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Show More than a birthday Here's a trivia question that escaped from our usual column in the Limelight section: name an occasion when Blair Feulner was actually seen in public in black tie and tails. Here's a hint: one of them (and we can think of only two) was three years ago Saturday, July 2. The place: the Car 19 Restaurant. Figured it out yet? It was KPCW's signing-on party. July 2, 1980. For the first time, Park City had its own radio station. Feulner and KPCW were the toast of the town. It took Feulner two years, wading through mounds of red tape, cajolling countless hours of work from streams of volunteers, begging antique equipment from radio stations around the Salt Lake Valley to get the sation on the air. It was no small accomplishment, especially when Feulner started out with no money and stood to make nothing from his efforts. But that was nothing compared to the energy that has been burned up keeping the station on the air. Since that day three years ago, the ancient transmitter behind the Memorial Building has been replaced with a shiny new model on Quarry Mountain. A translator station on Lewis Peak now beams KPCW into Coalville, Kamas and parts of Wasatch County. New offices have been built on the ground floor of the Memorial Building. A contract was signed with the Associated Press to bring Park City hourly news reports. re-ports. Jon't get the impression that this has all happened on its own momentum. It hasn't. During the first year or so. staff turnover was as regular and as frequent as the phases of the moon. Feulner discovered that finding reliable paid staffers for $600 a month was a tall order. By the same token, keeping volunteer disc jockeys after the initial euphoria had worn off was a job in itself . As if this wasn't enough to give a person a nervous breakdown, break-down, there was also the chore of begging enough donations to keep the bill collectors away. As each piece of new equipment came in, the bills went up. The station organized money-mooching marathons to stay ahead of the game. But if you know Blair Feulner, you know that all this was secondary to the job he enjoys the most: scooping the local papers. Somehow he has managed to maintain a daily four-hour four-hour newsmusic show along with his other duties, regularly coming up with news gems before they have seen daylight anywhere else. On top of this, he has also managed to come up with a three-year plan for the station, looking ahead to the day when KPCW isn't the only game in town and planning ways to keep the local listeners loyal. He has done a magnificent job. Although we don't always agree with his taste in music, we are in awe of his ability to keep Park City abreast of the latest happenings. This Saturday's birthday party is more than a celebration of three years of KPCW. It is a tribute to the man who is responsible for it all. We consider Blair to be both a good friend and a tireless competitor. Because of him, we are all better off. -DH |
