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[HCDX] Pioneer radio station turns 80, WMFG
Pioneer radio station turns 80
The electronic media age reached Hibbing on Sept. 5, 1935, when radio station WMFG signed on the air.Minnesota had only nine other radio stations at that time, with six of them broadcasting from the Twin Cities.The Village of Hibbing had a permanent radio station before the cities of Rochester, Saint Cloud and Mankato, making it a point of pride for the community.WMFG is the 10th oldest continuously licensed radio station in Minnesota.The Head of the Lakes Broadcasting Company, owners and operators of WEBC Duluth, started WMFG and contributed Chief Engineer Charlie Persons, Station Manager Harry Hyatt and announcers Jimmy Peyton and Kenneth Fagerlin.A 165-foot tower was erected on the roof of the Androy Hotel. The WMFG studios were in the Androy Hotelâs basement for its first 20 years of broadcasting. A special permanent broadcast quality telephone line linked the studio to the Hibbing High School (HHS) Auditorium, gymnasium and football field â an unusual luxury for a 100 watt station.On the evening of Sept. 5, 1935, the inaugural broadcast ceremony was held in a packed HHS Auditorium. Mayor Arthur Timmerman opened the program with Hibbing School Board Chair W.A. McFarland.WCCO contributed 15 minutes of programming including Gov. Floyd B. Olson welcoming the station to the air. The program was dominated by local talent such as the Rudd Family, the Hibbing City Band, the Eveleth City Band and the 50-piece Iron Range Symphony Orchestra led by conductor Luigi Lombardi.WMFG and WEBC also needed a Class A telephone line to link the stations for the Arrowhead Network. Northwestern Bell would only agree to give them a Class C line or âvoice onlyâ line. The phone company line was so poor that a WMFG Announcer Morrie Canlin would listen to football games from WEBC over the phone and repeat the play-by-play into a WMFG microphone.The stations were forced to use Postal Telegraph lines. To compensate for the telegraph line low fidelity, Chief Engineer Charlie Persons built a series of amplifiers along the line. The amplifiers caused programming to bleed into telephone calls causing customers of Northwestern Bell to complain. Bell and Arrowhead came to an agreement where the stations could use their Class A phone lines and the network would stop using the amplifiers.âââWMFGâs original power was 100 watts â about enough to cover the Iron Range â but not enough power to become a national network affiliate. Local programming dominated the 7:45 a.m. to 9 p.m. schedule, including The Howard Street Reporter, Home on the Range, Range Revels, The Sequin Sisters, the WMFG Stock Company and Piano by Request.One of the most well remembered shows was The Childrenâs Hour, which featured local range children performing live on the air. One pair of singing children was Louie & Lulu, the Kosovich Twins. Their rendition of âPiccolo Peteâ gained Louie the life-long nickname âPiccolo.âOne early WMFG show gained national attention. It was The Medicine Show sponsored by âShapiroâs Drug & Cut-Rate Liquorâ store. The 15 minute show mimicked an old-time medicine show travelling across the Iron Range with a âsheriffâ breaking it up at the end of each program.âBroadcastingâ magazine reported that Shapiroâs revenue nearly doubled in June and July 1936. The publication also noted that WMFG served âthe melting pot of nationalitiesâ on the Iron Range with programs in Serbo-Croatian, Polish, Swedish, Italian and a daily news broadcast in Finnish.WMFG broadcast live programming most of the day, but some network programming was heard on WMFG by recording. Sponsors of programs sent 16-inch diameter records (called âelectrical transcriptionsâ) out to radio stations in their business markets that lacked network-affiliated stations. Thus WMFG was able to broadcast Wheatiesâ Jack Armstrong, the All American Boy, Cheeriosâ The Lone Ranger and Pure Oilâs Captain Midnight and Oxydolâs Ma Perkins.In September 1937, the FCC allowed WMFG to raise its power to 250 watts and WMFG joined CBS. CBS provided six hours of programming to WMFG each day, including CBSâs legendary news coverage of the outbreak of World War II featuring Edward R. Murrow, Eric Sevareid, Robert Trout and William L. Shirer.On Sunday, Oct. 30, 1938, WMFG broadcast one of the most famous radio programs of all time, âThe War of the Worldsâ, presented by Orson Welles on the Mercury Theater. Welles used simulated newscasts to tell the story of an invasion from Mars â newscasts so realistic that thousands from coast-to-coast believed it was really happening.CBSâs WCCO Minneapolis also provided WMFG with a regional 10 p.m. newscast with Cedric Adams.âââOn Jan. 1, 1942, WMFG dropped CBS and joined NBC and began to present some of Golden Age Radioâs most famous programs: Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Fibber McGee and Molly, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy and Red Skelton. Amos ânâ Andy were heard on WMFG via CBS from 1939 to 1941 and NBC from 1943 to 1948.NBC strictly limited times for local programs and recordings. During this time, WMFG provided local programming Early Risers, Sunrise Serenade, News of Hibbing and Arrowhead Calling.The 10 p.m. news alternated between News-Tribune Time, Daily Tribune Time and simply The Ten Oâclock News, depending on who was sponsoring the newscast.WMFG from 1942 through 1955 resembled todayâs television stations, with long blocks of national programs during prime-time periods and local programs in the morning, noon and late evening. Big Bands filled the time between the 10 p.m. news and sign-off at 11 p.m. each night.âââIn 1958, WMFG was purchased by Harold Parise and Frank Befera. NBC was dropped in 1960 in favor of locally-produced music programs where disc jockeys prevailed.WMFG became one of the first members of Minnesota Twins Radio Network in 1961. Les Rutstein was commercial manager and station manager through much of the 1960s.WMFG joined ABCâs American Information Radio Network in 1970, which included Paul Harvey News. WMFGâs first talk show, Itâs Your Dime, gained popularity in the 1970s along with its host, Dick Nordvold. Nordvold was also the voice of Hibbing High School sports broadcasts in the â70s and â80s, and later served as mayor of Hibbing.WMFG is Minnesotaâs 10th oldest continuously licensed radio station and currently features an adult standards format, playing hits from the 1950s through the 1970s.WMFG-FM began in 1961 and after a period of simultaneous broadcasting WMFG-AM programming, eventually split off to play a more modern sound in the 1970s.Currently WMFG-FM features classic hits radio, playing rock classics from the â60s to the â80s. Both stations are owned by Midwest Communications.Todd Kosovich is a Hibbing native and 1979 Hibbing High School graduate. The senior prosecutor for the Morrison County Attorneyâs Office in Little Falls, Minn., he regularly lectures on radio history and has appeared as a guest on many radio stations around Minnesota. Kosovich is currently writing a book on the history of Minnesota Radio Stations 1912-1962. Toddâs father, Louis, and aunt, Louise, were featured on WMFG in the 1930s as Louie & Lulu, the Kosovich Twins.
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