June 2, 1940 Beginning today, radio station KEEN of Seattle becomes KEVR, but will continue to broadcast on 1370 kilocycles.
Officials of the station said yesterday no definite programs have been arranged for today and tomorrow, but advance notices of programs will be ready sometime this week.
Operated by a new company, the Evergreen Broadcasting Corporation, the station will continue to broadcast transcribed programs, or records, although some of the educational and entertainment features will be produced by Seattle persons in the KEVR studios.***
Seattle radio station which are members of the National Association of Broadcasters this week will broadcast a special “Radio Festival” program to helpacquaint listeners with technical radio facts.
An “Information Please” type of program **[quiz show]** , with Mayor Arthur B. Langlie as interrogator, will be broadcast six times, with the “board of experts” consisting of TED BELL of KRSC, DICK KEPLINGER of KOMO-KJR, NORMAN RUNYAN of KVI, MAURY RIDER of KIRO and JACK LATHAM of KXA.
The broadcast will be heard the next six consecutive evenings on successive stations: KVI, KJR, KRSC, KXA, KOMO, and KIRO.
KEEN becomes KEVR
Jay…first time I saw Yakima spelled Yakama I thought somebody did not know how to spell. I was on a small cruise ship doing a Columbia and Snake River cruise. They had a speaker from Yakama nation…I thought the out of towners spelled it wrong. I loved the enchantment of New Mexico and visiting Taos. Bought a CD of native chanting, but better there than playing it at home.
Mike & Jason:
Yes, you are correct. KENE is currently KYNR (calls are for Yakama Nation Radio) and is owned by the Confederated Tribes & Bands of the Yakama Nation…and is branded as the “Voice of the Yakama Nation”. They originally went on the air in November 2000…then had the burglary problem that Jason mentioned. And as an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation I was aware of the burglary from their newspaper I receive…but, to be honest, had forgotten about it.
I heard similar programming on a radio station while traveling through New Mexico near Gallup. It went from Waylon Jennings to Indian chants. I must say traveling through that country and hearing Indian chants seemed very apropos. And actually made New Mexico seem like “the land of enchantment”.
Jay, You may have been listening to KTNN The Navajo Nation station while traveling through New Mexico. The station is in Arizona. http://www.ktnnonline.com/
Jay & Jason – I wrote a post about the burglary of equipment from KYNR which links to an article in the Yakima herald. As an avid AM “DXer” i can on occasion receive 660 KTNN from the Navajo Nation in Arizona & as Jason says it’s an interesting mix of country, traditional chants & song & the odd classic rock track thrown into the mix too. A great station as is KYNR on nights I can receive it
http://qzvx.com/2018/10/13/yakima-first-nation-radio-kynr-off-air-victim-of-major-theft/
That’s KYNR Toppenish. After all of their equipment was stolen in early 2019, the station went back on the air in August of that year with a small mixer board, computers and microphone. https://www.nbcrightnow.com/top_video/kynr-is-back-on-air/video_6755d866-cf7b-11e9-a29a-af9333ea329e.html
Yes, I do remember KENE in Toppenish. I’d been to their studio a number of times in their earliest days. Much of their broadcast equipment, during that period, was pretty much a homebrew. One of the turntables was basically a home style record player with an automatic playing arm…so they had to talk their way into the start of the record until the arm came down onto the record.
I’m very familiar with Toppenish as my Great Grandmother (Josephine Bowzer Lillie Parker) is know as the “Mother of Toppenish” … as she platted the town. My mother and her twin sister were the first twins born in Toppenish. And I am a registered member of the Yakama Nation, which has their headquarters in Toppenish.
The former 1490 KENE is currently KYNR and owned by the Yakima First Nation. It is an interesting mix of block programming – country music, programs of a spiritual nature containing chanting & oral dialogue in the local language, English language public affairs programming about/affecting/of interest to members of that community, swap-n-shop phone-in & farm news.
Thanks Jay….being an Eastern WA guy originally you might recall KENE in Toppenish too?
Jay Albright was a morning personality and Program Director at KEEN in San Jose around 1982 before he joined Drake-Chenault as a consultant and then moving on to become Program Director at KMPS-AM&FM Seattle in 1984 replacing long- time Programmer Ron Norwood. The formats were Country Music at KEEN, Drake and KMPS.
These days Jaye Albright is involved in the programming at “Classic Country KXA” 1520 KKXA Everett
Steven – no those calls were never assigned to 1490 Toppenish – those calls were KENE. The KEEN calls ended up in San Jose after Seattle & remained there for many years.
Didn’t the KEEN calls end up in Toppenish?