by AGS member Michael Wilson
My grandfather, Leonard Wilson, was an early radio-station operator in Colorado.
In 1928, he built radio station KGIW in Trinidad, Colorado, for his employer at the time, the Trinidad Creamery Company. The owner of the Creamery, Jack Jacobsen, thought that radio would be a good way for him to get his pricing out to farmers faster.
The station started broadcasting in February 1929. Jacobsen decided that the radio station wasn’t helping him like he hoped, so he was going to shut it down. However, Len had some money saved up and he bought the station from Jacobsen in October 1929. He remained in the radio business for nearly 20 years, owning and operating several stations in Colorado and New Mexico.
In 1947, he decided to switch to the other side of the counter and started selling electronic parts to radio stations in Albuquerque. He started the business as a branch of L. B. Walker Radio Company of Pueblo, Colorado. Larry Walker sold his share of the company to Len after just a few years, but Len continued to operate Walker Radio Company in Albuquerque until his death in 1981. His son Don continued the business after that.
KGIW was moved from Trinidad to Alamosa in 1932 and Len sold it in 1939, but it is still on the air today, 93 years after he started it.
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