Technology through Time
"Turn Your Radio On" |
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By the 1930’s, radio had become a presence in the homes of families all across the country and the rural Northern Great Plains was no exception. Radio connected the most isolated people to the national conversation by plugging them into the same news and entertainment that people across the country were listening to. In the 1930’s, despite the fact that this was the height of the depression, America bought radios by the millions.
While it’s easy to overstate the consensus that existed in the “Golden Years” of post-war America, the radio had much to do with creating a national conversation. Unlike any other medium before it, radio spoke to a nation of listeners. Newspapers were limited by distance, but radio moved through the ether. Radio was acknowledged by writers, critics, and everyday people as a powerful medium. In his essay “Sabbath Morn,” E.B. White referred to radio as a “godlike presence.”
“Everybody, all over, could listen to the same demagogues, howl at the same comedians, make a fad of the same new slang. Everybody with a radio...suddenly was sophisticated, part of the great outside world.”
– Dorothy Johnson
Despite the fact that technological limits and government regulations capped the power of radio stations, thus limiting their reach, radio truly was a national medium. In fact, the technological limitations were what made radio a national medium. There simply were not that many channels, and because most stations were part of the National Broadcasting Corporation, they syndicated much of the same programming. Therefore, Americans from all over the country tuned in to Amos and Andy and got their war news from Edward R. Murrow.
First Montana Radio Station:
KDYS – Great Falls (1922)First Richland County Radio Station:
KGCX — Sidney (1942) (see “That Must Be Us")
When America was undergoing major changes in demographics (1920 was the first year that more Americans lived in urban areas rather than rural and immigrants continued to come into the country) radio was a major force in creating a cohesive identity. Radio was at least partly responsible for the united front in World War II, for it was radio that brought news of the front back to American living rooms.
Remembering Radio
Talk to people who came of age during radio’s boom and they will gladly reminisce. Their memories of the programs they listened to and the radio models they listened on are as clear as reception on a cloudless night. The rudimentary technology, with vacuum tubes glowing and the reassuring voice of static in the background, also made an imprint on the minds.
“In the early 30’s we had our first console radio….We never wanted to miss Ma Perkins, Amos and Andy, Lux Radio Theater, Fibber McGee, Fred Allen, One Man’s Family (on Sundays), and a host of other day and nighttime entertainment…”
– Mary Mercer, in her family entry to Courage Enough II.
Radio grew up with the generations. The floor models shrunk to console models in the 1930’s and 40’s and in 1954, the transistor allowed the radio to shrink even more. It shrunk so much that a child could fit a transistor radio on the front of his or her bike and be the envy of the neighborhood. Radios moved around as well. No longer stuck in the living room due to their size, they showed up in cars, on nightstands, and even in shirt pockets.
Radio/Internet Parallels
Despite new communication technologies such as television, digital recordings, and the internet, radio is still a major form of communication. Radio’s story is strikingly similar to the spread of new communications technologies, especially the internet.
Like the internet, radio largely began as an amateur enterprise. The story of the Jacobs brothers and Ed Krebsbach is common to how many radio stations began. In addition to broadcasting, radio technology was innovated by many different individuals, thus making it difficult to correctly credit its inventors. The internet had similarly ambiguous beginnings.
Radio stocks skyrocketed in the 1920’s when the technology was still a novelty but the 1929 stock market crash left only a handful of strong, well-run, and entrenched businesses standing. The dot com bubble bursting was similar, with many small and disparate companies folded and paved the way for stronger, more business-savvy companies to succeed.
The internet and radio are also similar in how interactive they are. Of course, the sheer speed of that interaction on the internet makes it seem more interactive, but like the internet, radio is not a one-sided communication. Much of radio’s content is made up of interaction with listeners through requests, call-ins, and contests. While the internet has drastically changed the speed at which we do this, the impulse to do so has not changed at all.
The sheer number of stations and the diversity of programming was also similar for radio, but that diversity lasted only a short time. Soon, major corporations, especially the National Broadcasting Corporation, had a near monopoly on radio programming. Nearly all radio stations were connected with this network. The internet remains free from this type of corporate control, at least for the time being. The benefits are obvious: diverse programming, relatively low costs to create and access websites, and a truly democratic medium. That freedom creates some unwanted consequences and lack of oversight on content. The debate on the costs and benefits of this equation will continue well into the future, and continue to shape the way we communicate.
“KGCX—That Must Be Us”
Edward E. Krebsbach was a major force in early Montana radio, and he left his strongest influence on Eastern Montana. With the help of the Jacobs brothers, two enterprising and innovative farmers, Krebsbach started a radio station in the tiny town of Vida, located north of Circle in McCone County. The year was 1924, and it is believed that Vida remains the smallest town in the United States to have a radio station.
When Krebsbach and the Jacobs began broadcasting out of the back of First State Bank in Vida, they used the call numbers 7TF. At the time, they were operating without a license, but soon, the Department of Commerce caught them and sent them a letter tell them to shut down. Krebsbach then applied for a license and a short time later, October 5, 1926, received the license in the mail, which allowed them 7.5 watts of power. Upon opening the letter, Krebsbach saw the government assigned call letters KGCX and said, “KGCX. That must be us.” You can see a copy of this license in the booklet commemorating KGCX’s 50th anniversary.
Krebsbach left Vida to broadcast from Wolf Point in 1929, but with the increased wattage (250 instead of 7.5) he could still reach the farmers in Vida. When KGCX continued to grow, Krebsbach moved again, this time to Sidney, because the Chamber of Commerce secured $5000 in up front advertising dollars to the station if they broadcasted out of Sidney. They did so in June 1942, broadcasting from the Suksdorf Building before calling the basement of the Lalonde Hotel home in later years. Krebsbach’s son Keith was in charge of the Sidney station, while his other son Clair ran the remote studio in Williston, ND.
Keith tragically died in 1964 when he was struck by lightning outside his Sidney home. His brother Clair continued to run KGCX until he sold the station to Oscar Halvorson in 1972. KGCX celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1974 (see pamphlet below). Halvorson ran the station until 1992, when KGCX abruptly ceased operations. In 2004, Mitch Miller of Eagle 93.1 revived the call letters KGCX, recognizing the influence Krebsbach had on communications in Montana.
Bibliography
Johnson, Dorothy. “Small Town World Before Radio.” Montana: Magazine of Western History. Spring 1974, pp. 44-53.
Knowles, Bill. “KGCX: The Voice of Cow Creek.” Montana: Magazine of Western History. Spring 1997, pp. 48-59.
Krebsbach, Clair and Keith. “KGCX: Not a Pretentious Operation.” Montana: Magazine of Western History. Spring 1997, pp. 60-67.
Lewis, Tom. “A Godlike Presence”: The Impact of Radio on the 1920s and 1930s” OAH Magazine of History. Spring 1992.
Mercer, Mary. “Russell & Mary Mercer.” Courage Enough II.
Murphy, Mary. “Messenger of the New Age: Station KGIR in Butte.” Montana: Magazine of Western History. Autumn 1989, pp. 52-63.
The Radio Attic. www.radioattic.com.
Radio Museum. www.radiomuseum.org.
Western Historic Radio Museum. www.radioblvd.com.