Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds declared Thursday, July 14 to be “KXEL Radio 80th Anniversary Day” in the state. The station is owned by NRG Media.
KXEL was the first station in the U.S. to sign on with the maximum 50,000-watts on a clear channel signal. It first went on the air on July 14, 1942, from studios in downtown Waterloo, Iowa. The station has called a total of three Waterloo locations home during its eight decades of service.
In addition, Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart and Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell each declared July 14, 2022 to be “News/Talk 1540 KXEL Day” in their respective cities. KXEL’s main studio is located in Waterloo, while the headquarters of owner NRG Media are in Cedar Rapids.
The station was founded by Joe DuMond, a Waterloo native who came to national prominence portraying “Josh Higgins of Finchville” on NBC Radio in the 1930s and 1940s.
KXEL began its anniversary year by expanding its service to listeners, adding a Waterloo-based FM translator signal.
The station will mark the occasion with listeners at its “KXEL 80th Anniversary Community Picnic” on Saturday, July 23 at the grounds of the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, the site of some of the station’s earliest remote broadcasts. U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley and Congresswoman Ashley Hinson are among guests who will speak at the event.
Interviewed for a job at KXEL in 1977. 2 things I vividly remember is the tour of the TV station they built without permission in the early 50’s and had become a storage area. The studio was huge with 3 turntables. The other thing I remember is the time clock. To this day, I’ve never been in a radio station where you punched a time clock. I got started in radio after punching a time clock for 5 years while going to radio school. I wasn’t going back to those days….
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