembers well his days
of announcing at KMA in the 1950’s. KMA was among the stations he
worked at after KORN in Mitchell, South Dakota and before Texas,
Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Louisiana and, finally, California and
the super fame that came with KMPC and other powerhouse stations,
then “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.”
To the farmers and small town people who listen to the 5,000 watt
KMA, 960 is a permanent setting – the only setting – on their
radios. I know firsthand. As a young boy, visiting my grandfather at
our family’s farm near Westboro, Missouri, I made the mistake of
turning my grandfather’s radio dial to 1290 KOIL in Omaha. When he
returned from the barn, I was scolded and “strongly disciplined” by
my father for daring to turn the dial from the 960 spot.
Today, it is my turn and my generation of family who owns and tends
to the acres of farmland that were settled in the early 1840’s by my
mother’s family. A few years earlier, the Lewis and Clark
Expedition camped a dozen miles away on the banks of the Missouri
River near Brownville, Nebraska. And today, my 1960’s model radio on
the kitchen counter in my farm house at
Fourteen Pines Farms
where I write this knows no other dial position but 960 KMA.
KMA has always remained loyal to its listeners. While many radio
stations within 75-100 miles of larger metropolitan areas have
turned them backs on smaller towns they once served to stretch a
finger of their signal into the metro areas and "claim" the larger
city by including its name in the top of the hour I.D., KMA
has served its audiences and grown with continued strong local and
regional news, sports and weather coverage. They really do
serve the city of their license.
Few, if any, radio
stations of this market size in the United States have remained
consistently popular and have served their listeners the way KMA has
served the 4 state regional area where Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and
Nebraska come together.
KMA is heard in towns
and on farms for over 100 miles in each direction from Shenandoah.
It's warm, friendly sound,
variety of programming and positive,
strong voice of authority commands the respect and listenership in
the 4 state region. The 10:10 am CDST "Elephant Shop" beats ebay by
a country mile. The weather alerts from KMA cut in to warn the
midlands listeners in "Tornado Alley." There's Bill O'Reilly's
radio show, Paul Harvey News and Commentary, Kansas City Royals
baseball play-by-play and local sports programming carried live as
well as funeral notices, cancellations and postponements, the
Agriculture Bulletin and much, much more. KMA is truly a
"complete" radio station if there is one.
Earl May’s family still
owns KMA. The advertisers flock to KMA whose on-air staff and
management include Don Hansen, Lee Hughes, Chuck Morris, Tim Wayne,
Dean Adkins, Dale Sandquist and Mike Peterson.
Often, one of my radio friends who works at a major market radio
station will mention to me that they would like to buy a radio
station in a smaller town and settle down. If it were for sale, and
I don’t think it is, I would tell them to buy KMA – and “Don’t
change a thing!” You cannot beat the success of one of America’s
greatest regional radio stations.
Enjoy the visit to KMA in the photographs and via the KMA Web site.
And, if you’re passing through southwest Iowa on Highway 59 (also
known as Everly Brothers Avenue), stop by the KMA studios and ask
for a tour. You'll love the friendly folks at KMA.
That’s what I did many, many years ago when I was 14 and visiting my
grandfather during the summer school break. That visit, the bright
magic that glowed in the lights and switches, and the professional,
articulate announcers made me dream that one day I might work in
radio. A couple of years later in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I did
just that when I began my radio career.
Through the years, I’ve made countless trips from Dallas-Fort Worth
to Westboro, Missouri. I know I’m almost there when, 100
miles away near Topeka, I start picking up 960 and KMA on my car
radio. It's the warm, bright and friendly beacon that guides me to my farm home.
It's regional radio at
its very, very best. I promise.
(click here to visit KMA's Web
site)
