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Nebraska Radio History Archive Presentation:

Who Am I This Time.....

The story  begins in 1975 when a Lincoln Ad agency owner (Larry King) headed up a group of investors and put 95.3 KBHL ("Kept By His Love") on the air.   Scott Clark, who worked at KBHL sent us background on the station:

The religious format was quite historic. When the hamburger magnate Larry King  took over the station he tried a "contemporary Christian" format which was done pretty poorly. So he brought in Scott Campbell from KFMK FM in Houston to program the station.  Scott was a top-40 radio pioneer from Seattle. He had worked with Pat O'Day at KJR in the early 60's and did mornings in a suburban (KPUG Bellingham) station which sounded a lot like KOIL. Scott invented Contemporary Christian Radio at a small FM in Blaine, WA. He took it to San Diego in the early 70's, hence the curious calls, KSON. The format lasted about 6 months and flipped to country. Hearing airchecks of Scott playing Loretta Lynn are quite amusing! Scott went to Houston where the format was more successful.

In Lincoln, he turned a 'BHL into a sort of Christian top-40 station. He introduced strict hour clocks and play charts. He brought in some of the best voices heard in the market, perhaps ever.   Dewey Boynton did AM Drive.  Dewey had great pipes and did a great show. Bob Kellogg did drive time news (a full-time news guy is considered a luxury now). Bob went on to work in Denver (KHOW and other stations). Dewey is regional PD for chain in Seattle.  Jim Hanemaayer (Gem O'Brien) did mid-days.  Jim is now GM of an NBC affiliate talker in Phoenix. Scott did PM drive. 

I don't remember the evening guy(s) but they were pretty good and tried their best to do a version of 'LS on an underpowered FM in Lincoln, NE. They had 'LS Jam jingle package and did reasonably well for a few years. In that period "New Life 95 bumper stickers were common in Lincoln. The music was mediocre and remained so for another 10 years, but the on-air staff, production values and professionalism made KBHL one of the best sounding stations for a few years.  They did as much promotion as anybody in Lincoln, save KLMS. For a while they had Gerry Logan (legendary production genius from KLMS) as their evening guy and production director.  His aircheck is still one of the best I've ever heard -- he was responsible for many of the really memorable 'LMS campaigns.

Larry King sold the station to a fellow with roots in traditional southern Gospel radio who hated electric guitar and who thought religious Sinatra sound-alikes would do well. KBHL went MOR religious in 1980, except for a Saturday "rock" show which Scott hosted and I inherited briefly before we flipped to Country. I don't think the book was good, but if phones are any indication, it had a strong following.

The new PD was Dave Graupner (of KFOR). I did overnights for about a year before going to Oregon to do PM drive.  Jim Hanemnaayer went to KLMS during its transition from Top 40 to AC and then came back to the frequency when Tim and company came from WLS. He might have come before the flip from country to CHR. He later went to LA as GM of another pioneering CCM station, finally doing a satellite AC format, GM'ing for a Spanish station, then to Phoenix as GM.   Scott finished his career in Bend, where he died. He ought to be remembered. He was a terrific radio talent and pioneered a format which has become a staple in many major markets. He had a great voice and air presence. He brought a serious major market sound to a sleepy middle market town. In it's heyday, 'BHL on-air talent rivaled anyone in town and, in some cases, surpassed it -- if you could ignore the music!  -- Scott Clark


The original KBHL studios were located on North 48th near Adams in one of the old Carnegie library buildings.  Their transmitter was downtown, on the NBC Bank building, with a power of only 3,000 watts.  Some of the highlights included bringing KC Royals baseball and Chiefs football broadcasts to Lincoln, the first station in Lincoln to carry pro sports.  Both were very successful for ad sales.  During it's country years, two successful nationally syndicated programs on Westwood One were originated at KBHL "B-95." As a country station it actually beat a local 100,000 watt Lincoln competitor and had higher Lincoln numbers than three Omaha Country signals which blasted into the market.
Eventually, Sam Sherwood (KHOW, Denver) and his son  Tim Kelly (WLS, Chicago) purchased the station and converted it to CHR as KXSS "Kiss FM".  They stunted the format change by  playing "Kiss You All Over" repeatedly followed by "Your Kiss Is On My Lips" for several days.
KXSS was a CHR format, trying to compete with then-unbeatable KFRX.  The sole reason for the format change to CHR was the fact that new owners Sherwood and Kelly simply didn't know Country and were more confident in their abilities to make CHR work. Although they were ultimately thwarted by one of their investors, they brought a new level of professional sounding radio to Lincoln that most local stations simply couldn't match at the time.
The studio remained on N. 48th St while the transmitter moved to an apartment building near 56th & O.  To make the tower move a brief announcement was during the morning drive preceding the hours long dead air.  They offered a prize of $100 cash to the first listener to call in once they came on the air again.  

The station was growing in ratings and ad sales, but had to sell a few years later due to pressure from an investor who apparently tried to take the station away from them.  

"The station was also KJUS-FM (KJ95FM) for a time in the mid-80s.  It was live, locally-produced A/C ("Adult Hit Radio" is how it was positioned).  That was, I believe, from 1985 to 1986.  In the summer of 1986, the Arbitron book showed it had no listeners and it went from live jocks to satellite-fed programming originating in Dallas, changing its name to "Power 95".  That lasted about two months, then the owners pulled the plug and it went dark.  A couple of months later it was resurrected as KLDZ". -John Kopetzky

95.1, at it's most popular, was known as  KLDZ - Oldies 95.  The station was set up by former employees of KLMS, one of  those popular AM stations in the 60's & 70's.   When KLMS dropped their long time oldies format  95.1 became KLDZ (now at 50,000 watts) from the current transmitter site in Davey.  By the time KLMS realized the error in switching an AM station to New Age (Yes!  a  format geared for clarity and fidelity on AM!)  KLDZ and their FM Stereo Oldies format had taken off  in the Lincoln market.  The return to oldies by KLMS was insignifigant. This would become the beginning of the end for KLMS and sister KFMQ (See their individual histories).
KLDZ's studios were originally in the Spanish Plaza medical building on Cotner and R St.  Shortly after moving downtown to the NBC Plaza the building was demolished.  In 1999 an All State Insurance Drive In Instant Claim Center  was built where the old location used to stand.
Although KOOL 105 enjoys a decent share of the Lincoln market with it's current oldies format today, KLDZ saw a decline in the mid 90's and tried a number of formats, unsuccessfully.

Initially they attempted to shift their oldies to more of a hybrid Classic Rock/Oldies format.  Eventually they gave themselves a facelift  in 1996 with new Call Letters and a more defined format.   KNET tried to cash in on the internet craze by calling themselves "The Net".  In place of a local morning show they picked up the syndicated  "Imus In The Morning" show and featured a Classic Rock/Pop Hybrid Format the rest of the day.   (Does anybody have a "Net" window sticker???)

Roughly a year later KNET was bought by Three Eagles Communications (along with KMEM-AM, KFOR-AM, and KFRX-FM).   Imus was moved to the ressurected KLMS (KMEM) and in February of 97 KNET became T-95, an Adult Contemporary Format.   T-95 was not clearly defined, and at times sounded like it's sister CHR, KFRX.   The "Berry for breakfast" show tried to bring a different sound to town, using a high number of "canned" bits from morning show services.  The rest of the day however, was stagnant.  T-95 departed almost a year to the date of its inception.
On March 9th, 1998  KNET began playing "Stairway to Heaven" continuously, until 6:00 Tuesday morning (the 10th) when they debuted "95-Rock" with the Syndicated "Bob and Tom" morning show.  KNET became KRKR with a format of "Classic Hits" which would give long time KTGL (The Eagle) a competitor and bring 95.1 back to life with decent ratings. 
(By this time 101.9 FM had moved from Lincoln to Omaha, but also became Classic hits station shortly after 95.1 made the flip, giving the Lincoln/Omaha market four Classic Rock/Hits formats on 92.9, 95.1, 101.9 and 105.9).

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