History
On June 6, 1957, Dakota Broadcasters—a consortium of Walter Nelskog, Paul Crain, Delbert Bertholf and D. Gene Williams—obtained a construction permit for a new radio station to serve Bismarck on 1350 kHz, with 500 watts during the day. The construction permit was originally known as KBMK before changing to KQDI before sign-on. [1] From a tower near the Corral Drive-In in Bismarck and studios above a drug store on Fifth Street, [2] KQDI signed on August 15, 1958. [3] It was co-owned with stations in Minot and Billings and Great Falls, Montana; like them, it was a music-heavy station without network programming, [2] playing Top 40 tunes. [4] One of the station's first disc jockeys was Mandan native Tony Dean, who later hosted a regional outdoors program on television and radio. [5]
After several changes in ownership, Weldon T. and Betty S. Heard bought KQDI in 1962. [2] The purchase heralded a series of changes. On April 15, 1963, KQDI became KBMR, for "Bismarck-Mandan Radio", and shifted toward a "good music" format. [6]
Another change in business operations kickstarted a regulatory case of interest to electric utilities in the state. The Heards switched electricity suppliers from Montana-Dakota Utilities to the Capital Electric Cooperative, a rural electric cooperative. MDU objected to the ability of Capital to serve the customer, who was not part of the cooperative, and started a series of legal battles over the regulation of such rural associations in the state. [7] Disputes of this kind resulted in a state law intending to restrict the territory of utilities and electric cooperatives in 1965. [8]
Alvin "Andy" Anderson was appointed general manager in late 1963, [9] and later purchased the station in 1965. The format was changed to country music, and the company expanded. September 12, 1968, brought KBMR-FM 94.5, the first stereo radio station in the Bismarck area; [10] by that time, the company also was the Muzak franchisee in the area. [11] An even bigger change was on the horizon for the AM: in 1971, the FCC approved a power increase from 500 to 10,000 watts on a new frequency, 1130 kHz; the boost gave KBMR the highest wattage of any AM station in North Dakota. [12] Along with the higher power, a new transmitter building was built on the site. [13] Anderson additionally purchased a station in Polson, Montana. [14]
By 1981, KBMR was Bismarck's top-rated station, though it was hurt as the 1980s progressed and listeners shifted to FM stations. [15] A final upgrade to 50,000 watts took effect in November 1985, giving KBMR statewide coverage—but still no nighttime signal. [16]
Anderson had planned as early as 1990 to move KBMR to a new license and frequency, 710 kHz, which would enable nighttime service. [17] The 710 frequency would instead sign on in August 1999 as talk station KXMR. [18]
Toward the end of Andy Anderson's life, his company sought to sell the cluster of stations that had developed: KBMR, the FM (now KQDY), and KSSS (101.5 FM), plus the under-construction KXMR. In 1998, the new Cumulus Media began pursuing the Anderson stations. Cumulus had already acquired a cluster of four local Jim Ingstad stations, but its attempt to buy the local Meyer Broadcasting radio stations had failed. [19] A sale was announced in January 1999, and Cumulus took over the stations under a management agreement while it waited for the deal to close. [20] The sale never closed. Concerns over competition effects from the deal prompted the FCC to designate the transaction for hearing in December 2000, a rare move that signaled federal approval was unlikely and led to the deal being scrapped, with Anderson Broadcasting resuming operation of the cluster. [20] During this time, Andy Anderson died at the age of 81. [14]
Anderson Broadcasting was more successful in its second attempt to sell its radio stations, this time to a consortium of general manager Bob Denver, sales manager Terry Fleck and Jim Ingstad. [21] Radio Bismarck Mandan then sold three of the stations to Clear Channel Communications, forerunner to iHeartMedia, in 2004; KXMR had already been sold to the company the year before as part of a transaction that gave Ingstad two stations in southern Minnesota. [22]
