PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED BY KVNO DESIGN BY MATT WIECZOREK
a real classic
LOCAL RADIO STATION TURNS 50 // HISTORY // STORY BY DWAIN HEBDA
A steady stream of music that tells a story has been sent out over the airwaves in Omaha for the past half-century—radio station KVNO has broadcast classical works that have stood the test of time and speak to the enduring beauty of the art form and the musician’s skill. What many listeners and patrons do not know, however, is that most of the best stories the station ever produced never made it on the air, said Dr. Michael Hilt, dean of the College of Communication Fine Arts and Media at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. // 64 //
JULY/AUGUST 2022
There’s the one about how, in the early days, the station was housed in the Storz Mansion. It got warm in the studio, as former University of Nebraska at Omaha journalism professor Dave Ogden said in a February podcast on the station’s anniversary. Thus, they left a window open to help cool the space. One day a guest DJ—a squirrel—leapt from a nearby tree and wound up using a turntable as a treadmill. Another well-worn tale is how the station’s debut was delayed several hours for want of
finding the right light switch. Apparently, all wiring for the station’s equipment was controlled through one nondescript switch, something the inaugural broadcast crew only discovered when it was time to go live. “I can confirm that, because the person I’ve heard it from was actually part of the process,” Hilt said. “I remember looking at him like, ‘That can’t be.’ I’m sure at the time people were saying, ‘Well, there’s a light switch, but how could that be involved?’ Apparently, it was.”
