“In those early years, it was the eyes and ears of town,” former KSID owner Suzy Ernest said.

Ernest’s family was in charge of KSID from when it was two years old in 1954 up until 2020. In that time, they made many memories

“[My dad] would bring us here, we’d play around for a little while, then we’d walk across the baseball diamond and go to the swimming pool,” Ernest said.

KSID was placed in Legion Park to be close to the AM tower that still stands and transmits programming to thousands. As Sidney expanded, the town popped up all around the radio station.

“When KSID was built, it was a half mile from town. The armory wasn’t here, those houses weren’t there,” Ernest said.

The building also expanded, adding on a bomb shelter in the 1960s - the height of the Cold War.Now, the former government building has become a second home to many people.

“I love being in the park. It’s been wonderful," KSID sales manager Lana Butts said. "For a better part of 30 years I’ve been in this same room.”

Many started their on-air careers right here in Sidney, including our own Hunter Arterburn.

“I think the first play-by-play he did was in the back of his little pick-up right across the street.," Ernest said.

Others, legends of the industry, just dropped by.

“Paul Harvey actually came and spoke with the Wheat Grower’s association and then did his 15 minute newscast from here,” Ernest said. "When Paul Harvey was on, you did not talk for 15 minutes."

Times and technology have changed.

“When I started we got our ads on reel-to-reel, you know, instead of over the internet,” Butts said. "They'd tape our ads on eight-track tapes."

Soon the location will too. But KSID will still be around to provide the local programming that fits the Nebraska Panhandle.

“People move in here and they ask why doe we hear someone wishing another person happy birthday? Why do you run the obituaries?," Ernest said. "It’s small town. It's a lifeblood.”