Nebraska Radio History Archive Presentation:
KFAB
KFAB was officially licensed on 11/8/24 to the Nebraska Buick Automobile Company,
with Studios in the Buick Building in Lincoln, Nebraska. The station signed
on that December. Surprisingly, you an find out a number
of little tidbits in various places by doing an internet search for "KFAB
Lincoln".
As often occurred in radio's early days, KFAB moved around the dial. KFAB began at 1250, but moved to 800 with 1000 watts by the end of 1924. on 4/21/27 they were granted a T.P. for 880 at 2kw. In june of that year they would move to 970 with the same output. 11/16/27 KFAB began broadcasts at 940 with 5kw, sharing the frequency with KOIL. One of the more interesting facets of the station's operation was it's move to 780 with a the time share agreement that was in place with WBBM. Both stations would broadcast by day. At night they both carried the same programs from CBS so a synchronous arrangement was put in place. At the top of the hour each station would take turns IDing and then return to synchronous network programming. At 10pm one station would sign off for 15 minutes while the other did news, then at 10:15 they'd flip. At 10:30 it was back to synch until sign-off. KFAB started 24 hour operation in 1953.
The station moved to 9th & P at some point, but by 1944 was broadcasting from the Sharp Building. There was also a studio in Omaha in the Farnam Building.
The golden spike that would nail KFAB's destiny came on 10/10/45 when they were granted a C.P. for 1110kc, 50kw, DA-N, unlimited and relocation of their primary studio to Omaha, Nebraska. There were extensions on the moves completion date. (License to cover the C.P. granted 3/31/47, Voluntary. transfer from Sidles Company to Star Printing Co., effective 1/23/48. Voluntary transfer to Harry D. Burke, R. L. Bremser, Harold A. Soderlund and William E. Macdonald, eff. 5/14/54.)
In 1951 KFAB became Nebraska's first 24 hour radio station. In 1957 May Broadcasting bought 49% of KFAB; The same year the station moved to 5010 Underwood. In 1986 May still owned 49%, with the rest being owned by actual KFAB employees. (Lyell Bremser, Ken Headrick, and Walt Kavanaugh). In 1986 The Lincoln-Journal Star (aka Lee Enterprises) sold KFAB to Henry Broadcasting. They would hang on to it for a decade.
In 1996, a montage of buys and mergers occurred. It began in March of 1996 with sale of the station to American Radio Systems. Six months later Triathlon bought KFAB. Triathlon was sold to Capstar in 1999, who was then acquired by Chancellor Broadcasting, which then became AM/FM. In July of 2000 it all became Clear Channel Worldwide.
KFAB is obviously far different today than when it began in 1924. In 1925, the university decided to use the facilities of KFAB for instructional programs. Instructional broadcasts on KFAB continued on a regular schedule through 1931, but KFAB's association with the CBS network gradually eroded local air time. KFAB's network commitments meant that some university programs were postponed or suspended. Further frustration with the KFAB arrangement led NU to drop most live programming on the Lincoln station in 1937.
It was in 1948 that a guy named Johnny Carson began a radio career as an announcer at KFAB in Lincoln. Since then, many names have graced the halls of KFAB.
Portions of the above were found in "Early Nebraska Radio"by Mark Smith available at Norfolk online
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