Memories of 148 KLMS Lincoln's Music Station

17/01/2025

11/01/2025

I just wanted to let everyone know that Chuck Stevens passed away yesterday. We had a KLMS lunch 2 years ago and I am so glad that we took photos. Chuck is on the left, Jack Swanda, Jerry Logan, Lee Thomas, me and Annie Votipka. To know Chuck was to love him!

05/01/2025

GENE KONRADI - Disc Jockey, colleague and all-around good guy at 148 KLMS Lincoln's Music Station passed away in December (2024) at the age of 70. / Mean-o Gen-o was one of the KLMS Hit Men during the 1975 Radio Station Campaign. Here's a collage of Gene with promotional publications for the campaign. Gene was youngest... and tallest.

14/12/2024

SHUTDOWN - On December 10, 2024, KLMS was voluntarily taken off the air. Programming for the K277CA (103.3 FM) translator now originates from KFRX-HD2.

FIRST AIR DATE - October 24, 1949
LAST AIR DATE - December 10, 2024

12/12/2024

Many HOLIDAY PARTIES enjoyed by the staff of Top 40 KLMS Lincoln, NE, plus some shots of the inside of the station, filmed between 1961 and 1969. The studios were located at the transmitter site, on the crest of a hill at 84th and J Streets in extreme east Lincoln.

These 8mm color movies were taken by KLMS Chief Engineer "Curly" Carl Lewis and later edited by him with title graphics added.

People you will see include Harvey Swenson, KLMS Owner & General Manager; Lee Thomas, KLMS Deejay, Program and Operations Manager now Dr. Thomas, a professor of communications at Doane College in Crete Nebraska; Ken Berg, Deejay and KLMS Sales Manager (now retired from sales, Kansas Information and Agriculture Networks); J Marshall Stewart, Deejay; Sandy Retzlaff, KLMS Office Manager; Perry Douthit; Dennis Mathias; Marshall "Marty" Pritchard, KLMS News Director; Rich Mach, a retired air personality and talk show host now living in Salina, Kansas; Frank Newell, former radio station owner, now in Jefferson City, Missouri. Russ Bradley. (Lee Burdorf)

Posted and written by Chris Abercrombie, 23 March 2012. Re-posted to Memories of KLMS by production director, copywriter and in-house graphic designer Gerry Logan, Dec 11, 2024

IF YOU HAVE INFO TO ADD, ALTER OR CORRECT, PLEASE LEAVE IN COMMENTS BELOW.

Many holiday parties being enjoyed by the staff of Top 40 KLMS Lincoln, NE, plus some shots of the inside of the station, filmed between 1961 and 1969. The ...

13/11/2024

13/08/2024

Anyone remember these KLMS cards?

15/07/2024

Here is the obituary for Pamela Horner Vermaas Debord, Pam worked at KLMS in the 70's. First as Traffic Director, (I took her place when she left) and later in Radio Advertising Sales. Pam was very outgoing and a lot of fun to work with. Judy Converse, Pam and I always had a lot of fun in the front office at KLMS.

Pamela A DeBord
NOVEMBER 28, 1955 – OCTOBER 2, 2023

Obituary of Pamela A DeBord
IN THE CARE OF
Olinger Andrews Caldwell Gibson Chapel
Pamela Ann DeBord, age 67 of Castle Rock, passed away on October 2, 2023. She was born on November 28, 1955 in Fairfield, Iowa, the daughter of Dr. James Truman Horner and Dr. Rosemary Lester Horner. Pamela married Edward DeBord in 1986, and they celebrated 37 years of marriage together.

In addition to her husband, Pam is survived by her daughter Danielle Taylor and husband Alex; brother Dr. James Horner and wife Shelley; and sister Dr. Paula Faye Riner, D.PT and husband Mike.

Pam was raised in Nebraska with brief childhood stints in North Carolina and Michigan before settling home in Colorado. She had a heart of gold and loved to give back to her community through hundreds of hours of community service projects supporting the First United Methodist Church of Castle Rock, the Lions Club, and the Dumb Friends League. Pam was an artistic woman who played the piano in her younger years, created stained glass master pieces, and was a creative writer with a successful career in advertising. Pam cherished the time she spent with her family and friends, all of whom will miss her beautiful smile, her great sense of humor, and her positivity that she brought to everyone.

A celebration of life for Pamela will be held Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 10:30 AM at First United Methodist Church of Castle Rock, 1200 South St., Castle Rock, Colorado 80104.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Pamela's memory may be made to First United Methodist Church of Castle Rock, 1200 South St., Castle Rock, Colorado 80104.

13/04/2024

Spring 2024 Lincoln, Nebr. As Baby Boomers assert their last hoorah in Omaha/Lincoln, I recall the Making of the 1975 Top Award-Winning 1480 KLMS "Hit Men" radio campaign, the brain-child of Station Manager Lee Thomas and co-conspirators [pictured here].

As writer, production director and in-house graphic designer, I helped bring it all together into one cohesive illusion along with one of the most talented deejay teams Lincoln has ever known.

We were, in 1975, actually re-creating 1925 (50 years prior) and now... here we are, almost 50 years later relegating both to antiquity.

This photo, by Fran Zabloudil, was our cast and crew pic prior to wrap-up on that cold winter day in the alley by the 1910 Ferguson House, Lincoln.

The campaign was a huge success in '75. New York Judges at the Lincoln Ad Club Competition chose the KLMS Hit Man Campaign as recipient of 3 First Class and Best of Show Awards. The high and mighty advertising agencies of the capitol city were royally pi**ed that a mere radio station could bring top honors.

Thereafter, the Ad Club changed their submission rules making it impossible for radio stations to run away with major honors. Turkeys.

Not pictured here was our stellar 1480 KLMS Sales Team, headed by GM Harley Lampman, Sales Manager Ken Berg, Chuck Stevens, David L. Rusk, Chris Abercrombie and Bob Belknap. The campaign could not have been a success without an equally talented sales department.

31/03/2024

I wanted to let everyone know that Red Abels who worked at KLMS as a Sales Person in the late 1970's, when Warner Bantz was Sales Manager passed away a while back. Here is his obituary. He was a very nice man.

Paul "Red" Abels, 66, Round Rock, Texas, passed away July 11, 2006, in Temple, Texas. Born, Grundy Center, Iowa (7/27/39). Red enjoyed hunting, fishing, scuba-diving and telling jokes. He never met a stranger and was loved by many. U.S. Air Force veteran, serving 1957-63 in the Sentry Dog Section training German Shepherds. He loved dogs and football. Having attended the University of Nebraska, he was a big Husker fan. A special thanks to the doctors and nurses on the oncology team at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Texas.

Survivors: wife, Barb; sons, Shane and Justin Abels; brother, Jim, Bemidji, Minn.; granddaughters, Haley Read, Amanda Abels.

03/02/2023

Combo Combat A Go Go -- Pershing Auditorium, Lincoln, Nebraska. Admission: US $1.00 Advanced. KLMS Deejay Lee Thomas will be there with other air personalities. On stage, rock out to a "Battle of 7 Local & Regional Bands" playing their little hearts out just for you. Don't miss it!!!

19/11/2022

Another KLMS Old Timers Lunch on Friday 18 Nov 2022 in Lincoln

17/09/2021

"I'm Leta Powell Drake," she said to the camera, "And now I'm old."

She said it like she just couldn't quite believe it herself... as if she had reached the final passage and ahead of her, around the corner, waited the grim reaper.

"And now I'm old," she said. That particular video was among the thousands she left behind -- many on YouTube -- when she passed away from blood cancer on Sept 15, 2021 at the age of 83. She had been active in the broadcasting biz right up to the final months of her life. A dynamic force, for sure.

When I was copywriter / production director at 1480 KLMS Radio in Lincoln, in 1974, I met Leta. She came into my studio to record commercials for airplay. She never had much time for small talk, she was there to do a radio spot and get it over with as quickly as possible. Even so, she did learn my name. Everybody knew her name. She was the leading lady of KOLN TV Channel 10 Lincoln.

Even then, I respected her ambition, her talent, her aggressiveness in what had been primarily a man's world. It was said she married young for two years, had a son, divorced and never re-married but instead devoted her life to television broadcasting.

When she began at KOLN TV, the station had a primary weatherman, Bob Taylor; a primary news anchor, Mel Mains (and before him, By Krasne); Bob Zenner and Chuck Stevens as sportscasters; and then along came Ken Siemek as head honcho in weather; somewhere in that list is Joe Kinney and Mark what's-his-name. I remember Bob Johnson. Bob not only sold airtime, he produced and voiced spots (as we called commercials) on camera for many of his clients. My timeline could be a little mixed up here but I'm sure one of my former colleagues will correct me, if I'm wrong.

In the midst of all those men, stood Leta forging ahead relentlessly. Early on, she hosted Cartoon Corral, creating a character named Kalamity Kate to introduce the cartoons. Leta was in charge of just about every aspect of the Morning Show for 25 years. She was Program Director at Channel 10 for 28 years. Ms Drake taped over 1000 celebrity and VIP interviews, many of which have found new life today on YouTube.

In 1975, General Manager at KLMS, Lee Thomas, and I cooked up a new station Arbitron ratings promotion called the 1480 Hit Man Campaign, borrowing on the popularity of the three Godfather movies, and creating our own playing-all-the Hits Men: J Mangle Stewart, Meano Geno Konrad, Frank the Creep Green... you get the idea.

To kick off the Hit Man Campaign, morning deejay Citizen Bill Carpenter came up with the Pie Hit. We would poll the radio audience, asking their nominations for any public figure in Lincoln "most deserving" of a banana cream pie in the face. Guess who won? Yeah, Leta Powell Drake.

We conspired with KOLN staff to set aside time at the end of Leta's Morning Show for deejay Gary Collins to do the KLMS Pie Hit on-camera live. After the hit, Leta went along with it, laughing, while she was on-the-air but raising holy hell as soon as the cameras went dead.

Several years passed before Leta would talk to me, Lee... or any of the KLMS staff. Eventually, she did forgive us. And laughingly admitted it was a good publicity stunt. And... KLMS did pay the cost of dry-cleaning her clothing and wig, and even threw in gift certificates to Tony & Luigi's Italian Restaurant.

Those are my memories of Leta Powell Drake. I was present at her house on Lincoln's Salt Lake for the Nebraska debut of the Polaris JetSki... me and about 50 others, mostly men. She loved it.

May she rest in peace and rise in glory... as only Leta can. Maybe with the UN-L Marching Band playing that New Orleans funeral procession standard, "When the Saints Go Marching In." So long, Ms Drake.

-- Gerry Logan

02/08/2021

Memories of 1480 KLMS "Great American Music Machine". Lee Thomas & Gerry Logan put their heads together to come up with a perfect image of what that Music Machine should look like. The Great American Music Machine (GAMM) sported the 5 transmitting towers of Lincoln's Music Machine that the boss had purchased from a military site in Greenland. And of course, we had difficulties with the radio signal when the Great American Eagle would rip one of them out of its foundation. And then, we had the occasional threat of King Kong climbing to the top. Curly Carl Lewis would be scrambled to flight in the Official KLMS Aeroplane to do air-to-ape combat with the big hairy threat.