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KZNA-FM 90.5 serving northwest Kansas will be off the air starting the afternoon of Monday, October 20 through Friday as we replace its aging and unreliable transmitter. While we're off-air, you can keep listening to our digital stream directly above this alert or on the HPPR mobile app. This planned project is part of our ongoing commitment to maintaining free and convenient access to public radio service via FM radio to everyone in the listening area. For questions please contact station staff at (800) 678-7444 or by emailing hppr@hppr.org

Looking Back with Gratitude: The Pioneer Spirit

Chapter Three: I’m ready for KANZ FM Public Radio! Bumper stickers bearing this message began appearing on cars, trucks, tractors, and saddle bags on highways, byways, and farm and ranch land as news of what is coming spread – a new community resource that will be a combination of school, library, concert hall and Chautauqua.

The pioneering spirit of commitment and determination played a major part in the beginnings of the beginning. Volunteers wrote applications and letters, held fundraisers, made presentations, renovated the abandoned school house in the spirit of barn raising (Doug Woods, carpenter, and Gary Weber, electrician, played key roles), and were there for myriad other tasks. Vincent Mancini was the architect. 

Even the mothers of the young staffers helped. The Mothers Club played an important part in the development of the Station, making sure the young staff and volunteers were well fed, especially during the Marathons.

Favorite dishes like Dodie Hope’s Slow Cooker Ham, Potatoes, and Green Beans; Kathleen Holt’s Cimarron Hotel’s Pumpkin Stew, and Orpha Stormont and Edith Leonard’s Fiddle-Faddle and Cinnamon Sticks were always a hit. And, of course, there is the famous pot of beans left to “simmer on” by horsemen out on the trail, but that is another story better told by citizens of Cimarron.

Join the celebration with a gift to High Plains Public Radio at our website.