Here are earlier entries featuring Bismarck, N.D.’s KFYR-AM.  Unfortunately, I can’t find anything about the “Hayloft Frolic” show. If you know anything, please leave a comment!

Here are previous entries about Bismarck, N.D.’s KFYR-AM.  As of 2015, iHeartMedia owns the station, which carries a news/talk format during the week and plays oldies hits during the weekend.  KFYR-AM also simulcasts on an FM translator at 99.7 MHz.

Click here to see more of WDAY’s bizarre, sexually charged ads from the 1940s and 1950s.

The owner North Dakota’s first radio station, Fargo’s WDAY, launched WDAY-TV in 1953.  The NBC affiliate shared ABC programming with KXJB-TV until KTHI-TV (today’s KVLY) signed on in 1959.  WDAY-TV swapped affiliations with KTHI in 1983, becoming an ABC affiliate.

WDAY-TV’s Channel 6 signal had to be adjusted to protect Winnipeg’s CBWT, Channel 6.  That accommodation meant WDAY’s signal did not cover much of the northern part of the Fargo/Grand Forks TV market.  

In 1967, the station signed on WDAZ-TV, Channel 8, in Grand Forks, N.D., to cover the northern parts of the market.  WDAZ is a semi-satellite, producing its own newscasts and commercials, but airing much of WDAY’s syndicated programming.

WDAY and WDAZ carry The CW on their digital subchannels.

As of 2014, Forum Communications Company owns both stations.

Here’s a clip of WDAY-TV’s coverage of flooding in 1997:

Source: Wikipedia (WDAY-TV), (WDAZ-TV)

KFYR signed on the air from Bismarck, N.D., in 1925.  Phillip Meyer and his wife, Etta, founded the station. 

During network radio’s golden era from the 1930s into the 1950s, KFYR carried NBC programming, along with local news, weather sports and variety shows.  KFYR’s low dial position and North Dakota’s excellent ground conductivity sent the signal far and wide, as this 1947 ad touts. 

KFYR switched to a Top 40 format in the early 1960s and attracted teenage listeners all over the Dakotas.  In 1979, The Pointer Sisters and Elektra Records sued KFYR when it redubbed the group’s then-hit “Fire” and made it sound like the women were singing “K-Fire,” the station’s branding slogan, in the chorus.  The suit was settled out of court.

KFYR-AM continued the format into the 1990s, when it added a news/talk format during the day and played classic rock and oldies in the evening.  Today, the station’s format is primarily news and talk programming.

KFYR-FM launched in 1966 as a middle-of-the-road station.  It flipped to oldies in 1972 before switching to Top 40 in 1975 as KYYY-FM.  It adopted a Hot AC format in 1996 and gradually added more Top 40 hits.  It flipped to adult contemporary in 2005 and moved back to its current Top 40 format in 2012. 

KFYR-TV signed on in 1953.  The Meyers’ daughter owned the station.  The family launched three other stations across the state in later years, forming the “Meyer Television Network,” with KFYR-TV as the flagship station.  

KFYR-TV’s local news operation has earned a reputation for quality.  The NBC affiliate’s newscasts have led the ratings for decades.

The Meyers sold the KFYR stations in 1997.  As of 2014, Clear Channel Communications owns KFYR-AM and KYYY-FM.  Hoak Media owns KFYR-TV.

Sources: Wikipedia (KFYR-AM), (KYYY-FM), (KFYR-TV)

KSJB-AM signed on in 1928 from Jamestown, North Dakota. It became a CBS affiliate.

The station launched a Top 40 format in 1953, trying to compete with Bismarck’s KFYR-AM.  KSJB dropped pop music 20 years later, adopting its current country format in 1973.  

The station’s signal can be heard through much of the Upper Midwest.  In addition to classic country music, it carries significant programming geared toward truck drivers and farmers.  As of 2014, Chesterman Communications owns the station.

Source: Wikipedia (KSJB-AM)

A 1943 ad for Fargo’s WDAY-AM, which advertised heavily in Broadcasting magazine.   Here’s an earlier entry about the station’s history.

One of the most prolific station advertisers in Broadcasting Magazine was WDAY-AM in Fargo, N.D.  This cartoon character is the station’s mascot in the ads, which frequently feature a buxom woman.

The station signed on in 1922 as North Dakota’s first radio station.  It’s hard to find much about the station’s history.  The Forum newspaper bought 49 percent of the station in 1935 and the remainder in 1958.  WDAY still is owned by Forum Communications, which owns the newspaper and sister TV station, WDAY-TV Channel 6.

We know WDAY-AM was an NBC affiliate.  Today, it is a news/talk station that carries ABC News.

A severe thunderstorm damaged the station’s tower array in May 2011.  The FCC has granted WDAY-AM a construction permit to boost its signal to 10,000 watts from a new transmitter site near Barnesville, Minnesota.

Source: Wikipedia (WDAY-AM)