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Edmund B. Craney photograph collection, 1914 - 1968 (Bulk)

Overview of the Collection

Collector
Craney, Edmund B., 1905-1991
Title
Edmund B. Craney photograph collection
Dates
1914 - 1968 (Bulk) (inclusive)
Quantity
1189 Photographic Prints
1 Nitrate Film Negative
19 Safety Film Negatives
3 photograph albums: containing 352 photographic prints
Collection Number
Lot 034
Summary
Edmund Craney was a pioneer in Montana radio broadcasting. He was affiliated with Pacific Northwest Broadcasters, XL radio stations of Spokane and Ellensburg, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, and the Z Bar Network of Bozeman, Butte, Great Falls, Helena, and Missoula, Montana. The photographs in this collection depict Craney’s early life, including photographs from a memoir titled Swan Lake Montana 1914 - 1919 and his family’s scrapbooks, the Swan Lake Scrapbooks #1-3 albums, and the radio and television stations and organizations he either started or participated in. The bulk of the collection is focused on the operations of the stations under the Z Bar Network and Pacific Northwest Broadcasters Network. There are also photographs from the Greater Montana Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Craney to expand quality 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. Other photographs featured are images used in promotional magazines from the Montana Boosters and the Pacific Northwest Broadcasters. The promotional photographs include views of businesses, towns, advertising themes, and the work of specific photographers.
Repository
Montana Historical Society, Library & Archives
Montana Historical Society Research Center Archives
225 North Roberts
PO Box 201201
Helena MT
59620-1201
Telephone: 4064442681
Fax: 4064445297
mhslibrary@mt.gov
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Languages
No textual or other language materials are included in the collection.
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Biographical Note

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.

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Content Description

The Edmund B. Craney collection is organized into four series: Edmund B. Craney, Greater Montana Foundation, Networks, and Promotional Materials and Photographers.

The first series is composed of portraits of Edmund B. Craney, photographs used as illustrations in a memoir titled Swan Lake Montana 1914-1919 and three scrapbooks containing photographs of logging activities, camps, and people living in the camps, including the Craney family. Also, in this series are photographs of Governor Ayers signing House Bill 396 with Jim Brannon to settle the ASCAP controversy in 1937, portraits of unidentified men associated with the Charles Russell Memorial Committee, and portraits of Burton K. Wheeler.

The second series contains photographs from the Greater Montana Foundation including TV and radio broadcast award winners, student recipients of Connie R. Craney Scholarship awards, and GMF Board members and miscellaneous associates.

The third series includes photographs from the various networks. The first subseries, the Z Bar Network, includes photographs of employees, entertainers, television antennas, boosters, a newsletter layout, translators and their locations, and NBC affiliate programs. This subseries also contains views taken at the individual stations in the Z Bar Network and features photographs of broadcasts, employees, entertainers, station equipment, and interiors and exteriors of station facilities. In addition, there are group photographs of the Television Montana stockholders taken in 1957. The second subseries has photographs of non-Montana stations in the Pacific Northwest Broadcasters Network, including stations in Portland, Oregon, and Ellensburg and Spokane, Washington. The photographs include views of station broadcasts, broadcasting events, employees, equipment, and interiors and exteriors of station facilities. The third subseries is photographs of networks in Canada, including Saskatchewan and the unknown location of CULH - TV. Photographs include employees, and equipment schematics.

The fourth series contains photographs used to promote the networks and the Pacific Northwest as a vacation destination. The photographs in the first subseries were taken at of the Ford 49’er promotion at car dealerships in cities in states in the Z Bar and Pacific Northwest Networks; the Pacific Northern Playground Magazine; and portraits of the Governors of Washington and Oregon and the Premier of Canada. The second subseries contains photographs used as illustrations and advertisements in the Montanarama and Pacific Northwest Playground magazines. Both magazines advertised national, state, and local businesses and products. This subseries is divided into five sub-subseries including: frequent advertisers in the magazines; products and businesses that advertised and were promoted in the magazine under categories such as dude ranches, hotels, resorts, and restaurants; Montana and Pacific Northwest towns and businesses featured in these magazines; photographs illustrating popular advertising themes including dams, fairs and rodeos, farming and ranching, hunting, and the logging/lumber industry; and finally photographs taken by specific Montana photographers whose work was paid for or licensed by the Pacific Northwest Broadcasters for use in the magazines. The third subseries consists of photographs taken by amateur photographers who submitted their photos to the Montana Boosters Picture Contest. The photographs were taken of wildlife, ranches, landscapes, livestock, mines, Gallatin Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park, and views of Great Falls, Helena, and Gore Field Airport.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The Montana Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Photograph Archives collections and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Photograph Archives before any reproduction use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in its collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.

Preferred Citation

Edmund B. Craney photograph collection, Lot 34, Montana Historical Society Research Center, Photograph Archives, Helena, Montana.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The photographs are arranged into the following series, subseries, and sub-subseries:

Series I: - Edmund Craney

Series II - Greater Montana Foundation

Series III - Networks

Subseries A - Z Bar Network

Subseries B - Pacific Northwest Broadcasters Network

Subseries C - Canadian Network

Series IV - Promotional Materials for the Networks

Subseries A - Miscellaneous Promotions

Subseries B - Montanarama and Pacific Northwest Playground Magazines

Sub-subseries I: Advertisers

Sub-subseries II: Business and Product Advertising

Sub-subseries III: Town Advertising

Sub-subseries IV: Advertising Themes Promoting the Pacific Northwest

Sub-subseries V: Photographers

Subseries C: Montana Boosters Picture Contest

Acquisition Information

Acquisition information available upon request.

Processing Note

This collection of photographs was transferred from the Archives to the Photograph Archives on December 16, 1979 and accessioned as PAc 80-88.

Related Materials

See the following archival collections for related materials:

Edmund B. Craney papers, MC 122, Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.

Greater Montana Foundation records, MC 363, Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Dams
  • Fairs
  • Farming
  • Hunting
  • Lobbying
  • Logging
  • Radio broadcasting
  • Radio broadcasting--Equipment and supplies
  • Ranching
  • Rodeo
  • Television broadcasting
  • Television broadcasting--Equipment and supplies

Personal Names

  • Craney, Edmund B., 1905-1991
  • Traparish, Teddy
  • Wheeler, Burton K. (Burton Kendall), 1882-1975

Corporate Names

  • American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
  • Charles Russell Memorial Committee
  • Greater Montana Foundation
  • Montana Boosters
  • Pacific Northwest Broadcasters Network
  • Z Bar Network

Geographical Names

  • Anaconda (Mont.)
  • Billings (Mont.)
  • Bozeman (Mont.)
  • Butte (Mont.)
  • Dillon (Mont.)
  • Ellensburg (Wash.)
  • Glacier National Park (Mont.)
  • Great Falls (Mont.)
  • Helena (Mont.)
  • Kalispell (Mont.)
  • Livingston (Mont.)
  • Miles City (Mont.)
  • Missoula (Mont.)
  • Portland (Or.)
  • Saskatchewan (Canada)
  • Spokane (Wash.)
  • Swan Lake (Mont.)
  • Yellowstone National Park (Mont.)
  • Yellowstone National Park (Wyo.)

Form or Genre Terms

  • Photographs

Finding aid prepared by Jennifer Graves
2015

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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