Our Anniversary
It was on this date–July 15, 1942–at 5:30 a.m., that this radio station first went on the air. Well, unless it was on July 14, 1942. The documents are a little murky on that. Near as we can tell, July 14 was supposed to be the big day, and there was all manner of newspaper coverage previewing the new Waterloo radio station. And near as we can tell, technical issues postponed the launch for a day. But regardless, it’s been 84 years since KXEL has pumped 50,000 watts of radio the airwaves via the AM 1540 frequency.
KXEL was the first station in the country to begin its life with the maximum power and reach allowed by law—50,000 watts, clear channel. That last part means that all the other 1540s in the country have to reduce their power or go off the air overnight…there are only about 60 clear channel stations in the country, and we’re one of two here in Iowa. You may know “who” the other one is.
That’s why some of you have told us you’ve heard KXEL loud and clear while on a fishing trip to Canada. Or why we get emails from Washington State to Washington, D.C. and everywhere in between. Yes, it’s sometimes tricky on the south side of Cedar Rapids—but explaining that phenomenon is above my pay grade and knowledge base.
The station was founded by Joe Dumond, Sr., from Finchford. He started in radio when WMT was in Waterloo, and parlayed that experience into a daily program on the NBC network, from Chicago, based on his character “Josh Higgins”—a small town philosopher and singer. From the start, Dumond called this station the “Josh Higgins Voice of Agriculture” and boasted studios in both Waterloo and on the Iowa State Teacher’s College campus in Cedar Falls. And putting the station on the air a mere seven months from approval of the license…during the start of World War II…was an amazing feat.
Dumond also referred to this region as the “KXEL Rural City”—combining the interests of rural and urban areas, as each requires the other in order to be successful. True then, true today. In fact, in a full page ad in the national Broadcasting magazine yearbook in 1943, the KXEL call letters are depicted as rising from a sketch of Dumond’s radio neighborhood—houses, farms, manufacturing plants, trees, all blending together in harmony and spanning the width of the state of Iowa.
We’re a long way from 1942 in many respects. But in others…nothing has changed. That same spirit that led Joe Dumond to buck the odds and put his giant of a radio station on the air in wartime to keep the home area and the ag economy together is what guides us today. Our premise today is simple—we don’t want to waste your time. Hopefully, we succeed more often than not.
So to those foundational early voices…and to the ones you’ve relied on for more than eight decades…those of us in place today pay tribute. And to those listening, then and now, our sincere thanks.
