Early station broadcast historic entertainment

     If we had the power to turn back the clock to the 1920s, we might see afamily from out Kootenai way sitting together for the first time to enjoy an historic evening of entertainment. The scheduled performers were popular in the area and almost all the family members had seen them perform at a church or in a school auditorium. However, tonight was different because the family was not in a church basement or a school auditorium. They were at home, sitting in the kitchen, with a large bowl of pop corn on the kitchen table. All present, from young to old, shared the excitement of an event that Sandpoint and Bonner County had awaited with great interest.

     The scene above was replicated all over the Sandpoint area on an evening in February 1929. People gathered around their receiving sets and tuned in between 0 and 10 on the dial. After a little finetuning, a voice was heard saying, “Good evening, everyone. This is station KGKX in Sandpoint, Idaho, on beautiful Lake Pend d’Oreille, operating on a frequency of 1420 kilocycles by authority of the Federal Radio Commission. The first speaker on tonight’s program will be Mayor H.E. Brown of Sandpoint who will officially open KGKX.”

     The voice was that of 21-year-old C.E. “Bud” Twiss, owner, engineer, manager, announcer, writer, salesman, and janitor of the new station.The broadcast, heard byhundreds, was comingfrom the “lounging roomof the Elk’s Club.” Thepermanent home of thenew station was locatedabove Gardner’s Store,which later becamethe McFarland OfficeBuilding that was locatedat 200 Main Street inSandpoint. (In earlyyears, the Sandpoint Elksmet in the Knights ofPythias building locatedon the corner of Secondand Main, which laterbecame the site of theMcFarland Building.) It was from this place thatthe people of BonnerCounty first heard voicesover the radio. WithTwiss that night, wasF.R. McCann who was incharge of the plant andequipment.

     The program consistedof several speeches anda variety of musical numbers.Bub’s Bubblodians,a five-piece orchestradirected by “Bub” Senft,gave a 15-minute programof popular music.The Bubblodians werethe official KGKX orchestra.Professor OwenBandy, on the Hawaiiansteel guitar, performedseveral numbers includingHumoresque andHilo March. There werevocals by MargaretBarnes and StanleyBower. J.L. Nye presentedone of the musicalhighlights of the eveningwhen he played “Girl ofMy Dreams’” and “MyWild Irish Rose,” on hismusical saw. Miss TrulynSims played severalnumbers on her violin.The Elk’s Quartet gave amedley of popular numbers,and the three-hourprogram concluded withanother 15 minutes ofmusic by the orchestra.

     During the initialbroadcast of KGKX,the telephone was busyreceiving the many callsreporting reception andoffering congratulations.The Pend ‘Oreille Reviewreported that the localtelephone exchangeexperienced one of itsbusiest evenings sinceits establishment. Peoplereported reception fromas far away as Dover,Kootenai, Colburn,Cocolalla, and MurphyBay. In October of 1929,the power of KGKX wasincreased to 100 watts.A local paper reported,“The present transmitterhas been heard all overthe United States andCanada.

     ”Clinton E. “Bud”Twiss, who startedKGKX, later went toNBC’s Radio City inHollywood as NBC’schief announcer. Helater became the voice ofthe popular “Chase andSanborn Show.” Afterleaving Sandpoint, F.R.McCann took chargeof the FCC in Portland,Ore. In 1940, he and twoother men constructed afacility capable of pickingup Japanese radio broadcasts.

     During the war years,Sandpoint did not havea functioning radio station.No records havebeen found and manylong-time residents donot recall a station inthe area. In 1947, NormBauer started KSPT-AMand it was Bauer thatbegan broadcasting theBulldog football games.From that evening in1929, when the peopleof the Sandpoint areafirst heard the voice of“Bud” Twiss say, “Goodevening, everyone,”Sandpoint radio hasgrown to four majorstations: KSPT, KPND,KIBR, and KTPO.