Just 19 and fresh out of broadcasting school, KNAB AM/FM was the first station I worked for. Mike Kronforst, placement director of Brown Institute, pitched me to the General Manager. In her infinite wisdom, Bette Bailly hired me to replace Frank Losinski who had recently accepted a job with KLMO AM/FM in Longmont, Colorado.
My tenure at KNAB lasted from August 22, 1983 to May 23, 1984. Mr. Kronforst advised his students to “stay a year at your first job”, but I figured 9 months was close enough. On weekdays, I worked a split shift: 8-10AM and 3-5PM on-air with production duties sandwiched between the two airshifts. On weekends, I worked either the 1-7PM or 7PM-12AM Sunday shift. Since my goal was to become a nighttime CHR jock, I loved doing the 7-Midnight show. We were allowed to play “rock” records at night which didn’t fit KNAB’s format during daytime hours. The music rotation was *supposed* to be 50/50 pop and country. As you will hear, I bent the rules in favor of KNAB’s “Top 40 side.”
This happened to be graduation day for Burlington High School. You’ll hear me make reference to this near the beginning of the aircheck. Also, you’ll notice the AM signs off right before the 8:00 network news. KNAB AM and FM were simulcast 100%. But since the AM was on the Canadian/Mexican clear channel of 1140Khz, it was restricted to daytime hours only. At the appropriate time, we played the sign off cart, ran down to turn off the AM transmitter, then ran back to resume programming on the FM station. It was a great way for the disc jockeys to get some exercise!
This was recorded from the KNAB air studio using a Pioneer AM/FM/cassette stereo unit. Source tape is a TDK D90 cassette.
KNAB_FM_Drew_Durigan_May_20_1984
Love this! Thanks so much!
Thanks, Laura! I was just a kid who had no clue what he was doing, but it sure was a lot of fun! KNAB was a great place to learn radio. Weekends at the Sherman Tank in Goodland was a good time also! 😉