Archives West Finding Aid

Edmund B. Craney's photograph collection documents the growth of the radio and television industry in Montana and the Pacific Northwest over a period of five decades. His Montana Z Bar Network (1937-1961) represents a pioneering concept of group ownership. Craney was the first broadcaster in the Pacific Northwest to organize regional networks. In the 1950s, Craney's identification with the problems of telecasting in the west propelled him on to the national scene. As a leader of two translator associations, he became a forceful spokesman in defense of translators and free TV and was considered one of the most influential broadcasters in the nation.

Edmund Blodgette Craney was born in Spokane, Washington, on February 19, 1905. His parents, Lucy Alice Blodgette and James Craney, were married in Palouse, Washington, where James was a lumber contractor. In 1914, James accepted the position of Superintendent of the Great Northern Railroad's Somers Lumber Company operations at Swan Lake, Montana. The Craney family (sons Ed and Oliver; daughters Emily, Martha, and Cora) lived in a remote lumber camp near Swan Lake until they returned to Spokane in 1919. After graduation from high school, Ed worked in a radio parts store owned by Thomas W. Symons, Jr.

In 1922 Symons and Craney started Spokane's first radio station, KFDC, which was the 18th radio station in the nation. During the 1920s, Craney travelled throughout the northwest to increase wholesale radio sales. After several visits to Montana, he decided to branch out and in 1928 the Federal Radio Commission granted the Symons Investment Company permission to broadcast from Butte. On January 31, 1929, Butte's first radio station, KGIR, went on the air. Craney managed the station with the assistance of Kenneth O. MacPherson, announcer, and Leo McMullan, advertising salesman. During the mid-1930s, in order to improve KGIR's frequency, Craney brought Robert D. Martin, a Spokane engineer, to Montana to make field intensity measurements. This was the first such survey in the state and resulted in the station's move in 1937 to a permanent location at Nissler, seven miles west of Butte.

In 1931 Craney, assisted by Senator Burton K. Wheeler (a member of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Commission), obtained network affiliation for KGIR with the National Broadcasting Company. A year later, however, as the effects of the depression hit the broadcasting industry, NBC decided to withdraw from Montana. Wheeler, acting this time as Craney's attorney, succeeded in maintaining the affiliation with NBC.

Craney joined the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in 1928. During the early 1930s, while he was serving on the NAB Copyright Committee, he urged the association to take a more active role in the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) copyright controversy. Craney opposed ASCAP's fee increase for copyrighted music and proposed that royalty payments be made on a per-use basis. Both on national and local levels Craney tackled the controversy. In Montana, as a leader of the Montana Association of Broadcasters, Craney sought professional advice and hired attorney Kenneth C. Davis (Washington State Association of Broadcasters) to draft Montana copyright laws. In 1939, he helped organize the Independent Radio Networks Affiliates.

Craney decided to expand his radio operations in the late 1930s by creating a regional network. In 1937, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted the Peoples' Forum of the Air in Helena permission to broadcast as KPFA. Kenneth O. MacPherson of KGIR became manager. Two years later a third station, KRBM in Bozeman, joined the network and was run by Ernest Neath. Known as the Z Bar Network (after a famous cattle brand), the three stations were all affiliated with NBC and linked by telephone circuits which fed national programing from the "mother" station in Butte. In 1947, station KXLL in Missoula, with manager Patrick Goodover, and station KXLK in Great Falls, headed by MacPherson, joined Craney's Z Bar Network.

The Montana Boosters were established in 1937 with the purpose of bringing more revenue to Montana through tourism. The organization was comprised of individuals and businesses that were recruited to assist in advertising Montana as a vacation destination. Participating businesses distributed the advertising materials, such as the Montanarama magazine. Individual members were encouraged to send those advertising materials to relatives and friends to promote Montana. The Z Bar Network radio stations would hold radio programs and organize contests, such as the Montana Booster Photograph Contest in 1948, to promote the state.

Craney's approach to the business of broadcast advertising and promotion followed a group pattern. In addition to the Montana Broadcasters (sales), he organized the Pacific Northwest Coverage Group in the 1930s. With headquarters in Butte, this company handled advertising for the Z Bar Network and the Washington-Oregon Network (KFPY Spokane, KRSC Seattle, and KXL Portland). In 1945, Craney formed the Pacific Northwest Broadcasters. As managing director, Craney, assisted by James Manning, collaborated with various area chambers of commerce and state publicity bureaus to devise regional advertising campaigns. One of these campaigns was the Pacific Northwest Playground magazine which promoted tourism to the participating regions. As a part of his plan Craney received clearance from the FCC to change all affiliated stations' call letters to the "XL" designate (e.g. KGIR became KXLF).

Television became part of Craney's network system after the FCC lifted their television "freeze" in 1952. KXLY-TV in Spokane started telecasting in February 1953. Craney subsequently created Television Montana, an operating corporation for his proposed Montana stations. In the fall of 1953 Butte's KXLF-TV came on the air and four years later KXLJ-TV in Helena joined the system. Barclay Craighead, stockholder and manager of radio station KXLJ, assumed the presidency of the newly incorporated Capital City Television in Helena.

Committed to broadcasting in Montana, Craney became interested in television auxiliary systems that brought signals to isolated communities barred by mountains. In 1956 he installed a co-channel booster near Butte. This low-powered radiating device re-transmitted signals via antennas and amplifiers. Boosters, or repeaters, and translators (that brought clearer reception by direct frequency conversion) were effective and popular in the West. As early as 1954, however, the FCC (citing possible interference and violation of Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934) declared boosters and translators illegal. Two years later the Commission authorized 10-watt UHF translators with the aim of developing the UHF band of frequencies, but they refused to legalize VHF translators (Docket 11611).

In 1948, when a large, salable collection of Charles Russell art was to be sold and shipped to the East coast, Craney formed the Charles Russell Memorial Committee to raise money to buy a collection of Russell paintings. The collection was purchased in portions and donated to the State of Montana to be kept on public display for future generations.

Cable television was another type of auxiliary system that proliferated in the 1950s. CATV (Community Antenna Television) grew unchecked by the FCC because the Commissioners held that CATV was not engaged in common carrier operation and therefore was outside its jurisdiction.

In the late 1950s Craney lobbied for the FCC's authorization of VHF translators and for the regulation of CATV. First, he initiated a meeting with Congressional leaders and convinced them to include the translator problem on the agenda of proposed Senate hearings. Then, in 1959 he organized the Tri-State Television Repeater Association, a non-profit, unincorporated group that represented booster clubs in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Finally, in 1960 Congress, influenced by "grass-roots" testimonies, passed the enabling legislation to give the FCC authority to license I watt translators.

In 1958, Craney founded the Greater Montana Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expand the quality of broadcasting in the state. GMF provided funding for programs related to Montana, presented TV and radio broadcasting awards, and awarded scholarships for young people interested in a broadcasting career.

Also during the late 1950s, Craney decided to sell his Pacific Northwest holdings, including KXL and KXLY. Then in 1961 he sold his Z Bar Network to Joseph Sample. Retired from broadcasting and marketing, Craney took a more active role in translator lobbying. Assisted by James B. Beamer of Livingston, he assumed the presidency of the newly named Tri-State Television Translator Association and in 1967 Craney led the move to reorganize Tri-State into becoming the National Television Translator Association. Judge Nat Allen of Roundup served as president while Craney edited the bulletin that disseminated news and technological information throughout the country.

Though Craney stepped aside as editor in 1970, he continued to be the forceful influence that had led to more power and common carrier microwave for all translators, the inclusion of FM translators, and the licensing of satellite translators.

Edmund Craney passed away on April 6, 1991.