William Corrick

In 1962, one of McCook's more colorful characters, Bill Corrick, arrived in town from Wisconsin, where he had been a very good (not great) basketball player. His one distinction to fame was that he had been the tallest player in his conference in high school. Bill was an imposing figure, energetic, imaginative, and confident.

Working at a radio station in Chicago, Bill had come to the attention of radio man, William Vogel, who tapped him to manage his new AM radio station in McCook -- KWRV (for its owner, W.R. Vogel. However Mr. Vogel told people in McCook that WRV stood for Wonderful Republican Valley).

In 1966 Corrick and Vogel came to a parting of the ways, largely due to Corrick's desire to expand the operation by adding an FM station, mainly to carry Bison Sports. He was unable to swing the financing to buy out Mr. Vogel by himself, so he recruited a couple of local businessmen to help -- namely Vern Meints of Modern Cleaners, and a baker, Walt Sehnert.

With the change in ownership KWRV became KICX. Bill was a good salesman and he convinced us that the new holding company, SEMECO, SE(hnert)ME(ints)CO(rrick) would soon be as successful as RCA or CBS. It turned out to be a very interesting experience for Vern and me.

Bill introduced a number of new features to the McCook radio listening audience, including the popular "Open Line" program, which originally was more of a platform for listeners to offer their opinions on subjects of the day. Only later did it become more of a destination where buyers and sellers could come together.

When the First National Bank put in a time and temperature sign, Bill had a mirror installed just outside the window of the announcer's booth, looking directly at the Bank's temperature sign.

So the KWRV (later KICX) time and temperature reports were only as accurate as the First National Bank's sources. When it came time to report the time and temperature the announcer merely looked in his mirror, sometimes forgetting that he was reading the mirror images of the numbers.

At a radio convention Bill was somehow able to convince the people at ABC Radio (on the national level) that they could profit by partnering with local stations across the country (beginning with KICX) in bringing network news, via local small stations, to all of America.

As a reward for his idea, ABC allowed Bill to bring Paul Harvey to McCook to speak at a banquet and to originate his morning broadcast from KICX.

Bill had a fine family in McCook, and he maintained his family ties in Wisconsin, frequently making that long drive to visit his folks while they still lived. He also frequently invited friends and colleagues to accompany him on what were reported to be very enjoyable annual fishing trips on a lake where his family had a cottage. I regret that I was never able to get away for one of these fishing expeditions, but my son, Matt did, several times -- and still does, with Bill's son, Brett and some of their buddies.

Bill was active in civic affairs and a great promoter for McCook. He was one of the leaders of the McCook Golf Association and the McCook Elk's Lodge, and during his time as Exalted Ruler in 1971, the Lodge was very active -- and profitable.

Though I very much enjoyed my association with Bill, and I'm sure Vern would say the same, the Corrick's partnership with Meints and Sehnert was doomed from the very beginning. Vern and I were 'way too conservative for Bill. Being in business with Bill Corrick was like having a tiger by the tail. Bill always had a dozen ideas that he wanted to try, and most of them cost money, which we didn't have. For instance; Bill took flying lessons so he could rent a plane to quickly "pick up needed radio equipment parts" in Omaha, Kansas City, or Dallas.

Again -- he was sure we needed a very elaborate self contained RV, to take the radio crew to out of town events. He even had a name for the camper, "WOmobile" (for W.O. Corrick). The W0mobile was a project we vetoed, though he did indeed get his camper, and FM KICX, to cover Bison Sports in 1980 with Max Broderson and Larry Vlasin -- a very popular move, but long after our connection with the station had ended.

There were no money dividends for stockholders while we were involved in the station. However Bill came up with a plan that partially made up for that. Bill arranged for a series of "trade-outs" with hotels and resorts in Colorado, Las Vegas, and other choice destinations. KICX provided advertising for hotels in those destinations in trade for accommodations. Bill made those trade-outs available for all of the investors, so we were able to have several nice vacations in choice resorts -- much nicer than anything we normally could afford.

One time during my involvement with SEMECO and KICX Bill got a line on a radio station for sale in Twin Falls, Idaho, which he thought we should buy. Vern and I were aghast. We were having trouble running one station at home. But Bill was convinced that it was a good deal and was adamant that we (he) should go out to look it over. We finally agreed to look. Vern could not get away, but insisted that I go along with Bill -- to keep him from buying anything.

We flew out of Denver into Twin Falls. Bill was shocked that the station owner would not come down on his price, so I really didn't have to do much persuading. We just had a nice long plane trip to a part of the country I had not seen before --?really a very nice getaway for a couple of guys. But what I remember most about the trip was our overnight stay in Denver, at the Brown Palace Hotel. Bill made a "grand entrance" into the hotel, worthy of royalty visiting. We were given a fine room, not a suite, but one with a little "sitting room" -- quite First Class, as far as I was concerned. In the evening, we went into the hotel's dining room, where some "name" singer was performing. Bill entered the room, stood perfectly still, cigar in hand, carefully looking over the crowd. He created a presence -- just standing there.

People turned to stare at the "VIP" who had entered the room, and the poor maitre d' almost fell over himself greeting Bill (I was virtually ignored) and showing him (us) to a great table near the dance floor. He had that "I can't place this fellow, but I know he is SOMEBODY look" in his eye. I felt as if I was riding the coat tails of a real celebrity. It was an experience I've not often had, and I loved it -- even if it was "our" money we were spending.

After a couple of years Bill grew tired of the vetoes that Vern and I seemed to be constantly throwing at his plans for the station. He convinced his friend, Chuck Barber, a farmer/oil man/entrepre-neur (with deeper pockets) to buy Vern and me out. Bill and Chuck (together) were able to institute a number of Bill's ideas, to the good of the station.

Bill never did buy the station in Idaho, but he had added a radio station in Kearney at the time of his death in the '90s. Though I never was a part of Bill's inner circle, we did remain friends to the end of his life, and I'm grateful for my memories of our time together, and glad that I got to be a "Radio Mogul" -- for a little while.