Knix by Jim West

Knix by Jim West

Imagine a radio station so successful that an entire nationwide music industry admired, celebrated and honored it as a benchmark of excellence for all other broadcasters to emulate. Imagine a radio station that countless air personalities set career goals to work at and never wanted to leave? A station so intimate that dedicated listeners become emotional with memories of their favorite air talent making a difference in their lives and made to feel like family. An award-winning station committed to its community. A ratings juggernaut that was number one for over a decade. And a place where aspiring country singers who became BIG stars knew they had made it when their music was added to its playlist

KNIX-FM in Phoenix, Arizona is that station.

Country music Hall of Famer BUCK OWENS purchased the station in 1968 and owned it for nearly 31 years.

So many great stories, so many lasting memories. Former Air talent and Program Director R.J. Curtis once said, Getting a job at KNIX was like winning a Rhodes scholarship, no matter where you were after that you could arguably say that you worked at the finest Country radio station in America.

Of the 15,000 or so FCC licensed radio stations in the United States there has always been a handful of iconic radio signals that became well known and super served their communities. Many were pioneer stations establishing themselves during the infancy of the radio spectrum. Some great call letters come to mind; WABC, WLS, KOA, KFI, KMOX, WSM, KOB, KOMA, KOY and others.

Out in the desert southwest there was one station that would grow to become a ratings juggernaut. That station was KNIX-FM in Phoenix, Arizona. The station has quite a storied past. But its popularity with listeners did not happen overnight

Original owners John and Donna Karshner and young son signed the station on the air in December of 1961 with only 3100 watts and a beautiful music format. It was obscure and floundered at the bottom of the local radio ratings as not many people owned FM radios then. On weekends the station had instructional programs on how to speak French and German

The true timeline for the station's success starts with the emergence of a country singer who had migrated west from Sherman, Texas with his family when he was a child. Alvis Edgar Owens Jr, better known as Buck Owens, was 8 years old in 1937 when his struggling family joined the migration of Okie and Texans escaping the dust bowl that plagued that area during the Great Depression. Their intended destination was the promised land of California. However, a broken trailer hitch had them settling with relatives in Mesa, Arizona a suburb of Phoenix for several years.

In the 1940's young Buck began performing in roadhouses and dancehalls in Arizona, even had his own local radio show with a partner. He was not paid, because he was paying his DUES

Jim West was raised on his family's farm 15 miles from a small town in the Texas Panhandle. With the nearest neighbor a mile away, he learned to use his imagination to occupy his mind instead of playing ball with the kids next door. Joining the US Navy in 1966 during the Vietnam War, he served as a Photographic Intelligenceman until his discharge. Returning home in 1969, he flew crop dusters in the local area to support his family and put himself through college. After graduation with his Bachelor's Degree, he joined the US Air Force and finished Pilot training in 1973. After assignments across the United States and Korea, he retired from the military in 1989 to become a pilot for American Airlines. Retiring from the airlines in 2005, he was once again free to pursue his desire to continue the rodeo life he'd enjoyed during college and he began team roping. His other pastime was writing. After publishing his first novel in 2007, he has continued the painstaking research necessary to make his books a believable blend of fact and fiction with the differences between the two often difficult to determine. This book, The Assassin Denver, is the fourth in the assassin series that he plans to take through the entire alphabet if life grants him the time to do so.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781736185605
ISBN 10	1736185608
Title	Knix
Author	Jim West
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Many Seasons Press
Year published	2020-12-01
Number of pages	86
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.