Brian Schaefer Remembers KSIR
The following are my recollections of KSIR both from behind the mike and in front of the speaker: I guess radio has been in my blood for longer than I realise. As a little boy in Chicago I recall listening to WGN, WLS, WBBM and WMAQ as we rode around in the car. At night my dad was the master of tuning in AM stations from long distances: WXYZ in Detroit, WWL in New Orleans, WSM in Nashville, WHO in Des Moines(I think), KOA in Denver, and others. I think my dad entertained a desire to be a "radio rat" at one time.
When we moved to Estes Park in 1972, it was a slight culture shock. But the local newspaper and the local radio station helped ease us into small town life. My first memory of KSIR was my dad winning an on-air contest and us going by the old studio, an A frame house, behind the Black Canyon Inn to pick up the prize. He took me with him and I got to see the inside of a real radio station. I was hooked! Turntables, dials, VU meters, reel to reel tape decks, microphones-- the whole experience was so cool! That old A-Frame house is still standing.
You could say that I grew up with KSIR. It was on in the kitchen every morning with the weather report, local news, sports and all that we needed to propel us into our day. I remember Dave Thomas, Bob Gaines, Donna Mobus(Jordan), and Jim "JJ" Jacobs as being a part of our day. One person that really stuck out as being "cool" was Johnny Dark. His show was "Dark In The Morning". He ran a pretty tight show. I recall that around the mid 1970's, the studio was moved to the office complex at 131 Stanley Avenue. If memory serves me correctly, I believe that the transmitter was moved from Black Canyon out to its Mary's Lake location around the same time.
1978 sticks out as the year that KSIR really came into its own. Chuck Benson was working the morning show. He sounded so professional, and his show was very entertaining. Chuck's true talent was that you felt like he was really talking to you and you alone. I think it was around this time that Gary Hartley came to work as well. No less a pro than Chuck Benson, Gary worked mid-days and was also the engineer. Gary was on the air on December 9, 1980 and read the details of the still developing story of John Lennon's murder from the night before. Somehow it was comforting to hear Gary telling the story. It brought it down to a local level. I believe that by this time, Chuck Benson was working back in Chicago and that either JJ or Johnny Dark were working mornings at this time. A fun but short lived program was heard on Sunday mornings in 1981. Andy Schneidkraut, whose family owned the Dunraven Inn, and Ted Schmidt, Director of the Estes Park Public Library would play an old time radio program and discuss some of the details of that weeks show. It was fun and something that you could only find on a small town station
I recall the morning of July 15, 1982 very vividly. I woke up to hear Dave Thomas reporting about the rising Fall River and how everyone needed to move to higher ground. This put into perspective how important small town radio stations can be. When I started working there in 1986 I was amazed at the connection that people had to "the radio station". If the ambulance or fire engine was headed somewhere, guess who got the call? If the power was out in one part of town, guess who was expected to know when it was going to be back on? On a lighter note, the Turkey Shoot and its successor the Turkey Drop was a popular feature every November. Corny? Yes. One of the most popular things every year? No doubt. Local radio is, sad to say , a dying breed.
Chuck Benson came back again in 1984 to work mornings. Google "Chuck Benson" Talking Books" and look at the number of titles he has recorded and just listen to him for a while. That doesn't even take into consideration his voice over work for commercials and so forth. Listen to him and you will see why KSIR was so fortunate to have him twice in the span of a decade.
In 1985 I got to know Jim "JJ" Jacobs. He was working at a local liquor store/pharmacy that I was working at. I told him that I wanted to learn broadcasting and eventually be on the air. He was just getting ready to put a Sunday morning oldies show on. He asked the station GM, Steve Coffin if it was OK for me to come down on Sunday mornings for a couple of hours and learn the basics-- unpaid of course. I was allowed to acquaint myself with the equipment until the 6 AM sign-on. Eventually I was reading the morning almanac, weather reports and other stuff. In early summer 1986 Steve asked me to make a demo tape for him. He was honest with me: not the best demo, not the worst either. About a month later he said he had an opening on Saturdays from 2-6 PM. He was willing to give me a live on the air tryout. As August 2, 1986 drew closer, I grew more nervous. I forget who was on the air before me. They did the ID at 2PM right into the news from UPI. I had the weather report in front of me and listened to the outcue from UPI and started reading the weather. I could not hear any thing but silence in my headphones. I realized that I had not opened my mike. Fortunately I caught it just before UPI started feeding other newscasts, actualities and sports reports. After that slight hiccup I was on my way and having fun. The nicest compliment came from Mr.Benson on that afternoon. He called me to tell me that I sounded like I had been doing this my whole life. Wow!
My tryout must have been alright, because I was asked to fill in for someone that coming Thursday. Soon I was filling in for Gary Hartley while he worked when Chuck was on vacation or in Denver doing V.O. work. I got to know Mark Hendrix the news director and enjoyed working with him and learning from him. Gary, JJ, Chuck and others were a delight to work with.
By late 1987 a format change was in the works. Satellite music with some live programming during morning drive. That made a lot of us redundant. I worked briefly in the summer of 1988 babysitting the board (computers weren't as smart as they are now). By about 1989 the station was playing the Music of Your Life format and that lasted until 1991 when Stan Pratt sold the station.
Putting all of this into perspective is hard. With the ability now for people to put up their own radio stations on the Internet and the consolidation of large media companies that gobble up radio stations, I don't think a KSIR could survive today. The idea that a radio station is to serve as a "public trustee" and should run a certain amount of public affairs programming appears to be an antiquated notion. The FCC appears to more worried about "wardrobe malfunctions" and not concerned about whether or not a local radio station is locally owned. The old KSIR took the mission of being a local resource and a public trustee very seriously. Local news was just that. Not a re-write of a wire service story or a re-warming of something the local newspapers ran last week. It was not unusual for you to hear a live eyewitness account of a breaking news story. I was on the air the night a child drowned in the Big Thompson River on Spur 66 out near the YMCA. I had to talk to whoever was giving me the live report of what happened, write down the details and leave a note for the Sunday morning person to call the Police Department for any further details.
Radio, like any business, is about the people. I worked with some folks who were professionals to the core. And yet they were never too busy to give advice or pass on the "tricks of the trade". Having people recognize you as "that guy on the radio" was fun and at least made you feel like a few people were paying attention. One of the things that the guys I worked with passed on to me bears repeating. When it was my first time to host the Fair Trader I asked for some advice." You are not the star of the show, the caller is. Make them feel at ease. This is their show." In some way that maybe sums up what local radio and KSIR was all about . It was a part of the community and the community felt like they had an ownership stake in us. KSIR was Estes Park's radio station in the truest sense of the word.
When we moved to Estes Park in 1972, it was a slight culture shock. But the local newspaper and the local radio station helped ease us into small town life. My first memory of KSIR was my dad winning an on-air contest and us going by the old studio, an A frame house, behind the Black Canyon Inn to pick up the prize. He took me with him and I got to see the inside of a real radio station. I was hooked! Turntables, dials, VU meters, reel to reel tape decks, microphones-- the whole experience was so cool! That old A-Frame house is still standing.
You could say that I grew up with KSIR. It was on in the kitchen every morning with the weather report, local news, sports and all that we needed to propel us into our day. I remember Dave Thomas, Bob Gaines, Donna Mobus(Jordan), and Jim "JJ" Jacobs as being a part of our day. One person that really stuck out as being "cool" was Johnny Dark. His show was "Dark In The Morning". He ran a pretty tight show. I recall that around the mid 1970's, the studio was moved to the office complex at 131 Stanley Avenue. If memory serves me correctly, I believe that the transmitter was moved from Black Canyon out to its Mary's Lake location around the same time.
1978 sticks out as the year that KSIR really came into its own. Chuck Benson was working the morning show. He sounded so professional, and his show was very entertaining. Chuck's true talent was that you felt like he was really talking to you and you alone. I think it was around this time that Gary Hartley came to work as well. No less a pro than Chuck Benson, Gary worked mid-days and was also the engineer. Gary was on the air on December 9, 1980 and read the details of the still developing story of John Lennon's murder from the night before. Somehow it was comforting to hear Gary telling the story. It brought it down to a local level. I believe that by this time, Chuck Benson was working back in Chicago and that either JJ or Johnny Dark were working mornings at this time. A fun but short lived program was heard on Sunday mornings in 1981. Andy Schneidkraut, whose family owned the Dunraven Inn, and Ted Schmidt, Director of the Estes Park Public Library would play an old time radio program and discuss some of the details of that weeks show. It was fun and something that you could only find on a small town station
I recall the morning of July 15, 1982 very vividly. I woke up to hear Dave Thomas reporting about the rising Fall River and how everyone needed to move to higher ground. This put into perspective how important small town radio stations can be. When I started working there in 1986 I was amazed at the connection that people had to "the radio station". If the ambulance or fire engine was headed somewhere, guess who got the call? If the power was out in one part of town, guess who was expected to know when it was going to be back on? On a lighter note, the Turkey Shoot and its successor the Turkey Drop was a popular feature every November. Corny? Yes. One of the most popular things every year? No doubt. Local radio is, sad to say , a dying breed.
Chuck Benson came back again in 1984 to work mornings. Google "Chuck Benson" Talking Books" and look at the number of titles he has recorded and just listen to him for a while. That doesn't even take into consideration his voice over work for commercials and so forth. Listen to him and you will see why KSIR was so fortunate to have him twice in the span of a decade.
In 1985 I got to know Jim "JJ" Jacobs. He was working at a local liquor store/pharmacy that I was working at. I told him that I wanted to learn broadcasting and eventually be on the air. He was just getting ready to put a Sunday morning oldies show on. He asked the station GM, Steve Coffin if it was OK for me to come down on Sunday mornings for a couple of hours and learn the basics-- unpaid of course. I was allowed to acquaint myself with the equipment until the 6 AM sign-on. Eventually I was reading the morning almanac, weather reports and other stuff. In early summer 1986 Steve asked me to make a demo tape for him. He was honest with me: not the best demo, not the worst either. About a month later he said he had an opening on Saturdays from 2-6 PM. He was willing to give me a live on the air tryout. As August 2, 1986 drew closer, I grew more nervous. I forget who was on the air before me. They did the ID at 2PM right into the news from UPI. I had the weather report in front of me and listened to the outcue from UPI and started reading the weather. I could not hear any thing but silence in my headphones. I realized that I had not opened my mike. Fortunately I caught it just before UPI started feeding other newscasts, actualities and sports reports. After that slight hiccup I was on my way and having fun. The nicest compliment came from Mr.Benson on that afternoon. He called me to tell me that I sounded like I had been doing this my whole life. Wow!
My tryout must have been alright, because I was asked to fill in for someone that coming Thursday. Soon I was filling in for Gary Hartley while he worked when Chuck was on vacation or in Denver doing V.O. work. I got to know Mark Hendrix the news director and enjoyed working with him and learning from him. Gary, JJ, Chuck and others were a delight to work with.
By late 1987 a format change was in the works. Satellite music with some live programming during morning drive. That made a lot of us redundant. I worked briefly in the summer of 1988 babysitting the board (computers weren't as smart as they are now). By about 1989 the station was playing the Music of Your Life format and that lasted until 1991 when Stan Pratt sold the station.
Putting all of this into perspective is hard. With the ability now for people to put up their own radio stations on the Internet and the consolidation of large media companies that gobble up radio stations, I don't think a KSIR could survive today. The idea that a radio station is to serve as a "public trustee" and should run a certain amount of public affairs programming appears to be an antiquated notion. The FCC appears to more worried about "wardrobe malfunctions" and not concerned about whether or not a local radio station is locally owned. The old KSIR took the mission of being a local resource and a public trustee very seriously. Local news was just that. Not a re-write of a wire service story or a re-warming of something the local newspapers ran last week. It was not unusual for you to hear a live eyewitness account of a breaking news story. I was on the air the night a child drowned in the Big Thompson River on Spur 66 out near the YMCA. I had to talk to whoever was giving me the live report of what happened, write down the details and leave a note for the Sunday morning person to call the Police Department for any further details.
Radio, like any business, is about the people. I worked with some folks who were professionals to the core. And yet they were never too busy to give advice or pass on the "tricks of the trade". Having people recognize you as "that guy on the radio" was fun and at least made you feel like a few people were paying attention. One of the things that the guys I worked with passed on to me bears repeating. When it was my first time to host the Fair Trader I asked for some advice." You are not the star of the show, the caller is. Make them feel at ease. This is their show." In some way that maybe sums up what local radio and KSIR was all about . It was a part of the community and the community felt like they had an ownership stake in us. KSIR was Estes Park's radio station in the truest sense of the word.