KSIR History
To our knowledge, the first radio station to go on the air in Estes Park on 1470 AM was KKEP. It was started by Country & Western music radio pioneer Maurice "Morey" DaVolt. According to an obituary notice published in the Denver Post, Morey passed away on July 11, 2002.
When Stan Pratt bought the station from DaVolt in the early 1970's, he changed the call letters to KSIR, which stood for "The New Sound in the Rockies". Thanks to Bob "Sandy" Gaines, we learned that KSIR went on the air in Estes Park at about 7:45 a.m. on April 22, 1974 with Johnny Dark at the microphone. We found one reference to the use of the KSIR calls at Wichita, KS dating from 1958, before they were used in Estes Park.
The use of the KSIR call letters on 1470 continued until May 27, 1991 at which time the station changed to KRKI. Since then, according to the FCC Call Sign History file, there have been three more call sign changes-- from KRKI to KEZZ on April 24, 1998, to KEPL on September 29, 2006, and more recently to KRBR on June 28, 2011. We understand that KRBR went off the air on October 16, 2011. In case there are further changes in the future that you want to know about, the FCC Facility ID Number is 67483. Meanwhile, the KSIR call letters ended up on 1010 am at Brush, CO where they have been since April 26, 1993 according to FCC records.
References to KSIR 1470 are unfortunately starting to disappear from the Web. We recently came across a transcript of the February 28, 1975 Edition of the KSIR Breakfast Club of the Rockies on the Estes Valley Library web site. It makes interesting reading! Another story that mentions KSIR is published on EstesNet. It is about the infamous 1982 Lawn Lake flood. The story mentions reports from KSIR's Jeremy Koercher, Dave Thomas, and Donna Mobus. There is also a photo from the Fort Collins History Connection showing KSIR News Director Dave Thomas surveying the wreckage from the Big Thompson River flood on August 1, 1976. This is one of the older references we have found online.
We'll add more information to this section as it becomes available-- please check back later! And if you have anything to add, please contact us!
When Stan Pratt bought the station from DaVolt in the early 1970's, he changed the call letters to KSIR, which stood for "The New Sound in the Rockies". Thanks to Bob "Sandy" Gaines, we learned that KSIR went on the air in Estes Park at about 7:45 a.m. on April 22, 1974 with Johnny Dark at the microphone. We found one reference to the use of the KSIR calls at Wichita, KS dating from 1958, before they were used in Estes Park.
The use of the KSIR call letters on 1470 continued until May 27, 1991 at which time the station changed to KRKI. Since then, according to the FCC Call Sign History file, there have been three more call sign changes-- from KRKI to KEZZ on April 24, 1998, to KEPL on September 29, 2006, and more recently to KRBR on June 28, 2011. We understand that KRBR went off the air on October 16, 2011. In case there are further changes in the future that you want to know about, the FCC Facility ID Number is 67483. Meanwhile, the KSIR call letters ended up on 1010 am at Brush, CO where they have been since April 26, 1993 according to FCC records.
References to KSIR 1470 are unfortunately starting to disappear from the Web. We recently came across a transcript of the February 28, 1975 Edition of the KSIR Breakfast Club of the Rockies on the Estes Valley Library web site. It makes interesting reading! Another story that mentions KSIR is published on EstesNet. It is about the infamous 1982 Lawn Lake flood. The story mentions reports from KSIR's Jeremy Koercher, Dave Thomas, and Donna Mobus. There is also a photo from the Fort Collins History Connection showing KSIR News Director Dave Thomas surveying the wreckage from the Big Thompson River flood on August 1, 1976. This is one of the older references we have found online.
We'll add more information to this section as it becomes available-- please check back later! And if you have anything to add, please contact us!