KSKI was an AM radio station at 1340 kHz in Hailey, Idaho, which broadcast between 1960 and 1992. The station was the first in the Wood River Valley and spawned a successful FM station, KSKI-FM, which remains on the air. It ceased broadcasting due to economic difficulties spurred by the launch of radio station KECH-FM, which was KSKI-AM-FM's first competitor in the Sun Valley area. ^[1]

History

KSKI signed on the air on November 17, 1960. ^[2] The station was initially licensed to Sun Valley and gave the resort town its first full-time radio service, broadcasting from studios located in the Sun Valley Lodge at the resort and a transmitter in Ketchum. ^[3] The original owner was Radio Sun Valley, Inc., with Roger Hagadone as president. ^[3]

It was not long before KSKI sought to move from Sun Valley. In 1963, it filed its first application to relocate its studio base and transmitter to Hailey; later that year, it went silent for what turned out to be two years while the station made the move. ^[4] The FCC granted the application on September 8, 1965; while KSKI was to go on air from Hailey on December 1, ^[5] it did not sign on until February 10, 1966. ^[6]

On February 1, 1969, Kent Frandsen became KSKI's general manager; four years later, he bought the station from Hagadone under the name Sun Valley Radio, Inc., ^[7] for $1 plus the assumption of more than $41,000 in liabilities. ^[8] Frandsen's ownership of KSKI saw the station apply in 1974 for a new FM station on 93.5 MHz, which would transmit from Bald Mountain and bring with it an expansion of the studios in Hailey. ^[9] The FCC finally granted the KSKI-FM application in January 1977, ^[10] and the station went on the air that August 3. ^{[6]: B-87  [11]} KSKI AM simulcast its new FM sister from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and again from 7 p.m. to midnight. ^[11] KSKI-AM-FM were known for their eclectic mix of music programming, aiming to serve listeners in a market that had no other radio stations; the pair also gained a small but devoted audience in the larger Twin Falls area. ^[12]

The AM station changed its call letters to KNRC on December 2, 1985, but changed back to KSKI on July 1, 1987. ^[13] The station was airing a crossover country format by 1989. ^[6]

In November 1989, KSKI-AM-FM was sold to Silver Creek Communications, a company of businessman John McCaw, Jr., for $950,000; while McCaw owned cable systems and was in the middle of acquiring TV station group LIN Broadcasting, his other radio holdings were all in Alaska. ^[14] The AM station continued to operate until late 1992. Economic difficulties in the local advertising market caused by the launch of competing station KECH-FM, which had taken to the air in 1988, ^[1] prompted Silver Creek to shutter the AM station and send the license to the Federal Communications Commission for cancellation. ^[15] Not long after, Silver Creek converted the operations of KSKI-FM to an automated service known as "The Mountain", programmed specifically for ski resort areas with special Sun Valley-specific inserts from its base at KZYR in Colorado. ^[16]

References