74 years ago, Life Magazine, October 6, 1941, carried this image of Ida McNeil, the owner and operator of KGFX, Pierre, South Dakota.

If the studio looks a bit cramped, that’s because it is located in her home at 510 Summit Avenue, Pierre, SD.  Both the transmitter and studio remained at that location until 1958, when the transmitter was moved to Ft. Pierre.  The studio remained at the McNeil home until 1964.

The station’s roots date back to 1912 when Ida’s husband, Dana McNeil, was first licensed as 9ZP.  In 1916, he was licensed as 9CLS.  According to the FCC’s card file for the station, the broadcast license for KGFX was first issued on August 15, 1927, with the licensee listed as Dana McNeil,  The station was originally at 1180 kHz, moving to 580 kHz in 1928. In 1932, it moved to 630 kHz, where it remained until 1967.

The 1932 move from 580 appears to be prompted by WNAX, 180 miles away in Yankton, which applied on March 9, 1932, to increase its power on 570 kHz. The WNAX application is referenced in KGFX’s FCC record. WNAX has one of the largest coverage areas of any AM station in the country, and moving KGFX away from the adjacent channel was probably necessary to make that possible.

In 1967, the station made its final move on the dial to its present day 1060 kHz, with 10 kilowatts daytime and a pre-sunrise authority of 500 watts. In 1974, the station was granted authority to run 1000 watts at night.

Mr. McNeil died in 1936, and the FCC record shows the license transferred to Ida McNeil, as the administratrix of his estate, effective March 26, 1937. The license remained in her name until 1962, when it was transferred to Black Hills Radio, Inc.  In 1940, when this photo was taken, the FCC record shows that the station was licensed with 200 watts on 630 kHz between 9:30 AM and local sunset.

Even though the station was licensed commercially, the McNeils operated it as a public service, believing that radio stations should serve the community. The station began accepting commercial advertising in 1932, but the majority of the air time was still devoted to public service. One of the station’s most popular programs was “Hospital News,” in which she broadcast announcements regarding the condition of patients at Pierre’s St. Mary’s Hospital. The physicians at the hospital were initially dismayed by the idea of public announcements about their patients, which they viewed as unethical. But because of difficulties with transportation and communication in rural South Dakota, they soon realized that the program provided a valuable public service, and gave their cooperation.

South Dakota flag, 1909-1963.

Being a broadcaster was not Mrs. McNeil’s only claim to fame.  Life magazine identified her as the Betsy Ross of South Dakota, since she had designed the state’s flag in 1909, her design remaining in use until 1963.

Mrs. McNeil was born Ida Anding in 1888 in Winona, Minnesota. Her father was a steamboat engineer, and the family moved to Pierre in 1896 when he came to supervise the overhaul of a ferry. She graduated from high school in 1906 and went to work for the South Dakota Department of History, where she was employed when she designed the state flag.

She married Dana McNeil, a railroad conductor, in 1921. While he was on runs between Rapid City and Pierre, she began broadcasting to him over his amateur station. After she realized that he was not the only listener, she began developing a regular programming format, and they obtained the commercial license for KGFX in 1927. In addition to running the radio station, she served as the weather bureau’s official observer between 1935 and 1942.  She died in 1974 at the age of 86, having retired from the radio business with the sale of the radio station twelve years earlier.

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