While people with radio sets in Gopher Valley could pick up stations in Portland and Salem, they didn’t have a local station until 1949. The Bladine brothers—Jack and Phil—who owned the News-Telephone newspaper (later the News-Register) in McMinnville recognized radio’s potential to broaden their empire.
On Saturday June 18, 1949 at 11:00 am, McMinnville radio station KMCM came on the air! It was broadcast live from “The Mack Theater” before a live audience.
KMCM staff were introduced by Lou Gillette. KMCM’s first newscast was broadcast by Gilbert Tilbury directly from the stage. One of the stories reported in the first newscast was the winning float entries in the Phil Sheridan parade, one of which was Gopher Valley’s!
The station’s weekly live show, “Hayloft Jamboree” was one of my family’s favorites and popular throughout the listening area. Listeners could request tunes and dedicate them to others. That happened after Dad’s first heart attack in 1953, while he was spending three months in McMinnville Hospital. One of our neighbors requested Dad’s favorite, “The Orange Blossom Special” and dedicated it to “Shorty Sanderlin, getting over a heart attack at McMinnville Hospital.”
Other than occasional live remote broadcasts, radio programming on KMCM was very different from today’s broadcast schedules. Its schedule was mostly broken into 15- and 30-minute segments, with each segment being unrelated to what preceded or followed. Saturdays featured “4-H Club-On-The Air” 9-9:15am & “Hayloft Jamboree,” featuring Jack Baker’s Southern Tennesseans, The 20-30 Four & More with host “Old Slim” (aka Lou Gillette), 7-8 pm from remote locations like the Eagles Hall.
Local programming included: “Alarm Clock Club” 6am; “News” 6:15am; “Alarm Clock Club” 6:20am; “News” 6:50-7am; “News” 8-8:05am; “Something For The Ladies” 9:15am, “Northwest News” 10-10:05am “Bargain Bulletins” 11am; “Newberg On The Air” 11:05am; “Sheridan On The Air” 11:30am; “Amity On The Air” 11:45am, “Noon News”; “Farmers Exchange.”
Less than a year later, June 9, 1950, Lou Gillette recorded an interview with Mrs. Paul Trent for KMCM News about the “flying saucer” her husband photographed a month earlier. KMCM’s owner, the Telephone-Register, had published pictures of the flying saucer that day on its front page. The story was picked up nationwide.
In December 1952 KMCM affiliated with The Beaver Sports Network. My Dad was a big fan of Portland Beavers baseball and we loved listening to games on warm summer evenings announced by Bob Blackburn, sometimes with his announcing partner Rollie Truitt. Little did we know that many (if not all) of the games were re-created in the studio, with convincing sound-effects, such as crowd noise—in the background.[1]
In 1979 I had the honor of meeting Bob Blackburn, who we had as the celebrity guest at a charity golf tournament I organized at Port Ludlow, northwest of Seattle. After spending nearly two decades as announcer for Portland Beaver Baseball, Bob had moved to Seattle in 1967 to become the “Voice of the Seattle Sonics.” The highlight of his professional career was announcing the 1979 Sonics Championship game and having his banner raised at Seattle Center’s Key Arena. And I got him that year as our celebrity for our golf tournament in Port Ludlow!
McMINNVILLE'S KMCM – KCYX KLYC