Business of the Week – KVAY Radio, 105.7 FM

You help your community thrive when you shop locally!

Be sure to read The Prowers Journal each week when the Lamar Chamber of Commerce
and The Prowers Journal highlight a featured Business of the Week.

This week we are proud to spotlight KVAY Radio, 105.7 FM
Give them a call at: 719.336-8734

KVAY Radio, 105.7FM at 224 South Main, Lamar and the tower in Hasty, Colorado, have been in existence for 22 years. The history of KVAY actually started about 25 years ago when a local resident purchased the tower we now have and located the “control room” and office at its currently location as well. She operated the station just over a year and had to close down. The station went “dark” (meaning we were silent and “off the air”) for about a year and half. At that time Larry and Chris Bauer bought the station and renamed it KVAY 105.7FM and it has operated as such ever since.

Larry had many years’ experience in radio sales and management and Chris had much experience as a DJ, so they ventured to Colorado as radio entrepreneurs. The first day on air was August 5, 1991. Two days later lightning struck and took the tower down for about 10 days. KVAY has been on air and running 24/7 ever since, except for 3-4 days over the 4th of July 2003 when the coax cable had to be replaced. Larry and Chris owned and operated the station for 12 years. Due to medical reasons Larry and Chris decided to sell the station and they began to look for a buyer. In 2002 Bob and Lisa DeLancey agreed to purchase the station and they took over January 1, 2003. The DeLancey’s came from a major market area in TX and OK where Bob had been a DJ for 30 years and Lisa had been in sales and promotions most of her life. The adjustment was hard for them, coming from a metro area to our country living, Lisa returned to OK the summer of 2005 and Bob followed the next summer.

Debbie Ellis was hired by Larry for sales in 2002 and trained with Chris and Larry and stayed on when the DeLancey’s bought the station and continued to grow and learn about sales and became the sales manager early in 2006. Debbie had owned and managed two restaurants and had managed a clothing store and a Fixed based Operation for Aircraft. When Bob was ready to leave and return to OK to be with his wife and family, Debbie asked to be considered for the management position. After Bob talked with KVAY’s silent partner, they agreed to promote Debbie to the station manager. After a period of time Bob and Lisa moved on with other work and Debbie was promoted to the General Manager. Debbie says she really enjoys the challenges of management and appreciates the trust she has been given to operate and manage the station. She made changes at the station to include supporting and getting involved with the community. She started “Talk of the Valley” so the listeners could learn about our community, it’s leaders and events that are happening, she brought back bring back Public Service announcements, the availability for businesses to record their own commercials, severe weather reporting and play-by-play broadcasting in efforts to better serve the community, businesses and the listeners. She has combined the training and experience of the Bauer’s with the old country classics and somewhat “old school” thinking with the contemporary country music and more modern way of thinking that the DeLancey’s had.

Debbie feels she has a balance of old and new country music and a variety of special programs so that KVAY has “a little something” for everyone in Southeast Colorado and Southwest Kansas. When asked what did Debbie feel that KVAY was known for, she responded: community involvement, being there to help promote all local events and for the staff to get involved and help whether it is with Relay for life, announcing events, serving on a board, announcing lost pets, road closures or bake sales. People know that there is a live person on the air from 6am-7pm Monday through Friday and Saturday until noon and they can call in or listen and get all the information they need and win prizes too.

Another nice feature that KVAY has and you may not know, you can listen to them worldwide! You can stream KVAY live on the internet at work or home and now you can listen to KVAY on all smart phones. Debbie and the entire staff at KVAY wants to thank the listeners and the advertisers for their loyalty, without them, KVAY Radio Station would not be in existence! One final thing, if you miss the daily obits at 10:50am and 3:50pm or you want to know what the police report is and maybe you want to listen to part of talk of the valley, request a song or tell about a lost pet or a yard sale you are having or you just to know about the events around the community, you can find all this and more on their web at www.kvay.com. So stay tuned to KVAY 105.7FM, your Valley Country for all your local news, entertainment and music.