Wyoming Media

Dead Man Walking

Lare Dean — Fri, 08 May 2009 23:39:00 GMT

Wyoming has a lot of legends, but they have one thing in common, they live on forever. KFNB owner Marvin Gussman fits that bill. One would think that Marvin Paul Gussman of 909 North Whittier Drive, Beverly Hills CA 90210, born March 13, 1938 and according to the Social Security Death Index, died May 10, 2008, would have gone the way of mere mortals. But that is not how legends go. According to KFNB ownership report filed with the FCC (BOA-20090227AAG) signed and sworn by Toni Lattea of Casper on February 19, 2009, 100 % Owner Marvin Gussman was still at the helm. If he did go, then you might say the other entity listed, 0 % owner Wyomedia Inc would be next in line. Unfortunately, 100% owner of Wyomedia is, ta da, recently deceased Marvin Gussman.

The reason I even bothered to look this up was, knowing that Marvin had long passed on, was to find out who the new owner of KFNB/Wyomedia really was. You see, Marvin's partner and CEO at Marvin Engineering, is Mark Friedman. Mark was at one time the owner of Wyomedia, that is until he went to jail. Since his crime involved lying to the Federal government, he is not considered suitable to hold a broadcasting license. That makes it a real quandry as to who is pulling the ropes, a dead man or a convicted felon. It seems mafia bosses have not decided yet whose name goes on the dotted line. As long as they can find people to lie to the Federal government, it's just not an issue.

Unless the FCC demands a Habeus Corpus, otherwise the legend of Marvin Gussman is secure.

KTWO television translator in 1984

Lare Dean — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:18:00 GMT

List prepared on February 23, 1984. Translator stations carrying KTWO TV

Organized by location in state, starting with northwest. Number is the TV channel used.

CLARK K06KI

CLARKS FORK K11PK

CODY K13GJ

POWELL K51AK**

SHELL K12KT

MEETEETSE K65BW

WOOD RIVER K04LA

SHOSHONE RIVER K06KS

WORLAND K12BK

TENSLEEP K09EL

SOUTH TENSLEEP K05CE

THERMOPOLIS K05EA

SHOSHONI K13NZ

DUBOIS K07HP

JACKSON K56BT**

BONDURANT K13NB

BONDURANT K69DD**

PINEDALE K05DK

BIG PINEY K07HM

LA BARGE K09IJ

SUPERIOR K12FH

POINT OF ROCKS K08IG

WAMSUTTER K13KN

RANCHESTER K12AX

SHERIDAN K06AT

SHERIDAN K55BL**

STORY K04FC

BUFFALO K06HM

CLEARMONT K08JU

ARVADA K08GH

SPOTTED HORSE K10BL

GILLETTE K04AB**

WYODAK K08AA

ROZET K13IP

MOORCROFT K09KR

HULETT K07GL

SUNDANCE K09AC

UPTON K13BJ

OSAGE K08BI

NEWCASTLE K09AD

EDGEMONT (SD) K06AK

LUSK K12IS

GUERNSEY K08FI

WHEATLAND K12HE

LARAMIE (61) K70FC**

MEDICINE BOW K13MP

HANNA K08EH

SARATOGA K13EI

ENCAMPMENT K08CP

Proposed at this date-

RAWLINS CH11**

LANDER CH22**

** Are translators owned and operated by KTWO. Not all could receive KTWO direct, some were relayed.

All of Wyoming

Lare Dean — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 21:20:00 GMT

A new television service with no connection to casinos or mafia. Look for launch in January 2008 on Bresnan Cheyenne and Casper cable systems.

The latest update on this is, forget the launch. It seems that no one in Wyoming is willing to support any non-mineral industry. If I could find a way for news reporters dig for coal on the swing shift, it might work.

My stack of betacam and other HD television gear is going with me to Hollywood (that's Hollywood, South Carolina). At least they have some sophistication when it comes to modern technology.

Anyway you can look at my Wyoming photos at http://allofWyoming.net

And get HD video clips and stills at http://allofWyoming.TV

Bid analog TV farewell

Lare Dean — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 15:32:00 GMT

When analog TV transmission ends in Feburary 2009, KTWO will no longer be on channel 2!!

According to the latest list from the FCC, Wyoming TV stations have made their final election of digital channels:

Casper
6 - KPTW-DT (PBS)
12- KCWY-DT (NBC)
14 - KGWC-DT (CBS)
17 - KTWO-DT (ABC)
20 - KFNB-DT (FOX)

Cheyenne
11 - KDEV-DT (ABC) t.l. located on Horsetooth, above Ft. Collins
27 - KLWY-DT (FOX)
30 - KGWN-DT (CBS)

Jackson
2 - KJWY-DT (NBC)
11- KBEO-DT

Lander
7 - KGWL-DT (CBS)
8 - KCWC-DT (PBS)

Laramie
8 - KWYP-DT (PBS)

Rawlins
9 - KFNR-DT (FOX)

Rock Springs
23 - KGWR-DT (CBS)

Sheridan
7 - KSWY-DT (NBC)
13 - KSGW-DT (ABC)

This list does not include translator or LPTV channel elections.

Trouble in Casino Land

Lare Dean — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 17:42:00 GMT

I went to Reno Nevada this weekend (January 15, 2007) to meet up with my brother and mom, staying at the J A Nugget in Sparks, a place where my Grandpa Leo would gamble a few cartwheels 50 years ago. The buzz was that recently appointed (May 2004) chancellor of the University had suddenly issued a two word message to the Board of Regents that weekend, "I quit".

This is the same Jim Rogers that is owner of Sunbelt Communications and TV13 in Casper Wyoming.

Details from a dispatch from Lawrence Mower to the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported some of the squabbles. When Rogers came in, he was to develop the University of Nevada Health Sciences Center. He appointed one of his casino buddies to be CEO, where he lasted 1 month. From there Thom Reilly moved to take a post at Harrahs Entertainment for a reported $500,000 salary. Slots pays better than health services. Regent Howard Rosenberg was quoted by the AP saying "The very thing that you need most in education is what he (Rogers) brings to it ... But you can't kill everybody in your way" I am sure he was speaking metaphorically, although it's not exactly clear.

The University of Arizona named thier James E Rogers law school for him after he made a generous contribution. UNLV was promised to get $25 million from Rogers, but yet to be delivered. His self-written biography for the UNLV Chancellor page lists his many accomplishments providing money for various universities, not only his own money (nearly $175 million), but by calling in "markers" to support billion dollar capital campaigns. There is only a half sentence devoted to his entire law practice which supposedly provided the basis for this generousity. Keeping transactions off-books is possibly the reason he sits on the Bank of Nevada board.

His generousity does know bounds as his personally headed non-profit corporation "Sunbelt Communications Education Foundation" recently got its license revoked in 11/2007. Appearantly some charities take exception to laundering other peoples dirty money.

Here is the up-date, a page out of the "Sopranos". Casino owner Reilly "invites" Regent James Dean Leavitt to a dinner with Rogers at an Italian Restaurant. After a couple of hours, Dean walks away with a new appreciation of Rogers intentions concerning health issues.... Leavitt himself being a fellow criminal defense lawyer gets the picture.

In other media coverage, KNPR Nevada public radio has interviewed Rogers a number of times by producer Dave Burns. His draconian management style always a topic for discussion. Listen in on these shows at Http://www.knpr.org/son/index.cfm
most recently on 1/19/2007 Or read about it in the Las Vegas Life Http://www.lvlife.com/2001/01/rogers.html

As a Broadcaster, Rogers has close ties to the Las Vegas Casinos. In 1997 his Las Vegas and Reno TV stations took the FCC to the 9th Circuit court to get the prohibition on Casino advertising declared unconstitutional. Lawyer in this case was his daughter and former Sunbelt corporation registered agent, Janet Frasier Rogers. In the opinion, O'Scannlain made conspicuous mention of the fact the court considered casinos to be often associated with Mafia criminals. Perhaps so as to paint Rogers and Rogers with the same brush.

To see how Rogers fits in with the ownership of the other Casper stations, see the profile on Pete Seiler.

"KWSR" Wyoming Student Radio

Lare Dean — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 17:22:00 GMT

Operated on the UW campus and Laramie cable system only at 90.9 FM. Wyoming Student Radio "KWSR" used Wyoming Public Radio studio C, which is far removed from the WPR control room and had a telephone line used for requests and some "remote" programs. Official genres carried by student programmers went from Acid, Ecletic, New Wave, Rap and finally "Psychotronic", with a little talk mixed in as well. The entire operation was allowed way too much freedom and faculty oversight was non-existant. Eventually WPR demanded that the orgies and parties be held elsewhere. Had about a 10 year run from mid-80s to early 90s.

To protect the guilty, the student names have been removed, and 2591 is no longer a request line.

Wyoming Student Radio is having a revival, this time by internet at http://uwyoradio.com As of January 7, 2007 this URL is kaput. With the new RIAA royalties that require a minimum annual payment of $500.00 per stream for non-commercial netcasters, it is not likely to ever come back. Studio C is getting re-wired and is used extensively for producing WPR news, especially call-in field reports.

Television translators

Lare Dean — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 23:37:00 GMT

Many home and cable systems in Wyoming got their over-air television by way of translators. These stations would receive the "mother" and rebroadcast on another channel. Being located on mountain tops, they extended the television coverage area tremendously. KTWO was able to be recieved south of Gillette on Antelope Butte, a distance of over 120 miles! Some translators worked in "daisy chains". KTWO was relayed to Jackson by 3 such translators, one leg using a 150 mile, non-line-of-site path. These long paths were not always reliable, and I can remember one time channel 2 WXYZ Detroit had skipped in on top of KTWO.

Two of the most memorable characters that built these translators were Don Grimes, based in Sheridan and Darwin Hillberry, out of Riverton. Don worked fulltime for KTWO TV and when he retired, I was assigned his duties. KTWO provided technical assistance to all the translators that carried its programs and operated its own translators at Jackson, Bondurant (feed for Jackson), Lander, Gillette, Laramie and Sheridan.

The first time the KTWO Thiokol snow tractor went out was to install the Sheridan translator on Banner Ridge. Tom Norman, Don Grimes and 3 others built the site, near where the cable company used to have its over-air receive antennas for the Billings TV stations. Banner is south of Sheridan and has a view to the south which allows it to be fed microwave from the Pumpkin Buttes relay from Casper Mountain. KTWO, KCWC and the cable imported Denver TV by this route. After the KTWO translator was built, being TV station owned, was supposed to be must carry on the Sheridan cable system. According to Tom Norman, the cable system put a timer on the main power feed so that it shut down everytime KTWO was doing Wyoming news. That way Arbitron ratings would show minimum viewers and the cable could claim an exemption based on "not significantly viewed" regulations. The cable could stay on because they had battery backup for thier low power equipment.

That site is no longer used by KTWO. In the early 90s the surrounding ranch land was purchased by Skeeter Johnson, owner of Coca Cola of Atlanta GA. He closed the county road leading from the old Banner Store, and decided to charge for the land use. A survey performed by the State of Wyoming showed that the sites used by former Dome Communication (Wyoming Public Radio 91.3 FM) and KCWC (Wyoming Public Television) were in-fact over the line, in the state school section land. KTWO and the cable moved out because Skeeter wanted $5000 a month for use fees. Access is still a delicate issue as the final agreement calls for "4 wheel drive road" which means helicopter. Even in the KTWO days when the roads were still public, I had to helicopter in several times during the winter months.

Above is the current KTWO receive antenna on Antelope Butte, Gillette WY. In the old days it was propped on the wooden posts, pointed down the the hill and somewhat away from the direct line to Casper. This was called a "hot spot", a technique frequently used in rural Wyoming, as a reflected signal could be stronger and more consistant in adverse weather than the direct path. Obviously some later engineer at KTWO thought otherwise.

Bob Price, when he was GM of KTWO TV did not like Darwin, which was strange because Darwin was instrumental on getting KTWO on cable systems, including the one's that he operated. While translators bring no income by themselves, they are a way for cable systems to import TV signals without the expense of microwave relays. While they could be viewed over-the-air, most people prefered to pay for cable service and many did not understand UHF channels.

Translators not owned by the mother station were financed by community groups that functioned as non-profit clubs. Dues were collected annually to pay for the electric and BLM/Forest Service fees. Laramie still has such a group, but others around the state have folded. Engineering for the Laramie translator group is Jim Petty of UW. He also supports the community LPFM KOCA 93.5. Younger audience prefers satellite or programs imported by cable and do not contribute to translator groups. A remarkable exception is Park County WY, where the county runs tax supported facilities on McCullough Peak. KTWO and KCWC are delivered there by microwave relay from Copper Mountain just south of Thermopolis and Billings stations come by fiber to Meeteesee.

FM radio stations can also have translators, and over the years they have helped distribute Wyoming Public Radio KUWR from Laramie WY. With the demise of community associations, WPR now holds the licenses for all of its 8 translators which are in- Driggs ID, Evanston, Lander, Sand Draw [Riverton], Sinclair [Rawlins/Saratoga], Dubois, Worland and Torrington WY. KCSP [Pilgrim Radio] in Casper also has a string of translators across the state carrying religeous programs. Moody Bible Institute was one of the first to implement satellite distribution for translators and serves several Wyoming communities, including Jackson and Casper.

HD radio in Wyoming

Lare Dean — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 18:23:00 GMT

You might not have noticed, but HD radio arrived in Wyoming in 2005 with 5 transmitters, and another 12 in 2006. This is especially good news for Sheridan, with 4 stations, and Wyoming Public Radio listeners with 14. A blog about this with lots of photos can be found at http://www.WyomingHDRadio/

I have actually heard the Wyoming HD sound, having a Boston Accoustics Receptor desk radio and a JVC KDHD R1 in the car. The car radio is useful in setting the nearly 8 second delay added to the analog transmitters so the audio will match. Don't get your time checks from Wyoming Public Radio, they will be a little late...

One neat thing about the HD radios is they display the originating transmitter call sign.

The HD installations have attracted a lot of attention in Wyoming, as can be seen by this eccletic group listening at KBUW Buffalo. One unique feature of HD is it can deliver additional audio programs. The first to have these will be KUWR, KUWC Casper and KUWJ Jackson.

Survivors

Lare Dean — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 22:03:00 GMT

A few at KTWO TV survived the Harriscope sale to stay the course with an extended career, at least through the NBC affiliation era.

Michelle Ferguson, went from accounting/administrative assistant to Jack Rosenthal to become a very successful general manager for KTWO TV through 1997, when she was replaced by Bonnie Foster. Dave Borino managed TV program traffic and air operations through about 1999.

On the production side, Mike McCrimmon, videographer started while in high school in 1979. Mike "Spanky" McLemore was UW grad and started at KTWO in 1985. Many remember Ken Martin who died earlier this year, like many others in the KTWO family, he moved from TV to the radio station, which continued to run under the leadership of Rosenthal and Price. Another face that moved from TV to radio was John Leader, he also helped with engineering tasks occassionally.

KTWO radio was recently up for sale to a group called the GAP, along with a bunch of other Clear Channel stations in the mountain west. Most likely this will be the end of the Rosenthal/Price era.

Then and Now at KTWO

Lare Dean — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 15:55:00 GMT

While "George Kay" put in nearly 40 years at KTWO news, others from the 1980s have mostly moved on.

1986-1988 Tim Curran, News Director at OutQ on Sirius satellite radio
1982-1988 Fred Pfeiffer, weather and morning anchor, KRTV Great Falls MT [wife Terra also worked at KTWO]
1978-1986 Bob Nellis, medical news editor at University of Florida
1974-1985 Pete Williams, judicial reporter for NBC Washington News Bureau
1988-1989 Lisa Sparks, PhD associate professor, George Mason U, Fairfax VA
1982- Vicky Lynn Hawn, US Dept of Engery, Teapot Dome facility, died August 2006
1982-1989 Susan Anderson, Gov Dave Freudenthal Office, government relations policy analyst.

In 2002 Fred Pfeiffer wrote me and mentioned an additional KTWO TV talent of the time - Doc Mueller [weather] who i have not been able to track down. Also mentioned were Dave Nutter, Terry Gross, Terry Hopkins and the "midnight cowboy" all of KTWO radio. Two news reporters that survived the Harriscope sale and continued on with long careers at KTWO TV were Charlie Brown [replaced Pete Williams] and Wes Sturr. Wes was with the TV station until 2000 and died in April 2004 still reporting for KTWO radio.

Leaving KTWO news has since become a time honored tradition. Even NBC news left in 2003. Some of the Johnny-leave-latelys are, in no particular order, with most current assignment -

Thomas Drayton, weekend anchor KTXL Sacramento CA
Matt Tresa, reporter for WNWO, Toledo OH
Najahe Hall, reporter for KSLA, Shreveport LA
Tamara Damante, morning news anchor, KESQ, Palm Springs CA
Tom Grant, editor of Metro Spirit, an alternative weekly in Augusta, GA
Jessica Garate, reporter KRQE Albuquerque NM
Flint Adam, reporter KESQ , Palm Springs CA
Penny Preston, reporter KULR, Billings MT
Lindie Patton, weekend anchor, KBCI Boise MT
Anne Yeager, reporter KVVU Las Vegas NV
Arran Andersen, sports reporter, KOVR Sacramento CA
Blake Smith, weather, KTKA Topeka KS
Elizabeth Wenger, weekend anchor, WXII Winston-Salem NC
Susan Burk, reporter around town.
Monica Webb, fighter not a lover.
Andrew Kozak, weather, KSNW, Wichita KS
John Earl, sports, KKTV, Colorado Springs CO
Marcos Ortiz, reporter, KTVX Salt Lake City UT
Jake Dunne, weather, WLNS Lansing MI
Angeeneh Adamian, KFOX El Paso TX
Rob Preston, WPBN/WTOM, Northern MI
Rossie Barresi, KKTV Colorado Springs CO

And of course the fastest turn-around was by Marvin Nolte, a KTWO anchor for a day in April 2005 then went on to close down KGWC news in January 2006, currently "gone fishin".

Profiles on ex-KTWO engineers Scott Barella, Tom Norman, Steve Broomell are listed elsewhere. Jim O'Reilly added a comment below is also from this era at KTWO, and today he manages major donor accounts at Wyoming Public Radio.

Fire Season

Lare Dean — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 23:37:00 GMT

The Casper Mountain fire burned on both the front face and back side. I was going to make some minor adjustments and supervise electrical work at the transmitter this day, but i changed my mind. August 15, 2006

This was taken from the roof of the Wyoming Public Radio/Television building. The burn area came to just across the road. August 22, 2006

Even the R bar VCR radio ranch is not immune. Lightning started this brush fire in Sybille Canyon. Fortunately it did not burn very far. August 20, 2006.

Pete Seiler

Lare Dean — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 18:06:00 GMT

Pete Seiler was the first GM at Casper 20/Riverton 10. He operated the stations as kind of a running shell game. He would take out corporate accounts at local parts suppliers, and at the end of the month when the invoices came in, he would claim to have never heard of "that" corporation. And neither had the Wyoming Secretary of State office. Attempts to get court judgements were further thwarted by the fact that the station owned NOTHING. Every piece of equipment in the building was leased (from owner D'Adario's Atlantic City casino). He didn't like paying for programming either, so he would grab free stuff off the satellite. These adhoc feeds were often on weak transponders and Pete was using a trade-out home dish for reception. I can remember one fall evening watching a baseball game that would jump every other inning to the Southern Baptist Convention. Eventually he got an ABC affilation agreement.

This is from a contemporary letter, "....Sounds like a big money laundry, for the mob's casino skimming or drug businesses. The mob boys (Antoniak et al) gave Pete (Sieler) a Porsche auto - but he had to fly to Florida to take delivery, and then drive it back. The Porsche is a bit unusual - the windows in the doors won't go down - they are fixed in place, and the doors are hollowed out..."

He was also clever about not paying people for their work. A couple of times he called me when I was an independent broadcast consultant, and I told him I was glad to help, just pay the cash up front. It is said that people who were getting paid got cash out of suitcases. While it is illegal to send cash by FedEx or UPS, certain boxes were known to be delivered to the "wrong" television station during the holiday rush. Certainly the bank accounts ran on empty. Eventually people that had worked at the station found that employment taxes had not been paid and that they were not entiteled to benefits. This led to a temporary shut down of the station during which the Wyoming Dept of Unemployment was being told that it was not "that" corporation. Courts determined that the "new" corporation [Wyomedia] was in fact the "old" corporation [Casper Channel 20], (upheld by the Wyoming Supreme Court).

In a letter that was mailed February 5, 1989 -

"Dear Lare"
.....
"The mafia had a visit from the IRS and Federal marshalls driving a truck last week. They cleaned out Channel 20's office furniture, but didn't take the TV equipment. A box of money arrived 2 days later, and the boys went out and bought new office furniture - cash. Nothing has changed. Also, the mafia has been indicted in New York for securities fraud - selling stock in TV stations they have never built or put on the air"

The Riverton Station was run on the same ethic. Unlike Casper, it was a high power transmitter and used a lot of electricity. The revolving corporate scam finally convinced PPL to remove the meter until someone would claim responsibility. Pete went up and by-passed the meter box to get the station back on, as it was also the source for Casper programs. In those days, PPL actually had service people living in the area and when they saw that television was on the air again, they removed a quarter mile of primary line. Service was off a year or two before the "corporation" ended up paying for past consumption and put in a large deposit before the wires were strung back up again. ABC network was not notified of the outage and continued making carriage compensation payments.

The City of Riverton provided studio facilities for TV10 as it was proud to have a local operated station. However the sheriff eventually had so many warrants for Pete's boss, Antoniak, that he was planning a raid. Pete got wind of this, loaded up a U-Haul trailer overnight and moved out to Casper. TV10 was off a couple of days again, until a Sony TV set at the Boysen Peak transmitter site was put in to receive channel 20 from Casper. Thats how the co-location of studios in Casper started, a tradition expanded by WyoMedia to include channels 2, 10, 14, 20 and 26.

Pete was getting so well known for his shenanigans in Casper that the "corporation" decided best to move him out of town, to El Centro California. There he was GM for the NBC affiliate for Yuma AZ. That station was presented as a gift to Las Vegas attorney James Rogers, owner of Sunbelt Communications which has later expanded its holdings in, of all places, Casper Wyoming. However Pete got his reward as well, but first back up 20 years.

In 1968, Harriscorp, owner of KTWO partnered with Pacific Media Corp to purchase KESQ TV3 in Palm Springs. It seems that later Pacific Media Corp purchased the CBS affiliate for El Centro. Who became their GM? none other than Pete! Up to his old style, the studios mysteriously got moved overnight from El Centro CA to Yuma AZ. Good thing, as PMC's California corporation license is currently suspended. Pete is the registered agent for PMC, Vice President and signs the FCC filings. The corporate address is Timmonsville SC, but they are not registered in South or North Carolina [not "that" corporation]. PMC owner is Robinson O. Everett and [estate of] Kathrine Everett [whose stock is voted by Robinson]. By the way, Robinson is 80% owner of Gocom, which recently held the license for KTWO TV in Casper.

The Everett's are remarkable in the North Carolina legal scene. Katherine died in 1992 but took the bar exam in 1920, jazz age and prohibition era. Robinson O. is her son after she married lawyer Reuben O. Everett. She took an ownership interest in UHF television stations in Durham, Greensboro and other NC communities. Her estate gave $14 million to UNC and Duke university. Robinson was in private practice at Durham until appointed chief appeals judge for military courts martial in 1980. Based on this experience, he required his employees to call him the Judge. Ok, so why have they associated themselves with Pete Sieler [Wikipedia: A shyster is someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics, or a con artist] and a small town Arizona TV station? Certainly not as distinguished as their other undertakings in public service. A check with his law firm Everett, Gaskins, Hancock and Stevens shows he is the only member that participates in criminal appeals.

By the way, the owner of the other TV station in the same small Arizona town is a renowned Las Vegas lawyer who contributed a reported $200 million to various law schools, and the University of Arizona named the school of law for him. Hope Pete enjoyed taking his money as well. The replacement owner of the Casper operation was Antoniak's Orlando lawyer after he got nailed for money laundering. Could it be when the Feds started impounding the legal fees paid for defending organized crime and drug cases, that lawyers got paid in TV stations instead? All transactions, thanks to Pete, occurred with months of each other in 1988-1989.

Pete Seiler, cub reporter for the Myrtle Beach Herald.

Pete got moved out of Yuma recently and now in South Carolina serves Greg Everett (son of the Judge) as TV ad salesman and reporter for the Myrtle Beach Herald. In the column he writes about his fifty years of broadcast experience. The first nine years was as a film cleaner for a small cable system in Montana that carried no TV stations, just offered "local origination". Someone in the mafia confused film cleaning with money laundering and his career blossomed.

KTWO and the revolving owners door

Lare Dean — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 17:39:00 GMT

KTWO has had a parade of owners in the years 2000-2005, to wit-

BCI Growth IV
Gocom Holdings and Gocom Broadcast
Grapevine Communications and Grapevine of Wyoming
Glen Point Associates
Equity Broadcasting
Wyoming Channel 2
KTWO of Wyoming
Arkansas Media (twice)

and now (TaDa) Silverton Broadcasting Co LLC. A corporation with address and phone number in Los Angeles, however they are not actually licensed to do business in California. Or Wyoming for that matter, which probably doesn't matter because they have 0% voting interest [Silverton finally reported as a Delaware Corporation, for Wyoming business in August 2006]. The 100% owner is Mr Barry S. Silverton. Barry has owned corporations in Nevada, of those that are not currently defunct is Pacific Malibu Development.

Silverton bought the Ormsby House [Carson City Nevada] in February 1995 with gambling not starting until October 1995. Throughout his ownership, the hotel-casino has been dogged by state fines, layoffs and lawsuits for nonpayment of bills and later closed in bancruptcy when the Nevada Gaming Commission refused his request for a permanent casino license.

I guess it comes as no surprise that any new television station owner in Wyoming would have ties with gambling casinos. However Barry has been in other schemes as well, including the former UniSyn, a system purported to treat agriculture and food wastes. Another scam was "Detoxahol", purported to cure the problems of tipsy bar patrons that have consumed a little too much alcoholic beverage. Since he has no other broadcast interests, it is a wonder why he should want to become an absentee owner of a sub-producing property now that he is in his retirement years (born 1934). Perhaps who knows him is more important than what the previous owners knew about broadcast operations. So far, Barry's most significant "contribution" to operations was to suggest pulling KTWO off of Bresnen Cable in 2006 if they don't pay "protection" money. Since most people in Casper watch via cable, that would put his viewership close to zero, but then again maybe he's not aware he needs viewers.

By the way, if you call the FCC listed phone number (310-476-2217) for Silverton Broadcasting LLC, you may be offered a membership in Exuma Yacht Club and Spa, yet another Silverton scam. Off-shore investments in the Bahamas, mid-way between Nassau and "Crooked Island". (no i did NOT make this up).

All of the activity in the owner's office is sharp contrast to the career of reporter "George Kay". He started his stint at KTWO television in 1966 and stayed nearly 40 years until retirement in November 2004. He was most noted for his sports reporting over the last 20 years.

Wyoming Public Radio at 40 years.

Lare Dean — Fri, 12 May 2006 17:36:00 GMT

Wyoming Public Radio started as UW campus radio. Run by students and its 10 watts on 91.5 could be heard only in Laramie. Here is an account provided by Bob Rule-

"The first student manager (actually, the first manager, period) of KUWR was Dave Minshall. Dave Minshall later went on to be a newsman at KGWN Television in Denver, and I just did a Google on him, and it looks like he must have gotten fired because of his age or something, sued, and won. Seems he is now some kinda consultant.

I may not have this in the right order, but prior to Alan Bowker becoming manager, I think it went something like this:

Dave Minshall

Hugh Edwards

Ken Dickensheets

Alan Bowker

"I'll never forget the day KUWR signed on [September 5,] 1966. "Bif" (as we called Alan Bowker... his ham call was WA7FIB and FIB spelled backwards is BIF) and radio broadcasting geek Jan Marshall sat down next to me 'n' Chris Humphreys to eat dinner in the Crane-Hill Cafeteria (Washakie Center was not built yet), and me 'n' Chris about split a gut laughing at how ol' Bif basically lowered his lower lip under his plate, held it up, and spun his fork in circles to shovel the food in as quickly as possible... while Jan Marshall bounced up and down in his chair saying "Oooo, ooooo, oooo, we are about to sign KUWR on for the first time!". Bif finished his chow, he and Jan Marshall literally ran to the radio station, and they signed it on. I listened to the sign on in the dorm (McIntyre Hall)... I did not follow suit to race up there in person for the big moment... but I was there from time to time prior to sign on and after they signed on. I actually announced a classical music show for a season.

John McMullen was UW professor of broadcasting and a guiding force in the early years. A future Wyoming broadcasting legend, Bob Rule was also there for the sign-on.

Professional staff was added and in 1978 the power of KUWR was increased to 50 KW effective and antenna located on leased tower at Pilot Knob. The channel was changed to 91.9 for minimum interference. From here the signal also covered Cheyenne. The power increase and mountain top antenna location allowed for expansion by translators. The first of these was K204AD in Casper, a project sponsored by Casper College. It was made with equipment hand crafted by Steve Broomell, chief engineer at KTWO who also provided the tower on Casper Mountain called the "Magic Tree". This was 1980 or about the time Tom Wilhelm began what would become the famous "Ranch Breakfast Show". 1981 saw coverage in Aspen Colorado via translator until 1988, when it became community station KAJX.

In 1985 translator K206AJ went in at Rawlins and this signal was sent by UHF relay to K205BI Jeffrey City. The next year the chain expanded to K215AY in Riverton which relayed from Jeffrey City. 1992 saw the first full service station to be added to the WPR constellation, KUWJ Jackson which got its signal relayed by microwave from Riverton courtesy of KCWC PBS TV. Microwave feed also went to K208AC in Lander and another over-air translator was started, K210AF in Torrington, but it was such low power it did not get out much beyond the campus of Eastern Wyoming College, a situation that was changed in 2005 with conversion to higher power transmitter and tower mounted antenna.

The third full service station, KUWZ, was put in at Rock Springs in 1994, and translator K217BP for Dubois on Windy Ridge a relay point for the Jackson microwave. The next year saw KUWR increase to its current 100 KW effective power and move to new UW owned tower site on Pilot Knob. K228AB in Evanston relay KUWZ from Rock Springs started in 1996.

The big event of 1996 was the initiation of satellite uplink from Laramie. Not only did this replace microwave for Jackson and Rock Springs but over the next couple of years this allowed an aggressive expansion project for new stations. 1998 saw KUWA Afton, KSUW Sheridan, KUWN Newcastle, and KUWG Gillette. 1999 saw KDUW Douglas, and K220GP Lander translator which shifted channel with KWRR starting operation on 89.5 and the addition of satellite dish. 2000 saw KBUW Buffalo, KUWP Cody/Powell, KUWC Casper, KUWX Pinedale, KUWD Sundance, and K217ED Driggs [Idaho]. And last to be built in 2001 was KUWT Thermopolis.

More would have been built except full service station applications for the NCE band were frozen by the FCC nationwide. However modifications were made at K206AJ to increase coverage to Saratoga, and a new translator in the commercial band, K227BB [relaying KUWT] was put in Worland in 2005. A significant power increase for KUWT to improve service at Riverton in 2006. Two new stations. KUWY and KUWL, are slated for additional programs in Laramie this year, and HD2 radio will deliver more programs in Laramie, Casper and Jackson.

On August 4, 2007, WPR hosted an Old Timers Day. People from WPRs past dropped by the station, some were here for the sign-on in 1966 and the power increase in 1978. This select group looks at a collection of pictures from times past.

In attendence was Dr John W. Ravage, retired from UW communication department, original sponsor of KUWR. He has just completed a book "Slick and the Duchess" about Teapot Dome. Available at Amazon for $22.95.

Western Wyoming

Lare Dean — Thu, 11 May 2006 17:57:00 GMT

Just got back from Driggs Idaho aiming a satellite dish, and still find the Tetons to be amazing.

One of the benefits of having transmitters in western Wyoming is the occassional travel through Yellowstone.

Harriscope 1985

Lare Dean — Thu, 04 May 2006 15:14:00 GMT

Twin brothers Burt and Irving Harris were Harriscope Corporatation. In 1985 they owned part interest in a group of stations including KFAC AM/FM Los Angeles, KTWO AM Casper and TV stations KWHY Los Angeles, WSNS Chicago, KBAK Bakersfield, KGGM Albuquerque, KULR Billings and KTWO Casper. Started in 1962 as Harriscope Broadcasting Corporation, in Chicago Illinois, the headquarters later moved to Los Angeles where son Burt Jr "Buzz" was GM. Shortly after the KTWO/KULR sale, the original corporation was dissolved as the remaining stations were incorporated individually. They have now sold all of the stations, the last two being Los Angeles and Chicago to Telemundo/NBC network.

From 1967 to 1974 GM of KTWO in Casper was E. D. "Bob" Merrill. After that he moved to Billings MT to be GM of the Harriscope sister station KULR until it was traded as part of the KTWO sale at the end of 1986. He served as president of the Montana Broadcasters Association and was inducted into their Hall of Fame.

The new GM at Casper was Jack Rosenthal who transfered in from the Harriscope Chicago station. Steve Broomell setup a satellite dish at the TV studios so Jack could watch the Cubs baseball, all day games then. When the TV was sold, Jack was president of Harriscope and used his corporate buy-out to purchase KTWO Radio. Jack was inducted into the Wyoming Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2003.

Harriscope workers were a pretty happy lot. There was a profit sharing plan so that managers did not go unrewarded and bonuses were announced at the regular Christmas party. Harriscope passed out lots of gifts to the employees, they were mostly items they bought from the PI advertisers during the year to insure they were honest about reporting sales.

Scott Barella

Lare Dean — Wed, 03 May 2006 16:57:00 GMT

Scott Barella was director of engineering at KTWO Television from about 1986 to 1998. Previously did television engineering at Topeka KS, Great Falls MT and Bakersfield CA. Steve Broomell left K2 at the time Harriscope sold out their holdings in KTWO TV and sister station KULR in Billings in December 1986 for $12 million. Harriscope sold KTWO AM to Jack Rosenthal and Bob Price, selling a few years later to ClearChannel. KTWO TV has suffered a number of ownership changes since and the value has gone down tremendously along with quality of service. Scott moved on to be Chief Engineer at KCNC in Denver, and now he is at Burst Video in Denver. Scott also wrote articles for popular trade journals TV Technology and Broadcast Engineering.

Another engineer at KTWO TV that served under both Steve Broomell and Scott Barella was Tom Norman. Tom is also with Burst Video.

1985 FM Radio

Lare Dean — Tue, 02 May 2006 16:51:00 GMT

In 1985 FM was just starting to challenge the traditional AM service in Wyoming. Sensitivity in car radios had been greatly improved and FM was starting to match AM for coverage area. FM was stereo, high power, high frequency and remote mountain top tower sites which required real engineering talent to keep on the air.

In Casper, one engineering legend was Dan Roberts who built his own station KQLT and also provided engineering for KTRS and others, today Dan is a manufacture rep working for Broadcast Connection in Chicago. However when Wyoming Public Radio was expanding with new service in Laramie KUWR, Jackson KUWJ and Rock Springs KUWZ, Dan sold them the BE FM transmitters and ERI Antennas. Dan is on his way back returning to Casper again.
Dan looking to 'give away' a Nautel transmitter at NAB 2007.

Dave Worley led a staff of engineers at the University of Wyoming with the expansion of the network to include 14 full-service transmitters and a number of translator stations before retiring. On the west side of the state, Dennis Silver was engineer for KSIT Rock Springs. Dennis started a very successful broadcast consulting engineer business based in Utah and still visits broadcast sites in Wyoming.

In the early 80's my career was shifting from mineral industry to broadcasting. As a consultant I ran the Radio Activity on Collins Drive in Casper WY. It is still listed in the phonebook yellow pages, but the number has not been in service for almost 20 years. Besides work for the Casper TV stations, I did a lot of transmitter work for area FM stations, including several that went broke. That was the main incentive for me to move to Los Angeles and stick with television engineering. Broadcast consultants, in addition to an FCC certificate, needed a state professional engineer license. In this respect, I participated with a rare group which included Dennis Silver and Steve Broomell.

I am not going to list the stations that were on-air because many were combos with AM brothers, and most have changed callsigns since then.

Network Television

Lare Dean — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 18:09:00 GMT

What made television broadcasting economically possible in small market areas was the compensation paid to the station for carriage of its network programs. The big 2 networks in 1950 were NBC and CBS, both grew out of radio broadcast. The third network in size was DuMont, later to become Fox. ABC was a weak fourth, a spinoff of NBC radio. After WWII, the military recognized the need for a secure and high capacity national long distance system, and partnered with AT&T by giving land grants and a lucrative service contract.

AT&T built the microwave connection from Denver Colorado to Salt Lake City Utah following the old Overland Stage route across Wyoming in 1951. Soon after, the connection of New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles (the 3 largest TV markets) was complete and the TV networks started sending live programs over it. Cities like Denver and Salt Lake that were fortunate enough to be on the relay also got live network for their TV stations. In Denver that was KLZ (KMGH) CBS in November and KOA (KCNC) NBC in December of 1953.

The programs arrived on the West Coast too early for broadcast because of the time zone difference. Therefore the live microwave feed was put onto film (kinescope) and played out later. The kinescope film was then sent by bus express to other network stations that were unfortunate to not be on the microwave route. These stations would air the film and then send it on to another station. Stations in the boondocks would be airing live network programs a week late! In order to avoid this, stations that could afford it put in their own private microwave to get the networks. KTWO did this but rather than picking up the raw network feed, it put its microwave on Lookout Mtn with allowed the first leg to go all the way to Cheyenne. This had a more important advantage since it was the air program, the timezone delay was being handled by the Denver network station.

Many small communities in the west had no local television at all. A group in Montana formed WTCI to microwave television from Salt Lake and Denver stations in 1958 for use by cable TV subscribers. KTWO in Casper had its programs carried by WTCI to Billings Montana to feed its sister station KULR. This station to station relay concept was carried one step further by Joe Ernst. His TV transmitter on the mountain north of Riverton was fed by over-the-air reception of the Billings ABC station using a custom fabricated rhombic antenna. The Billings station in turn received its network from WTCI which was carrying the Salt Lake TV stations. ABC approved of this odd arrangement because they were desperate to get any affiliates, especially those not broadcasting in the dreaded UHF band.

AT&T was proud of its land based microwave, and when the military wanted to go to satellite it found a new partner in Western Union. Westar 4 besides carrying the autovon for the military also provided transponders for the new PBS network. CBS could see the economic advantage to satellite distribution, and the other networks soon followed. By mid-1980 AT&T was out of the television business and donated the video switch from its Denver relay to Casper College for the channel 6 translator.

Eventually AT&T replaced the microwave with fiber optic lines and sold most of its relay sites to American Tower. I bought the Rock River Wyoming location pictured below, but found that the 50 year federal land grant had expired and BLM had traded the property into private ownership. This made the site subject to Wyoming taxation, and according to the Albany County Assessor Office, the tax would be based as if it were still carrying a million dollars a month in telephone and television traffic. The fact that AT&T had removed the equipment and was currently being used for non-profit amatuer radio service made no difference. I sold it. Wyoming will have to squeeze blood for this obsolete site from some other turnip.

First National Broadcasting

Lare Dean — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 14:57:00 GMT

When Casper channel 20 changed its call to KFNB, it was to represent First National Broadcasting. (And you thought maybe it was for FOX and NBC). The associated stations in Riverton and Rawlins also carry the "FN" moniker, KFNE and KFNR. Those two are still owned by First National using the same corporate address as Hi Ho and Heart of Wyoming or WyoMedia depending on which FCC database is queried. The FNB stations are operated by Mark Nalbone, who also signed as corporate officer on some FCC documents. However FNB owner was Brent Larson of Salt Lake City AM radio fame [KXOL 1660 and KSOS 800, both sold in 2002]. According to some internet sources he is associated with Las Vegas hotels and casinos, but i am not sure if that is as owner or user. However new ownership info provided in 2006 to the FCC shows new players (besides Nalbone)
   Edward H. Cohen, Los Angeles CA 90048
   Frederick Bauer, Carversville PA 18913 [together with Cohen co-produced the movie flop "Under the Rainbow" and the more successful "Buddy Holly Story"]
   Allen Gelbard, Encino CA 91316
   Toni [Antoinette] Lattea, Casper WY 82601 [she is also corporate officer in WyoMedia]
   Estate of William Capri, Las Vegas NV 89109
First National Broadcasting is a Nevada corporation, but its business license was permanently revoked in 2003 and is no longer registered in Wyoming.

Las Vegas besides hosting owners of our Wyoming TV stations, also hosts the annual NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) convention. PBS and NPR engineers have conferences at this event also, so that is where you will find me in mid-April.

In the late 1990's FNB Casper engineer was Roger LaFrance [married Kathleen Hudson]. He had previosly been technician for 2-way radio shops in town.

   Besides KFNB, Nalbone operates his other Casper stations from this dish farm.

KFNB also has a station at Rawlins KFNR. Programming is microwaved from Casper Mountain through Shirley as a relay. Their first site at Shirley was owned by Henry Ort and when they stopped making rent, the waveguide was removed by hacksaw. They then moved to the building shown in the picture above, but they stopped making payments again and found all their cables sawed off. This was in 2004. Now that Nalbone has taken over operation of KTWO, he was able to move his link to the KTWO building at Shirley.