KNEI Radio celebrating 50 years on the local airwaves


Having some fun with the next generation ... Longtime KNEI radio personality Chuck Allen (center in above photo) has some fun with more recent additions to the KNEI radio staff, Josh Blake (left) and Erik Kelly (right). Submitted photo.

Started it all... Pictured above are Ralph and Ileen Sweeney. Ralph was instrumental in starting KNEI radio in Waukon in 1967. Submitted photo.

by Lissa Blake

Local radio station KNEI will celebrate 50 years of entertaining local residents next week with an open house Tuesday, June 27 at the current KNEI location on Main Street in downtown Waukon.

The station was started by the late Ralph Sweeney and Dave Hogendorn in 1967. “I remember it took Dad three to four years to get licensing, he had to put up bonding and have the financial backing,” said Ralph’s son, Jack Sweeney. “I remember it (the license) was really hard to get and you had to have a licensed engineer on staff."

When asked what he thinks motivated his dad to start the station, Sweeney said, “Dad was an entrepreneur. He just thought Waukon needed a radio station.”

Sweeney started working as a DJ at the station when he was just 16 years old. His girlfriend, Bonnie Blake, who later became is his wife, worked there as well.

Also at the station was Ralph’s partner, Dave Hogendorn, who bought Ralph's share of the station in 1971. Hogendorn recollected the station originally went on the air as a 250-watt station and ran from sunrise to sunset. In 1968, KNEI became one of the earliest Iowa FM stations on the air.

“At the time, we weren’t too sure how that would go, so we gave away FM receivers to people so we’d have listeners,” said Hogendorn. “We were one of the smallest, and just started out testing the waters."

That same year, they boosted the AM power to 1,000 watts. Several years later, they boosted the FM station to 50,000 watts. “I remember it took us a long time to get that (50,000 watts). We wanted to do it, but you have to have an area where you can put a tower and where you are not infringing on other people’s signals,” explained Hogendorn.

Hogendorn remembers going to the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors and asking for the County's help in locating a tower. The board conceded, and the KNEI tower went up near the former Makee Manor county home, where it still stands today.

EARLY YEARS
Greg Wennes was just 17 years old when he joined the station. As a student at North Winneshiek High School, he had a teacher who suggested he try broadcasting after she heard him read a poem.

Wennes had already been to auctioneer school, and he remembers after a farm injury he had a little down time and decided to investigate his options. “KNEI had just gone on the air, and I drove down there and met with Ralph for a few minutes and talked with

Dave. Back then you had to have a radio/telephone operator's license with a broadcast endorsement,” said Wennes.

Wennes quickly sent in $8 to McGraw-Hill publishing and was sent a book, which helped him prepare for the test. He memorized all the questions and answers and quickly headed to St. Paul, MN to take the exam.

“I’ll never forget my mother saying, ‘You got a letter from the government today,’” said Wennes.

Wennes notified KNEI that he had his license, and was auctioneering at the fair one day when he was called to the fair office over the loudspeaker. “It was Dave Hogendorn. He said, ‘Be here by 5 p.m.’… I literally remember walking into this beautiful radio station with pig manure on my boots,” recalled Wennes.

BLOCK FORMAT
Chuck Bloxham, whose on-air persona is Chuck Allen, joined the station in 1973. At the time, the station still had what was called the old “block format.”

“In the mornings we played country music, from 6-6:30 a.m. At 6:30, we had a 15-minute polka block before going back to country until 7:30 a.m. Then we’d switch to rock and roll for the kids on the bus from 7:30 to 8:30. Then it was back to country until 3:30, where we’d play rock and roll until 5 p.m. for the kids on the bus again. Then we signed off at 10 p.m.,” said Bloxham.

“Farmers in the barn always said the cows gave more milk when they listened to polka,” added Hogendorn.

Bloxham added the radio of today is a far cry from what it was 40 years ago, when everything was done manually.

Wennes agreed. “You would have an advertisers’ log and the ads every hour were either recorded or live and you’d have to pull them out and look for them,” he said. “Today, everything is on the hard drive, with the exception of what the announcers say. You can prerecord voice tracks for up to months ahead.”

“There was a time when everything was live and if you made a mistake people heard it. It was a little more personal. It was much more labor-intense… but it also had more of an individual personality,” Wennes further shared.

THROUGH THE YEARS
In 2001, Bloxham, Wennes and Les Askelson purchased the station from Marathon Media and Bloxham took over as general manager of the station.

Hogendorn said there are many more local people who had a hand in making KNEI work in the early years, including Jack Riley, Karen Anderson Soper, Kathy Jacobson Wiedner, Rick Jacobi, Bill Withers Jr., Jim Withers, Jim May, Madeline Grabwonski, Mae Beth O’Toole, Chuck Pettingill, Marv Strike, Craig Cooper, Karla Bell, Kay Snitker, Rob Dehli, Dianne Haler, Cindy Leikvold, Julie Morningstar, Dick Gruber, Mark Pettingill, Mary Kugel, Al Tweito, and many more.

“In addition to the people of Waukon, we never would have been able to succeed without the wonderful advertisers we had… some of the early people who had faith in us and bought advertising on a radio station,” said Hogendorn.

Wennes agreed. “This has been a great outfit and a wonderful experience for 50 years. Words cannot describe the gratitude we have for our listeners and for the incredibly talented and kind people we have on our staff. We are like a family… We take care of each other,” said Wennes.

COME CELEBRATE
Current radio personality Josh “Blake” Johnson, who joined KNEI 11 years ago, has been tracking down former employees and friends of the station to come celebrate at the June 27 open house.

“We hope people will come and visit with current and former employees,” said Johnson. The open house runs from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday, June 27 at the KNEI studio in Waukon.