You may not know Joe Kenney to look at him, but chances are you know his voice. Kenney’s been a fixture on Lander and Wyoming radio for going on 60 years.
From an early age, Kenney was fascinated by the world of radio. This passion for broadcasting led him to become, at just age 23, manager of the Lander, Wyoming, radio station KOVE AM, which he eventually went on to own.
E.J. Breece, owner of the Lander Journal newspaper, had started the station in 1948, the same year Kenney was born. It had been such a monumental occasion that Wyoming Gov. Lester Hunt came back to his hometown to turn the station on that would bring the modern world to Lander.
One of Kenney’s earliest memories centers around radio.
His parents had a large console radio that dominated the family living room and as a small boy, his family would sit around it, listening to the local radio announcers, music and shows.
Kenney was intrigued and wanted to uncover the mystery behind the voices coming through that box as if through magic.
“I can remember actually looking behind the radio,” he said. “I was trying to see where the guy was.”
Although he could not see them, Kenney continued to listen to the announcers. By the time he was twelve, he was using their techniques to announce the Casper Little League baseball games.
“I would be the kid in the booth that announced who was batting, who was on deck, and who was in the in the hole,” Kenney said. “I just was the kid announcer in the booth. That was kind of my first exposure to broadcasting.”
At 14, he began biking over to the local KOVE radio just to hang around, finally able to see the radio announcers for himself as they went live on air.
Noticing his interest, the announcers took him under their wings and begin mentoring the teenager, even allowing him to spin disks and announce on air himself.
A Radio Prodigy
Station Manager Mike Goodrich helped trained the young radio prodigy.
One lesson in particular stood out when Kenney was live on air. At the time, the radio station had two turntables and two machines that played commercials. Goodrich had come in and distracted Kenney to the point that the teenager had run out of records and commercials to play.
“All of a sudden, all I had was dead air,” Kenney recalled. “I can remember turning to him panicked and saying, ‘What do I do? What do I do?’”
Goodrich shrugged and answered, “Well, I don't know.”
He then walked out, leaving Kenney to deal with the dead air himself.
“Taught me a lesson,” Kenney said. “Never, never let anybody distract me from what I was there to do.”
This focus on radio stayed with Kenney throughout his entire career as he continued to learn all the aspects of the business including how to operate the complicated equipment.
In the early days, Kenney could only announce on air if somebody was in the building with him who had a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) third class radio telephone permit. This was because if the station was on, there had to be somebody there that could take meter readings of the transmitters every 30 minutes to make sure the transmitter was running as it was supposed to. This usually was Station Manager Goodwich’s job as he continued to mentor Kenney in all things radio.
At 16, Kenney met the requirement of being on-air for a year and was able to take the test for his own permit. He went to Denver, the closest place offering the test, and passed. He was now able to operate the equipment and man the building himself. After that, he was assigned weekends and nights at the radio station.
The 1960s Broadcasters Of Lander
When Kenney was learning the business 60 years ago, his mentors were bigger than life and minor celebrities around Lander, although now largely forgotten.
There was radio announcer Ben Benson, who Kenney described as a big, blustery guy with an explosive temper. One time, Kenney witnessed him backing out of the driveway and running over his kid’s tricycle. Benson just drove off down the street, scattering tricycle parts in his wake.
Kenney said that the KOVE sports announcer was the “real” Johnny Steele. He described him as a small man who was just energy.
“I remember him doing a broadcast of a Lander Tigers game,” Kenney said, referring to the high school team Steele was announcing for. “He did one of these deals where he’s calling out, ‘He's at the 50, the 40, the 30. Look at that little son of a bitch run!’ And he was live on air.”
A slip like that could have resulted in a fine from the FCC who strictly monitored such behavior on air.
Station Manager Mike Goodrich also had his quirks. Kenney recalled a habit Goodwich had of not wearing shoes during the summertime which disturbed some of the clients he would call on. One day, he just wandered off and never came back.
“I think they're just individuals,” Kenney said. “They were called to serve the community and to provide entertainment.”
College Drop Out To Business Owner
After graduation, Kenney left Lander and his job at KOVE to attend Casper College, and then the University of Wyoming.
He explained that at UW, he wasn’t a very good student and didn’t enjoy anything about college. So, he dropped out and came home, where he found a job working at Hallam’s, the local Chevy dealer, in the parts department.
An opportunity to go back to work at the radio station came up and he returned to KOVE. He worked as a staff announcer and salesman. He learned to write news, record commercials and generally learned the ropes of the business for the next two years.
“When Mike Goodrich just kind of wandered off, I told Dan Breece that I could run this radio station,” Kenney said. “That I'd like a chance.”
Breece agreed and, as a 23-year-old self-described kid, Kenney was hired as the manager.
“If I hadn't left Laramie when I did, I wouldn't have had that opportunity to have a life doing what I loved,” he said. “Timing is everything you know.”
Eventually, Kenney became business partners with Breece and they continued to grow their radio footprint. In 1975, they built KDLY, the first FM station in Fremont County. By this time, Kenney had another partner who helped put the station on the air.
That same year, he had married Andrea Schuman, a high school teacher from Scottbluff. Over time, the Kenneys bought Breece out to become the sole owner of both radio station.
Community Radio
“I believed when you accept the responsibility of a radio license, your job is to serve the community,” Kenney said. “So I was out there.”
Whenever there was an emergency such as a fire, Kenney would rush to the radio station and turn it on, often in the middle of the night. During the June floods he would be on air at all times of night, asking for volunteers to sandbag or, at other times, inform his audience which areas to avoid.
“I've been blessed with a wife that understood that was what we did,” Kenney said, referring to Andrea’s own community service and dedication to Lander. “Lots of times there would be a fire call or the transmitter would go down. This always seemed to happen at dinner time and I'd have to go.
“That was our way of life, and I just so blessed to get the right person to put up with what I did for a living.”
Over the years, both Kenneys also volunteered on local boards and each took a turn serving on the Lander city council.
The Voice of the One Shot Antelope Hunt, Joe Kenney. (Courtesy Bruce Gallinger) 
Joe and Andrea Kenney (Courtesy Joe Kenney) 
Joe Kenney flying his 1946 Aeronica Champ. Part of his community service was to be on the Lander Airport Board for two decades. (Courtesy Joe Kenney) 
Joe Kenney posing with his 1946 Aeronica Champ. He was the voice of KOVE and KDLY for decades before retiring. Now, he hosts a podcast, Landeritis. (Courtesy Joe Kenney) 
When Joe Kenney showed up with a motorcycle, his Dad said no way and brought home a 1953 Chevy for his young teenager instead. It led to a love of the classic car. (Courtesy Joe Kenney)
Coffee Time
Kenney’s favorite community service was his daily talk show called “Coffee Time” where he interviewed an estimated 10,000 people over the years. His talk show was originally called “Man on the Street” and literally was hosted outside on the corner at Third and Main in front of the Noble Hotel in Lander.
“We were like the mail service,” Kenney said. “Rain, snow, wind, or whatever, you were outside talking to people on the street.”
Another show on KOVE was called Mary’s Place. Mary Meyer, wife of Joe Meyer the future secretary of state and state treasurer, hosted a studio show where she talked to local ladies about the community. After the Meyers moved to Cheyenne, Kenney combined the “Man on the Street” and “Mary's Place”, into a new show he named “Coffee Time.”
Originally, he would interview people in cafés and various locations in Lander until he moved the show permanently into the studio.
“I loved ‘Coffee Time’ because I've interviewed everybody from Chuck Yeager to Vice President Cheney to cosmonauts from the space program,” Kenney said. “I don't know how many people I've interviewed over the years, but that was my favorite part.”
A Retirement … Of Sorts
In 2021, Kenney made the fateful decision to retire. He sold his radio station to County 10 and was ready to settle into obscurity.
“I did what I called the Johnny Carson,” he said. “You know, when Johnny Carson retired, he disappeared, and I did the same thing. I just disappeared from the public eye, on purpose, because I've been in it for 50 years. And I just figured that was enough.”
Two months after retiring, Kenney was told he had blocked arteries and realized he had gotten out at the right time. His first six months of retirement was spent recovering from open heart surgery.
After he was healed, Kenney realized that although he didn’t miss dealing with the FCC regulations and other day-to-day operations of a radio station, there was something he did miss.
“I missed doing ‘Coffee Time,’” he admitted. “And being involved in knowing what's going on in the community.”
As he grappled with missing his interview show, a conversation he had with Fremont County Commissioner Mike Jones offered a solution.
When Jones suggested that they try their hand at the new-fangled podcast genre, Kenney jumped at the chance. They started doing a weekly podcast they named “Landeritis” hosted on Spotify where they talk about things going on in the community and interview people.
“We have the unique addition of Mike's experiences, of what's going on with the county commission, and my experiences as a city councilman,” Kenney said. “We have people in the community that we interview and so I’m still doing what I love.”
As Kenney begins the next chapter as a radio man on air, it is as Ernie Harwell once said: “In radio, they say, nothing happens until the announcer says it happens.”
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
