1980-1988

THE TIMES…..THEY ARE A CHANGIN’……….

The 1980’s were turbulent times in the radio business in Casper. The first couple of years in the market were pretty much as they had been for the previous 25 years. Three AM stations (KTWO, KVOC & KATI) and one FM signal (KAWY) were all the listening choices for Casper listeners. That was about to change…..

MEENAN SELLS CASPER RADIO STATIONS……

Pat Meenan sells stations after 25-years of ownership

In the spring of 1981, after 25-years of ownership, Pat Meenan announced his plans to sell KATI/KAWY to Stuart Broadcasting, a group out of Lincoln, Nebraska. KATI/KAWY were going out at the top of their game both on the air and financially and commanded a large price of over two-million dollars. While Meenan described the sale of the stations as more of a merger, control was purely in the hands of the folks at Stuart. New ownership generally means changes in personnel and programming. What they didn’t know was the effect of a new signal on the FM band would mean to Mid-Wyoming.

A NEW “TOP 40” RADIO MONSTER EMERGES IN MID-WYOMING…..

Late that year in 1981, the first new addition to the radio market in 15-years in Casper came to the FM band. KTRS-FM signed on in November, 1981. It was a hot rocker with programming aimed directly at KATI and it’s younger listeners. The fact that this new addition was on the FM band, playing the hits in Stereo, with no network, limited news and interruptions drew KATI’s audience away almost immediately. It was like letting the air out of a balloon.

KATI tried a number of programming ideas to try and draw back their listeners but it was all to no avail. Stuart’s finally ended up changing the format to Country and Western and eventually selling the station again in 1982 at an major loss.

YET ANOTHER SALE……

The new owners this time were from Colorado. Tom Wiens, a Colorado politician and entrepreneur, purchased the stations in 1982 from Stuart for about a half-million dollars less than they had paid just a year before. Wiens and his programming people tried a number of things to try and regain listeners on both KATI and KAWY. On the AM side, KATI again changed the format to gain an older audience with a format called “Music of Your Life.” It was a syndicated format delivered by satellite with very little local content.

On the FM side, KAWY was also struggling to compete with KTRS. While KTRS was playing a Contemporary Hits format with lots of music, remotes, promotions and excellent on air presence. KAWY was trying to stay competitive by playing an Album Oriented Rock format and calling themselves KY-94.

LOCAL BUSINESSMAN BUYS CASPER STATIONS…….

Randall Hall, Station Owner, 1985-87

Late in 1985, the stations were sold once again, this time to a local group of businessmen headed by a former KATI and KTWO announcer, Randall Hall. Hall was a local businessman who had worked on KATI in the early 1970’s, started a concert promotion company in the mid-70’s while also working on-air at KTWO, and eventually went into real estate. His love of broadcasting and KATI brought him back to the “Big 14” in hopes of bringing the stations back to their former glory.

In 2009, Randy Hall wrote about their efforts to make both KATI and KAWY profitable and a force in the Casper radio market again:

“By 1985, when I heard that the stations were for sale, KATI was broadcasting as country station. I put together a group of local business folks in Casper and we bought the stations for $1.3M. We closed the purchase in December of 1985. Shortly thereafter we began simulcasting (with temporary FCC authority) as the “Best Show in Casper”, a loose top 40 format reminiscent of the former KATI glory. Our major competition was a new FM, KTRS, which was a Top 40 monster. In one Arbitron ratings period, KTRS garnered more than 43% of the total listeners in Casper. This gave them the highest cumes in the nation…a feat they would market incessantly. After 3 months as a simulcast, KATI become a true Top 40 hits format and KAWY changed call letters to KGRQ (Gourmet Rock) and adopted the EOR (Eclectic Oriented Rock) format originated by John Sebastian. On KATI, we had one of the country’s best and funniest morning guys, Ron Jordan, who we brought in from KS103 in San Diego. I’ll never forget the phone bit with a directory assistance operator in Texas. Ron was looking for the number for ? and the Mysterians. Or the call I received from a defense attorney in Casper who was representing a guy who’d been arrested the day before for growing mushrooms (yes, those mushrooms). Ron tried all morning to get the guy on the phone so he could order a pizza. Fred Leemhuis was my genius programmer.

Picture of KATI studios on the last day of broadcasting.

Unfortunately, we could never get the numbers to beat the KTRS monster; and national agency buys had dwindled to almost nothing due to the continuing economic meltdown in Wyoming that held on until the early 90’s. We offered to give the stations back to Stuart Broadcasting who were carrying the note on the stations. The only way they were going to take the stations back was if we would agree to stiff our customers and advertisers. We filed Chapter 11 and operated the stations under bankruptcy protection until November 1987. By this time, KATI was “Music of Your Life”. The day we signed the stations off for the final time, November 26, 1987, was, I think, the most depressing day of my life. The silence was deafening!”

THE SILENCE WAS DEAFENING!

In 1988, the stations were bought out of bankruptcy by Jack Rosenthal & Bob Price of KTWO radio. As Federal Communications Commission rules at the time wouldn’t allow KTWO to own more than two stations in the market, KATI was gifted to the University of Wyoming. U/W held on to KATI’s license for a couple of years, never put the station back on the air, and eventually turned the license back to the FCC.

Courtesy: TOWNSQUARE MEDIA

KAWY or KGRQ, as it was now known, was eventually put back on the air by KTWO as an Adult Contemporary station with call letters of KMGW. The station went through a number of format changes but remains on the air today.

The old AM 1400 frequency was again brought back on the air by Clear Channel Communications and KTWO after FCC rules changed that allowed K2 to have more than two AM’s in one market. The station is currently owned by TOWNSQUARE MEDIA and called KKTL. As of March of 2018, the station is again playing classic country and calling itself “Cowboy Country.”

One other interesting note, the KATI call letters do live on into this century. KATI is currently licensed as and FM station on 94.3 Mhz in Columbia Missouri, they call themselves KATI, KAT Country. In addition to playing modern country music they are also affiliated with the St Louis Cardinals Baseball team.