On Saturday. April 22, 1927 at 10:30 p.m., KPDN’s first broadcast by Bill Karn was heard over the radio by members of Pampa and the surrounding communities.
The session covered the programs of the North Texas School and Orchestra association, which no longer exists.
By 1989, KPDN had gone silent after almost 60 years of broadcasting Pampa High School sports games and other events. Despite being on the air for so long, the history of KPDN seemed to be lost to time. Then one day last month, a full-page ad along with an article in a June 1951 newspaper for KPDN was found by this Pampa News reporter while looking for information on the now abandoned Hughes Building.
So naturally, my publisher and I started to ask ourselves this question - what happened throughout those 60 years?
My curiosity got the better of me, and I got to work. It took a lot of digging online and sifting through articles in archived newspapers dating back almost 90 years - but I can now say that I have fully satisfied my own curiosity and hopefully you, the reader’s curiosity as well.
KPDN sent out it’s first broadcast in 1937
According to The Pampa Daily News’ Friday, June 15, 1951 edition- KPDN sent out it’s first broadcast in 1936. And while the radio station’s first entry on their construction permit and license record is dated March 3, 1936, it was determined by this Pampa News reporter that the date listed as the first broadcast was actually a misprint- as those same FCC records indicate the first broadcast to be one year later on April 22, 1937.
The rest of the information in the article found in the 1951 newspaper, however, was correct.
The article states that the radio station was originally owned by J.L. Nunn, and it along with The Pampa Daily News was purchased about one month after it began operation by R.C. Hoiles.
The name of the radio station, KPDN, comes from K- the call letter for the area, and PDN- stands for Pampa Daily News.
A contest was held after Hoiles purchased KPDN for a slogan, and that winning slogan was “KPDN at the Top O’ Texas.”
KPDN’s first broadcaster, Bill Karns, produced radio shows such as “Screen Theater Guild of the Air,” the “Tex Williams Show” and “Baby Snooks.” He also produced “I Love a Mystery” and “Count of Monte Cristo,” heard over Mutual and KPDN.
Ray Monday was another early personality heard over KPDN, but he moved on to larger radio stations in East Texas not long after KPDN went live.
KPDN went through many changes over time, including a name change before going silent in Aug. 1989
The radio station was originally housed in what the 1951 news article describes as The Culberson Building until moving into the Hughes Building on June 1, 1951.
It operated on 100 watts on a wave length of 1410 until it was increased to 250 watts on a wave length of 1340 in 1941.
In August 1949, Coy Palmer, popularly known as “Uncle Coy” at the time, was hired as a staff announcer at KPDN. He was promoted to program director on Feb. 1, 1950 and became manager on Oct. 1, 1950.
His shows included “Sunshine Man” and “Funny Papers” in the mornings and “Lullaby Lane” in the evenings.
In 1953, the “Voice of the Buffs” Warren Hasse was introduced as KPDN’s sportscaster, who remained on air for 45 years. KPDN was widely known for their local sports after that.
In December 1952, Hasse and Palmer purchased KPDN and The Pampa Daily News newspaper from Hoile.
Hasse managed KPDN until July 16, 1981 when he sold the station as its sole owner to Phil Moore, who renamed KPDN to KSZN.
Moore passed away only five years later and the station was put in a trust. Unfortunately, KSZN was never sold after being put into the trust and went silent on August 18, 1989.
What’s left of KPDN/KSZN today
There is not much left of the old radio station now, other than the history spread out among various documents, old newspapers in The Pampa News’ archives and one known book.
The book This Land is Your Land: Woody Guthrie and the Journey of an American Folk Song by Robert Santelli mentions KPDN as a radio station that used to play Woody Guthrie’s songs locally. The book described the radio station as: “It wasn’t anything special.” The book also states that Guthrie’s appearance on KPDN as the first time he ever performed on radio.
Collector of broadcasting and communications items, Jay Arnold, happens to have one physical item from KPDN in his collection. It’s a microphone-shaped radio with KPDN’s name and wave length (1340 KC) printed across the front in bold letters. Arnold has been kind enough to share a picture of this relic with us here at The Pampa News.
