Throwback Thursday: Red Ryder

KDHL has been serving southern Minnesota since 1948, and through that time there are countless stories from within the walls and from listeners. I love finding pieces of KDHL and Power 96 history and from time to time will share pieces of that history. No that long ago, in the "You Know You Grew Up In Faribault When..." Facebook group, a post went up wondering about a picture of Red Ryder, who was part of the KDHL team in the early 1960s. The name Red Ryder was a nickname that traces back to coworkers, some give credit to Roy Finden, and Roy suggests that maybe Dave Levine first coined the nickname. Red's real name was Ed Snyder and he held a 1st Class Engineers License, and his notes indicate that he studied in a tent in his backyard to pass the engineering test. Ed started for KDHL in 1960 as a radio engineer and worked evenings at the transmitter site. The transmitter site was an official weather station, and once an hour the engineer on duty would call call with the current conditions. The engineer also kept a program log and brought it back to the station at midnight, which is when Ed signed off. After his time at KDHL, Ed was a transmitter engineer in Mankato.

We’re always interested in learning more about the history of both the KDHL and Power 96 radio stations. If you have pictures or memorabilia from KDHL or Power 96, we would love to see them and feature them for Throwback Thursdays! You can send photos and information to kelly.krage@townsquaremedia.com.