By Ron Brown
March 19, 2010
MEDFORD, Ore. - Ron Kramer has been in broadcasting for some 40 years and is executive director of Jefferson Public Radio and its 22-station network.
He is also a broadcast historian who recently published a book of the history of radio and TV in Oregon. The 470-page book 'Pioneer Mikes' traces the roots of stations from the coast across the Cascades, and Portland to Medford. He also collects old radios and radio memorabilia.
Kramer says Medford had one of the first stations in the country, in 1922, known as KFAY. Founded by Bill Virgin, it broadcasted from studios in the Sparta building at Main and Riverside. The station later became KMED, and after Virgin died, was managed by his widow, Blanch. For several years it was the only radio station in Southern Oregon, until an Astoria station picked up and moved in the middle of the night in 1932 to Klamath Falls and became KAGO. The first station in Grants Pass went on the air in 1939 as KUIN, then became KAGI in 1959. It was donated to Jefferson Public Radio in 1990.
"One of the things that I think is charming about the people who founded and kind of gave heart to the industry, they had that sense of adventure, and also public service," Broadcasting Historian Ron Kramer said.
By the mid-20's, KMED needed more power to compete with stations from outside the area whose signal came booming into the Rogue Valley at night. The Sparta building wouldn't handle the new equipment, so Blanche Virgin moved the station to Ross Lane.
Kramer says radio stations, especially up until the 50's, were like libraries, with a little bit of something for everyone.
"You don't necessarily read everything that's on the shelves of the library. But, there are some things there that would interest you. It's a place you can go for information. It's also a meeting place, and libraries do storytelling and it's kind of a community institution in a broad way, beyond just the reading piece of it. And a radio station has a lot of opportunity to be like that too, and initially that's really the way radio stations operated for many year," Kramer said.
Medford also made television history with the sign-on of KBES-TV in 1953. It became KVTM for a while, and as KOBI, is now the oldest VHF television station still on the air in Oregon.
KMED launched Medford's second television station, first called KMED-TV in 1961. KDRV went on the air in 1984 as the area's third commercial television station.
The old Sparta building on Riverside Avenue in Medford is the original home for Medford's first radio station, KFAY. In the 80-some years since, it's been a lot of different things, including a car dealership and parts warehouse, as well as several restaurants.
If you're interested in obtaining a copy of Kramer's book, 'Pioneer Mikes', they are available at Bloomsbury Books in Ashland, or by contacting the Jefferson Public Radio Foundation at 541-552-6301.
