Early radio days in McCook

Radio came to McCook in the early 1920s. Harold Sutton, a leading political and business figure in McCook at the time, joined George Vaughn and Don Gibson in bringing a radio signal to the people of McCook. The station was on the second floor of the Sutton Jewelry Store, along with the store's display of bicycles. The radio signal was not strong -- just 250 watts, covering a small area outside McCook.

Hobbyists using crystal radio sets and ear phones were the most persistent radio listeners in the early days. Fellows used to keep a log of the radio signals that they had received and brag when they were able to bring in a station in Chicago, or New Orleans. I had a great uncle who was a radio buff in the early days. He spent so much time listening to the radio (with ear phones) that he developed calluses on his ears.

Initially, the call letters for radio stations were randomly chosen by the stations themselves. However by the 1920s a world wide system of assigning call letters to individual countries had been worked out -- in the United States beginning with the letter K or W. In 1923, the government decreed that stations east of the Mississippi River be assigned letters beginning with "W" west of the Mississippi "K."

So if a station west of the Mississippi has letters beginning with "W" you can be sure it is a pioneer station, such as WOW in Omaha, in WJAG in Norfolk, or WNAX in Yankton.

Almost from the beginning, owning a radio station was a mark of considerable prestige and people tried to work in their own distinguishing letters in their call letters, for instance, KUPR Omaha (Union Pacific Railroad), KMMJ Clay Center (M.M. Johnson), KOCH Omaha (Omaha Central High), and WOW Omaha (Woodmen Of the World).

Though Sutton's radio station broadcast for some time, it never was officially approved by the FCC for a license, and was never successful commercially, nor were two later stations started by Vaughn and Gibson in other cities.

One positive to come out of the early McCook venture was the development of Charles Warriner, a teenager who was fascinated by the engineering aspects of radio.

After the collapse of Sutton's station, young Warriner continued as a ham radio operator and became one of the heroes of the 1935 flood when he kept McCook in touch with the outside world when all other forms of communication were de-stroyed.

That experience brought him to the attention of executives of the CBS radio network, who recruited him to be an engineer with CBS affiliates in Chicago and New York. This position he kept until he retired, after which he returned to McCook as a consulting radio engineer for a number of area stations.

After World War II, Roy Lenwell came to McCook, with three Army buddies to start up a new radio station, which became KBRL (Bob Roy Lenwell). The three friends moved on, but Lenwell continued to operate KBRL into the 1970s, gradually increasing the station's power from 250 watts to 5,000 watts, serving more than a third of a million people in parts of Nebraska., Kansas, and Colorado.

KBRL originally was located in a corrugated metal building on J Street and Highway 83. On February 1957 the station suffered a disastrous fire, which destroyed most of the station's equipment and melted its supply of records, including an outstanding collection of "Big Band" and Country/Western music.

Within one day, the work of rebuilding the station had begun and within two weeks the station was back on the air, broadcasting from the transmitter site southwest of McCook. For a time, billings and all office business of the station was done from Lenwell's home near the fairgrounds. When permanent quarters resumed, the station had relocated in a downtown, C Street location.

McCook's Jack Rogers, who worked at KBRL in the early years, remembers that there was a great outpouring of support for the station and Lenwell from other radio stations and the citizens of McCook after the fire.

Thanks to cooperative efforts of radio stations across the state Lenwell was able to reassemble a good library of "Big Band" and Country/Western music, though Roy always said that it never was as good as the one he had before the fire.

(Note: Lenwell could be quite cranky with his staff when they chose some of the more modern Country Western music to play on the air, saying "You call that Country/Western? That song never made it west of Chicago."

The McCook Gazette always considered KBRL to be its biggest competitor, yet the Strunks (publishers of the Gazette) came forward with help for the station, from the wire services as well as office equipment.

Since the station's business records were lost Lenwell was at the mercy of his customers to figure billings owed. People were not only honest, but a good many "padded" their bills and sent checks for a good deal more than the amount Lenwell had estimated they owed.

Lenwell initiated a number of local programs that proved popular. One was "Coffee at the A & M," a live feature from the A & M Drug, three-days a week, hosted for a time by Jack Rogers.

The 15 minute program consisted of roughly half commercials and half conversation from the coffee drinkers. On Saturday's, area coaches would frequently drop by to chat -- a forerunner of "Coaches Coffee Club". Later on Saturday morning Ron Schaeffer hosted a "Kids Show" (interviews, music and fun) at the station.

One of the radio features that Lenwell brought to McCook was a program he called "Morris on Norris," in which announcer, Bob Morris, a former University of Nebraska football player, interviewed passers-by on a wide variety of local and national topics, from his vantage post at the First National Bank corner (Norris and C Street) (also Blind Sam's favorite spot).

Lenwell was active in civic affairs. As a Captain of Army, he headed the Army Reserve unit in McCook. He served a term as president of the McCook Rotary Club. Both he and his wife, Irma Belle, were active in the Episcopal Church. He was president of the Chamber of Commerce at a time when the paid manager of the chamber quit, so for a time Roy took over the job of chamber manager as well.

Lenwell was a member of a small committee of business men who were responsible for bringing the Class D "Rookie" League baseball to Nebraska in the late 1950s.

This League consisted of eight Central Nebraska teams (including McCook), each with a Major League Sponsor. Though the League lasted but four seasons, Lenwell did his part in keeping the League viable by broadcasting both home and away games over KBRL.

Lenwell proved to be a very versatile radio station owner. He did not consider himself to be an "on air" personality, though when pressed into service he did a credible job in delivering the news. He achieved the status of First Class Engineer (along with Ron Schaeffer), to comply with the FCC requirements for Country Radio Stations.

He could be outspoken, but was considered to be scrupulously fair with his employees. And above all, until he sold Radio Station KBRL in the 1970s, he steadfastly promoted McCook, believing that a strong, vibrant McCook economy would benefit everyone, not the least of whom would be KBRL.

Source: Recollections of Jack Rogers, McCook Gazette Centennial Edition 1882-1982.