In 1989, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs owned and operated two radio stations. KWSO-FM 91.9 was a non-commercial station which served the immediate Warm Springs/Kahneeta area. It provided Native American music, news, and information. KWSI-FM 96.5 was a full 100,000 watt commercial station which covered all of Central Oregon with an Adult Contemporary format. The call letters stood for Kahneeta Warm Springs Indians. I believe KWSO’s calls stood for Kahneeta Warm Springs Other (as in their “other” station), but I’m not certain of this. In any case, KWSI was a force in Central Oregon radio. Especially the northern portion of the region which included Madras.
Jim Malloy was KWSI’s engineer. His technical skills are obvious on this aircheck. KWSI enjoyed the cleanest audio chain of any Central Oregon FM station. I did afternoons on Bend’s KXIQ aka “Q94” at the time and was always envious of KWSI’s superior audio quality. In addition to engineering duties, Jim did middays on-air. Check out KWSI’s unique Legal ID which is spoken in Native tongue as well as English.
This was received from Bend, approximately 55 miles distant from KWSI’s transmitter. A bit of background noise and terrain shadowing can be heard on this aircheck. I used a Realistic AM/FM/CD/cassette portable stereo and Memorex dBS90 tape to make the recording.