Rock radio in Rapid City

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Published on Thursday, May 12, 2016

By Sheila Runions

Banner Staff

Darrell Jones moved to Rapid City because he was tired of living in a hotel in Souris and he heard about a “cheap apartment” in that town.

“I came here knowing no one.”

Is boredom the mother of invention? Perhaps, but in this case boredom led to an Internet project. The former radio announcer had the idea for online radio brewing in his brain for years. After months of planning, creation and testing, he launched the station on Monday, May 9.

“My broadcasting training goes back to university, National Institute of Broadcasting out of Winnipeg, and later graduation from Ryerson University in 1991. I was hired at a Winnipeg radio station from 1988-94. Eleven years ago Ray Walker, a friend of mine who used to be the program director at KX 96 in Brandon, needed some help to put an Internet radio station together himself; I worked with him for five years. About six years ago after leaving him, I had the idea in the back of my mind and I slowly put things together. A year ago April I became more serious about it and thought, ‘Why not see what happens?’ I started it because I was bored. I wanted to see if I could do it.”

Strictly Internet tunes from the 1960s-90s, you can log in at kickfm.ca to listen live, view a calendar of community events and request a song. The website tells people to, “Sit back and relax to the sounds of classic rock that will take you to the innocence of youth and a carefree time. Kick FM classic rock is new to Rapid City, Rivers, Minnedosa, Newdale, Oak River and surrounding areas; we will keep the listener informed with news tips, sports updates and weather.”

His site has only been advertised by word of mouth, Facebook, an email to three friends and a story in Minnedosa Tribune. Thus, Darrell was very impressed with his morning statistics on opening day.

“We had over 500 logged in during the morning show. To be brand new and have that many listeners… We’ve been on the air since 5 a.m. Friday, May 6; this was my first morning show. I only had 100 listeners on Friday morning at 5 a.m. and it didn’t climb all weekend; I didn’t hit over 150 but this morning [May 9], to get over 500 and keeping nearly 400 listeners, it’s dropped to 390 now, I think it’s very good for the first full day of broadcasting. The weekend was basically working out the kinks.”

He’s also been encouraged by comments received from, literally, around the globe.

“I have listeners in Canada, United States, Phillipines, Hong Kong, Australia, Azerbaijan. I was just contacted by Hershey Chocolates North America; they logged on and listened in New York City! They wanted to know my listener numbers and to talk about advertising slots. Right now I’m commercial-free and praying for advertising to make some money at this. The web page template I found was free but to get everything technical… A company in Los Angles streams my music over the net, which costs $50 American a month, and there’s an annual fee for the company in Winnipeg that looks after my web page to make sure it’s up and running and I know what I’m doing.”

During his first four-hour morning show which runs weekdays 6-10 a.m., he and “Junior” (another DJ) chat about news, weather, sports and events in the “primary listenership which is Rapid City, Rivers, Newdale, Oak River and Minnedosa. Even though right now I have over 100 listeners out of Brandon, 10 in Miniota, close to 100 in Winnipeg, Virden has five, Neepawa, four….” According to the website, the morning show also plays the “greatest classic rock of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.” Darrel said, “There’s a lot of things happening during the morning show that aren’t always going to be promoted. I plugged Rockin’ the Fields and mentioned some confirmed acts and ones I’d like to see there. I got an email from one of the acts and the tour manager of Cheap Trick.” Despite this immediate success, he is “still looking for other members on the morning show. If you want to come down between 6 and 10 a.m. to do news, I’m open for it. I was talking to several people in town and they said, ‘Can we come in and promote whatever is going on?’ My door is always open at 6 a.m. and here’s an open invitation for businesses or media people to climb the stairs of the old bank building in Rapid City to the second floor and come say hello, on air. If anyone has anything to promote, even weddings, I’ll do it and it’ll appear on my web page — I have a free calendar there.”

Besides the morning show, there is “90s at 9” during weekday evenings, “Saturday Night Lost Classics” which feature rare dance hits, deep album cuts and B-side takes, “Sunday Morning Blues” 6-8 a.m. and “Junior at Night.” According to the website, this program starts at 7 p.m. and concludes at midnight; Junior will “put his special touch on your evening, which includes the 90s at 9. You’ll be intrigued by his wit and sarcasm with updates in the sports world and weather.”

If you would like to talk to Darrell about advertising opportunities, chat during the morning show, promote your event on his website or request a song, you can call 204-826-5425 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . You can also visit kickfm.ca and leave a message there. In the meantime, he says, “Log on and crank the tunes!