KLEF - FM 98.1 - Anchorage, AK

Yep, it really is me, Rick Goodfellow, owner, founder, and general manager of KLEF. The shot on the left was taken about 1965 by my uncle Delton who was a diary farmer in Wisconsin. He was visiting his Alaskan relatives and wanted to see his nephew Rick working at the ... See more e radio station which happened to be KINY in Juneau, Alaska.  I did part time work there during my high school years for the princely sum of $2 an hour and haven’t gotten a significant pay raise since.  Radio is like that.    The orange pith helmet was left over from the Golden North Salmon Derby which had concluded the previous week or so.  In those days both Juneau’s radio stations had live reporters at all three derby check points for all three days of the derby.  The pith helmets were worn by derby officials and the one I’m wearing in the photo somehow found its way back to the KINY studio.  I put it on for uncle Delton’s benefit and he snapped the picture which somehow manages to encapsulate the spirit of Alaska radio back in the mid 1960’s.  You’ll notice I am playing 45 rpm records.  I have tried many times to see exactly what they were but uncle Delton’s focus just wasn’t sufficiently sharp.  I can guarantee you though, it wasn’t Beethoven.   The photo on the right was taken much more recently by Dr. Roger Duncan who stopped by KLEF for some reason or other, probably in search of publicity for the Anchorage Civic Orchestra.  I can’t tell you precisely when it was taken but it must have been sometime after April 1, 2008 since we clearly had moved out of the Frontier Building and into the Anchorage Business Park.  Why I was wearing a tie that day I can’t recall but I assure you it wasn’t because I expected to have my picture taken.   So, a time lapse of roughly forty three years between the photo on the left and the photo on the right. Who says there is no such thing as progress?

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