KXCV helped KNIM get back on the air after an arson fire on January 1, 1977. KNIM AM was back on the air by 12:30 on Jan. 1 and resumed normal programming on January 2.
The Maryville Daily Forum 1977 Jan 03 Page 1
Fire Marshal Investigates KNIM Blaze; Broadcasts Saved. The state fire marshal, who was in Maryville Saturday to investigate the fire early Saturday morning at the KNIM radio station on U.S. 71 South, said the cause of the blaze is undetermined. The heaviest damage was around the furnace, which could have started it, but no conclusion has been reached. Another fire was fought by Public Safety officials Sunday night, across the street from the KNIM radio station. The fire, in an unoccupied house belonging to the Maryville Industrial Development Corp., is thought to be of a suspicious nature, Lester Keith, Public Safety director, said, because there was no electricity to the house.
The fire at KNIM, which was reported at 1:47 p.m. by a State Highway patrolman who discovered the blaze, left little of the building but its shell. Public Safety officials were on the scene for several hours, although the fire was under control within about 30 minutes after their arrival. Both incidents are still under investigation by the Public Safety Department. Thanks to help from the Maryville community, and especially the KXCVFM station at Northwest Missouri State University, KNIM was able to resume AM broadcasting by 12:30 p.m.
Saturday. At 6 a.m. today, KNIM returned to regular broadcast schedules on both its AM and FM frequencies. According to Mike Elgert, KNIM general manager, much of the credit for the resumption of broadcasting goes to the people at the KXCV-FM public radio station. Elgert said Sunday night, “If it weren’t for KXCV’s staff, we would not be on the air.” He praised KXCV general manager Rollie Stadlman; KXCV chief engineer Warren Stucki; Larry Lewellen, who assists Stucki and who engineers at the University’s instructional television station; and NWMSU broadcast major Keith Johnson, a student engineering assistant from Clarinda, Iowa.
“The fire was discovered about 1:30 a.m. New Year’s Day, and by 8:30 a.m., Rollie Stadlman was on the scene assisting us in the way of equipment and the expertise on his staff,” Elgert said. With Stucki leading the way in repairing the transmitter and fitting borrowed KXCV equipment into a KNIM broadcast operation, the station was back on the air on AM by 12:30 p.m. that day. By Sunday afternoon, the KNIMKXCV staff tandem had repaired the FM transmitter to the point that it was able to return to regular broadcast status early this morning. Asked what equipment KXCV had loaned to KNIM, Elgert replied, “Everything applicable to going on the air.” That involves a control board, a microphone, two turntables, and a cart machine (an apparatus used to play recorded commercials, stories, and promotional material).
It wasn’t loaned but was freely given: the technical assistance of the KXCV staff in hooking everything up and fixing the KNIM transmitters. Stadlman has also arranged with the KNIM staff to make space in the KXCV studios in the NWMSU Administration Building available to produce commercial and promotional messages that were destroyed by the fire. Elgert said that while plans are not yet complete, tentative plans are underway to reconstruct KNIM’s studios and achieve more modern facilities.
