1340 AM, Sidney

Through the Years

• 1952

  June 2, 1952-  Station sign on at 1540 kHz, 250 watts, daytime only.  Owner is Sidney Broadcasting Co., (William C. Grove and Lewis W. Grove).  William is President and General Manager of KFBC, Cheyenne, WY.
  Main Studio and Transmitter- 2/10th of a mile East of South 11th Avenue, next to Legion Park.

  October, 1952- Construction permit authorized, seeking 1340 kHz, 250 watts unlimited hours.   Joins ABC and keep the network until 2006.

  KSID airs the Wyoming Cowboy Network formed by William Grove, a new regional network with almost complete radio coverage for Wyoming.  Stations are:  KFBC Cheyenne, KRAL Rawlins, KGOS Torrington, KWRL Riverton, KWOR Worland, KOWB Laramie, KODI Cody, all in Wyoming, and KSID in Sidney, NE.  All stations are ABC affiliates.  Grove entered radio via the technical side.  He built one of Denver’s first stations in the mid-1920s.

• 1953

  Facilities changed to 1340 kHz, 250 watts, unlimited hours.

• 1954

  Lewis W. Grove & William C. Grove, d/b as Sidney Broadcasting Company seeks voluntary assignment of license to William C. Grove, Inc.  No consideration involved as partners retain identical interests.

  General Manager Max Young is elected Vice-President of the Nebraska Broadcasters Association; turns GM reins over to David Young.

• 1958

  David Young is elected a President of the Nebraska Broadcasters Association.   The state NBA convention is held in Sidney that year.

• 1962

  August, 1962- William C. Groves, Inc. (William C. Groves 80% and Lewis W. Groves 20%) granted assignment of license to KSID Radio Inc (Mary E. Young 65% and Anna M. Young 35%) for $93,000.

  Increased daytime power on 1340 from 250 watts to 1,000 watts, continued nighttime operation with 250 watts.

• 1973

  Voluntary acquisition of positive control by David Young through the sale of stock by Robert L. Young and Ann M. Young to the license corporation, and transfer of stock from Mary Elizabeth Young.

• 1973

  September, 1973-KSID 95.3 FM signs on at 3,000 watts at 54 feet, co-located with KSID AM at 2306 Legion Park Road.  Programming duplicates that on KSID AM.

• 1981

  KSID FM programming separates from the AM, with a Beautiful Music format.

• 1986

  KSID AM goes to 1,000 watts full time.

• 1989

  KSID FM format goes to Adult Contemporary, duplicates AM programming 30%.

• 1991

  Elizabeth (Ibs) Young becomes President of KSID Radio Inc. Young was raised in the Sandhills and has lived in Sidney since 1958, raising four children with her husband David.

  KSID AM format switches to Country from a mix of MOR, Top 40 and Country.

• 1994

  Elizabeth Young becomes President & General Manager, David Young, Vice-President.

• 2001

  Young’s daughter Susan Ernest is named General Manager.

• 2013

  October, 2013-  Involuntary transfer of control of KSID 1340 AM and KSID 98.7 FM following the death of owner Elizabeth (Ibs) Young.  Young owned 100% of KSID Radio, Inc., but ownership filings indicated Dead-Short Broadcasting LLC had been operating the radio stations under a Local Marketing Agreement since 2004.   Dead-Short is headed by Susan Ernest, Young’s daughter.

• 2014

  Translator for KSID AM, K2239BE 95.7 170 watts (later 250 watts) signs on from a site west of Sidney.  It was purchased from Christian broadcaster “My Bridge Radio” for $10,000.

• 2018

  Translator K224FP 92.7, 250 watts granted for Gurley, NE to relay KSID 1340.

• 2019

  October, 2019-Dead-Short Broadcasting (Suzy Ernest) sells the stations to Flood Communications for $300,000.  Flood will also launch its Western Nebraska News Bureau as part of the $300,000 deal with Dead-Short Broadcasting.

• 2021

  Studios/offices move to downtown Sidney at 10th & Illinois Streets.

  Format Changes:  KSID 98.7 FM flips from Hot Adult Contemporary to Country, “98.7 Th Big Boy,” named after the Union Pacific steam locomotive that ran through Sidney.  KSID 1340 AM flips from Country to Classic Country as “Cheyenne County Country.”