KIDW was an early Lamar radio station operating on 1420 kHz with 100 watts. Period records show it sharing time with Alamosa’s KGIW and later list both KIDW and La Junta’s KOKO under Southwest Broadcasting Co.
Some later histories have suggested KIDW went dark in the mid-1930s, but federal station lists still documented the station as licensed and active later in the decade. Its full later lineage remains an active research subject for the archive.
Sources: Colorado Year Book, 1935–36; Broadcasting Yearbook, 1936; FCC List of Broadcasting Stations, March 7, 1939. The archive preserves the discrepancy between later accounts that place KIDW’s closure earlier and federal listings that continued to show it, rather than assigning an unverified final operating date.
STATION FILE
FROM THE TIMELINE
Moments in KIDW-AM History
KIDW and KGIW share 1420 kHz
KIDW in Lamar was operating at 1420 kHz with 100 watts and sharing time with Alamosa's KGIW. Earlier research suggesting KIDW went permanently dark in 1936 is contradicted by subsequent federal station lists; the station remained part of the licensed Colorado dial later in the decade.
Southern Colorado stations remain active in federal lists
Federal station lists continued to show KVOR in Colorado Springs, KGHF in Pueblo, KGIW in Alamosa, KIUP in Durango, KOKO in La Junta and KIDW in Lamar. The surviving lists are important evidence that several small-market facilities remained active even when later retrospective histories are incomplete.
KOKO and KIDW under Southwest Broadcasting
The March 7 FCC station list identified La Junta's KOKO as a 100-watt, unlimited-time station on 1370 kHz owned by Southwest Broadcasting Co. Lamar's KIDW was listed at 1420 kHz with 100 watts, also owned by Southwest Broadcasting Co., sharing hours with KGIW.
NARBA moving day reshapes Southern Colorado radio
The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement triggered a continent-wide “moving day” for AM radio. Frequencies from 1200 through 1450 kHz generally shifted upward 30 kHz. In Southern Colorado this moved KVOR from 1270 to 1300, KGHF from 1320 to 1350, KOKO and KIUP from 1370 to 1400, and KGIW/KIDW from 1420 to 1450. The new assignments became the basis for several familiar long-term frequencies.
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