Noting An Anniversary
Many of you have listened to KXEL for many years, for which we are most appreciative. And I’ve even met some who remember listening from the very beginning; U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley is one of them.
But this radio station is now beginning its 80th year of continuous broadcasting, having gone on the air on this date, July 14, 1942 as the first radio station in America to sign on with the maximum 50,000 watts and a clear channel signal. That means you can hear KXEL literally from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and up in Canada, in the evenings and overnight hours…and clearly throughout Iowa and adjacent states during the day.
Radio is different in so many ways now from the day in 1942 when Joe Dumond first opened a microphone from a studio in downtown Waterloo. But in many more important ways, it’s still the same.
Sure, your speaker may be different…you may be listening to a radio, via a computer speaker, or an app…but it’s still someone like me talking into something that looks like a tin can, hoping to make a direct connection with you as an audience member.
We may see people on TV, or on line…but the connection between a radio listener and the station, I believe, is stronger than the connection in other mass media forms. Some think it’s because of how we listen to radio…often alone, as opposed to the gathering around a television. Even though there are thousands listening to me right now altogether, it’s really just a lot of one-to-one connections. And I like that.
So thanks for being there when you are able. Now more than ever, it’s important we continue the conversation.
