KYET Studio at 138 W. Route 66 downtown Williams.
WILLIAMS – With the rise of the new radio station, KZBX 92.1 FM, elders in Williams may harken back to the days of the former AM station KYET. The KYET studio was located at 138 W. Route 66 in downtown Williams. Now the location of the Grand Canyon Winery. Rather ironic since Bob did not like whining at the station.
The icon of the station was talk show host Bob Hardy. Bob Hardy was born into a radio family at Clark Air Base in the Philippines on June 25, 1954. His father, Bob Hardy Sr. was stationed there. Bob Hardy Sr. went on to become a noted radio personality and the young Bob Hardy learned the business from his father at KMOX in St. Louis.
Bob Hardy Jr. went on to WINU in Highland, Ill, WGSB in Chicago and WJNO and WPBR in West Palm Beach, Florida. Bob came to northern Arizona in 1992 where he found a broadcasting home at KVNA radio in Flagstaff. With Bob Hardy, however, political correctness was not one of his endearing traits. By one account, this caused a rift at KVNA. Letting him leave was probably a big mistake on their part.
Bob was hired on at the 10KW KYET station in Williams. His Northland Now show became a popular morning show with news and commentary including callers to the station. His station provided coverage and drew listeners from Flagstaff, to Valle and the Grand Canyon, to Ash Fork and into Utah.
People would particularly tune in on Saturday for News of the Weird in which he would read strange stories. He never revealed the source of the stories. As a KYET insider, I think it safe to reveal now that many of the stories came largely from tabloid journals.
Pete Christensen and Bob Hardy cover the Rendezvous Day parade in a KYET remote. (Northern Arizona Citizen file photo)
Bob was very patriotic, conservative and Second Amendment friendly. But he was also people friendly and loved to share other views. (It could have been, of course, that he just liked to spark controversy.) He opened his microphone to the Coconino County Libertarians. Bob even brought in the big, liberal guns from Phoenix in the form of comedian Pete Christensen. Christensen, unlike many other “liberal” comedians, prefers to perform family friendly comedy.
Patrick Whitehurst at the KYET studio.
Patrick Whitehurst is a writer and artist who submits work to various papers in northern Arizona. He started locally in Williams and served as an intern at KYET.
“My memory of the station is a bit fuzzy, but I remember the overall sense of the place (even down to the feeling it was haunted) and the thrill of getting on the radio, even if it was a small town radio station,” Patrick said. “Bob was always a very accommodating kind of guy, and possessed boundless energy. That I remember well. Just as I remember stressing about each and every Pat This! column I wrote.
“I started the weekly commentary show with the idea I would sound old and wise. Instead I came off sounding like a punk version of Dennis Miller. But it worked, just as Bob knew it would. And thanks to him, I had a blast doing it. In fact, even though I did host weekend talk for a while as well, the commentary was my favorite part of KYET.”
Bob also brought the Arizona Cardinals games to the station. After his Northland Now show ended, syndicated conservative talk radio took over and the late night favorite was Coast-to-Coast AM in the days of Art Bell.
Bob Hardy and Pete Christensen had great times at the station.
I recall passing by and seeing the station several times. I tuned it in one day and could not believe this guy; Bob Hardy. He was hilarious. If memory serves, in fact, it was a Saturday morning dose of News of the Weird. I went down to the station and walked right in. It was void of the normal security trappings of radio stations today. Except, of course, for the 9-mm Bob normally carried under his vest. I introduced myself and he responded with that deep, resounding voice of his. Our friendship began.
I set up the KYET web site. I provided news copy which was almost never satisfactory. I also provided publicity shots and exchanged advertising for the station through the Northern Arizona Citizen newspaper which I edited.
I wrote an ad for the Northern Arizona Citizen which stated that it was great for wrapping fish and lining bird cages. And you might even try reading it too. I walked into the station one day and Bob told me I had got him in trouble. A lady called and politely told him that he should not make fun of the paper. His response to her was, “You’ll never forget the name, will you?”
One Saturday morning I received a call from (I believe) Mik of the Libertarian Party asking me if I had seen or heard from him. I was rather stunned when I turned on the radio and did not hear the voice of Bob Hardy. When I finally did wake up, I realized something was terribly wrong. Bob always made it to the station every day except Sunday because he loved his job.
By the time I got to the station, the door was opened and mourning had begun. We found out that he passed away the previous night, Friday, June 5, 1998.
The station lasted only a few more months in Williams before shutting down.
Updated 6/6/14 6:06 pm
Contributing to this article
Patrick Whitehurst. Patrick Whitehurst is a fiction and non-fiction author who’s written for a number of northern Arizona newspapers over the years, covering everything from murders to Rotary luncheons. He contributed much to the Northern Arizona Citizen and has historic Williams books for sale around town. In his spare time he enjoys painting, blogging, the open water, and reading everything he can get his hands on. Whitehurst is a graduate of Northern Arizona University and currently lives among the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona. His latest novella, Talk Jock Twits, is based on his short-lived career at KYET and will soon be available on Amazon. Visit him at www.patrickwhitehurst.com.
Glen Davis. Editor of the Northern Arizona Gazette. Glen worked at KYET as a volunteer for over a year where he met Patrick Whitehurst and Pete Christensen. Glen has self-published Concerning the Militia through LULU.com which started out as a notebook of research that he did for Bob and others. He also self-published a fiction work, A Shroud of Evidence.