Music, Markets and Milestones: 75 Years of KOAC
RadioMusic, Markets and Milestones: 75 Years of KOAC
Radio
First radio transmitter,
1922. On December 7, 1922, Oregon Agricultural College was granted a
license to begin broadcasting radio station KFDJ. Physics Professor Jacob
Jordan (second from left, holding the microphone) built the radio transmitter
for the College's first 50-watt station as a lab experiment.[OSU Archives
#598]
First OAC Band Concert broadcast over
station KFDJ, 1923.
On January 25th, 1923, the cadet band, under the direction of Captain Harry
L. Beard, broadcast a concert including opera, fantasy, popular music, and
jazz. The 60-piece band was cramped in room 212 in Apperson Hall, which
served as the station studio. No acoustic treatment had been applied to
the walls and the microphone (being held on the right) was the type designed
for telephone use. [OSU Archives P95:284]
KFDJ program schedule, 1925. In October
1925, the college radio service was officially dedicated and this leaflet
was prepared and distributed to a selected list of radio receiver owners.
Regular hours of broadcasting were established on Monday, Wednesday, and
Friday evenings from 7:30 to 9:00. Special broadcasts of college convocations,
athletic contests, and other events were also offered.
[OSU Archives MC-KOAC Programs]
OAC Little Orchestra in the radio studio,
1925. On Friday evenings from 8 to 9 o'clock, a musical program was
broadcast live from the KFDJ studio, located on the third floor of the Administration
Building (now Benton Hall). The room was acoustically treated with burlap
to provide a high quality broadcast. The studio was connected to the transmitter
in nearby Apperson Hall by underground cable. Wallace L. Kadderly (far right)
was both station announcer and program director. Photograph by John Garman.
[OSU Archives #598]
KOAC listener, ca. 1925. The Monday
night programs from KOAC were devoted entirely to agricultural topics and
contained features that had direct application on the farm. [OSU Archives
#899]
KOAC student announcer, 1929. Gustave
Y. ("Gus") Hagglund, an OAC senior in agriculture, adjusts the
dials and prepares to announce radio programs on a November evening in 1929.
Hagglund assisted with the farm programs, which were a mainstay of the station's
programming, and was agriculture and radio editor for the Oregon State Monthly.
KOAC was an invaluable laboratory for students in speech, dramatics, radio
script writing, radio engineering, and journalism. [OSU Archives P95:61]
Highway clean-up directions are broadcast,
1930. Mrs. Jessie Honeyman, director of the statewide highway clean-up
campaign, broadcast her final directions to cooperating groups over KOAC
radio. Schools, boy scouts, chambers of commerce, service clubs, and landowners
participated in the May 10th event in preparation for the 1930 crop of tourists.
[OSU Archives #598]
Dick Mote band in KOAC studio, 1935.
Dick Mote's campus dance band participated in the Associated Women's Students'
etiquette program, "Half Hour of Good Taste." The band, also known
as the "Greater Oregon Staters," began performing a popular weekly
radio show in 1933. [OSU Archives #598]
Foresters in Action, 1939.
Allouette, gentle Alouette;
Alouette, je to plumerai---
In 1936, the OSC Forestry Club began broadcasting a weekly program "of
fun and music from the woods" that included skits, tall tales, and
music by the Foresters Chorus. This recording of the theme song was made
by Jimmie Morris and Grant Feikert in May 1939. [OSU Archives, KOAC Records
(RG 15)]
Governor Sprague welcomes KOAC listeners
to the Oregon State Fair, 1940. KOAC broadcasts from the Oregon State
Fair in Salem were popular with fairgoers and with those at home. The KOAC
staff "covered everything down to the last county booth and the giant
squash." [OSU Archives P57:707]
New transmitter building, 1941.
Located on the college experimental farm at Granger (about seven miles north
of campus), this new transmitter house and two new 325-foot radio towers
(in rear) were required in order for KOAC to increase the station power
from 1000 to 5000 watts. The Granger site provided sufficient room for a
ground system of 66 miles of copper wire buried two feet deep. The KOAC
transmitter is a familiar landmark on Hwy. 20 to commuters between Corvallis
and Albany and is on the Benton County Register of Historic Resources. [OSU Archives P57:708]
KOAC assists in flood response,
1943. During the Willamette Valley flood emergency of January 1943,
KOAC stayed on the air broadcasting information and assisting in the evacuation
of flood refugees. Burton Hutton (left) and Grant B. Feikert provided hourly
readings of the rising river, allowing farmers to save irreplaceable machinery
and valuable livestock. [OSU Archives P57:710]
Oregon School of the Air, 1940.
Beginning in 1930, KOAC offered programs 
planned
and presented for in-school use in classrooms throughout the
state. One of the popular programs that aired in 1940 was "Hero Tales
from Oregon History" told by Kenneth Munford. Listeners in Newberg
wrote Munford praising the program. [OSU Archives MSS-J. Kenneth Munford
Collection]
KOAC program, 1950. By 1950,
KOAC offered a continuous 12 hours of programming on Monday through Saturday.
KOAC was administered by the General Extension Division of the Oregon State
System of Higher Education and was a member of the National Association
of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB). [OSU Archives MC-KOAC Programs]
Jimmie Morris, 1958. A pioneer
of Oregon radio and television broadcasting, James M. Morris became fascinated
with radio while a high school student. After graduating from Oregon Agricultural
College in 1928 with a degree in electrical engineering, he became an OAC
physics instructor and served as special events engineer for KOAC broadcasts.
He was appointed full time producer-announcer in 1932 and from 1945 to 1963
served as radio program manager. When he retired in 1972, he prepared a
50th anniversary history of KOAC, The Remembered Years. [OSU Archives #622]
"This has been another KOAC
special event!," ca. late 1950s. KOAC producers Bill Smith (left)
and Les Mock (right) traveled throughout Oregon in the KOAC staff car equipped
with a portable tape recorder to record special events for radio broadcast.
[OSU Archives #598.]
Anybody or anything can talk on
KOAC, 1950. Arnold Ebert interviewed a cow on the the Ralph Cope farm
near Langlois, Oregon. Ebert was the first to hold a joint appointment with
the Extension Service (as Radio Specialist) and KOAC (as Farm Program Director).
He made extensive use of the recording equipment which became available
in the late 1940s and early 1950s to bring a variety of voices to KOAC listeners.
Photo by R.G. Fowler, Jr. [OSU Archives P120:3167]