The Intermountain Radio Network

The owner of the Ogden Standard Examiner newspaper Abe L. Glasmann bought KFUR-AM in 1934 and changed the calls to KLO-AM. He hired his son in law George C. to run the station in 1941. In 1945 Hatch left KLO and moved his family Salt Lake City. There with partner Robert Hinkley they founded 910 KALL-AM.  These two stations became the core for the IMN (Intermountain Network.)  This conglomeration of stations spread across the American West eventually included about 90 radio stations sharing news and other programming including a rather incestuous arrangement with MBS. In 1962 Broadcasting magazine described them as "blanketing the Rocky Mountain States." More here.

In 1946 the publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune, John F. Fitzpatrick, bought  a fifty percent interest in the station. In 1949 Hatch hired Jack Page as his executive VP of Programming. The network already had 21 stations across the states of Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Nevada. Page had prior experience at WNAX-AM, WSLB-AM and KENT-AM and more importantly a stretch at the Mutual Broadcasting System from 1946 to 1948.  In 1951 they added 12 more stations expanding the network into 39 station network spanning 8 states. At the time they were almost as big as the Don Lee Network.  In 1952 they opened a Denver Office headed by Lynn Meyer as head of sales and Ken Palmer formerly of KVER-AM.
 
The Tribune got out in 1954. They  wanted to buy a piece of KUTV-TV and they had to sell their 50% interest because of cross-ownership limits. The hatch family continued to expand IMN and their other enterprises. They already owned a piece of KUTV-TV and in 1956, founded Western Microwave Inc. which would later become Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) a large local cable TV provider. they were involved in several early CATV law cases that permitted networks to exist. Glasmann even had to testify before the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce at Congress.

In 1964 they were up to to 67 affiliates stretching from new Mexico to North Dakota. But they were nearing their peak. In 1990 the IMN suspended its news operations in 10 states for "economic reasons." Even after that hatchet job they still had a presence in 40+ markets but it dwindled quickly. In 1999 MBS closed up what was already a shrinking network. By the time they were locking up, the Hatch family had sold it all off it's media properties to Regent communications, already owners of KKAT. More here.

The Alarm Klok Klub

 That this show ever existed at all is baffling, that it ran for 30 years is even more unusual, that there were others just like it is inexplicable. Because of his tenure on the program, it's host, Frank Cope is recognized by some as the nation's first disc jockey. In 1930, KJBS-AM was purportedly running an an all-music format. That sounds non-specific by modern standards, but things were different then. KJBS-AM was an oddly licensed station, with two tower sites.  It wasn't granted authorization to operate full time at 50 kw until 1977. So the Alarm Klok Klub didn't sign on in Hayward until 5:00 AM, but it ran until 8:00 AM.  Like a normal daytime the station signed off at sunset. But then they signed on again from San Francisco at 10:00 PM, and off again at 3:00 AM. [info courtesy of David Kaye] This was to avoid interference with WTAM. More here.

The Author of Raised on Radio, Gerald Nachman grouped the program alongside the Milkman's Matinee, and with other early DJs like Jack Sterling, John Gambling, Al Jarvis, and Peter Potter.Frank Cope  was born in Utah, and had previously worked at KLO-AM, which signed on in 1929. He started on "The Alarm Klok Klub" on San Francisco's KJBS on March 3rd, 1930. The program ran 6 days a week, only sitting out Sundays. Some sources claim that Cope left KJBS in 1952, but I prefer the date given by Bayarearadio.org, coinciding with the sale of KJBS to Argonaut Broadcasting in 1959. Rumor has it that he tried out at KSFO-AM but didn't fit in and moved on to the car business. He died in 1974, he was 72. 

1020 KYW-AM launched a similar program in 1930, no doubt influenced by the Alarm Klok Klub. Theirs was called the "Musical Clock."  It debuted on April 14th, sponsored by the Marshall Field Company.   Sears picked up the sponsorship in 1935. It's host, Miss Halloween Martin, was just 28 years old. She was a DePaul University grad with a little acting experience who was then working at a news paper. She gave the time, temperature and weather every 5 minutes from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM, and spun light classical, pop and jazz. In 1934, when KYW-AM moved to Philadelphia, the "Musical Clock" moved to WBBM-AM.  The show was finally cancelled in 1944, and Martin crossed the street to WCFL-AM.

Chicago had at least two other "clock-type" morning shows concurrent with Martin's. WMBI a Morning Clock program that started no later than the mid 1940s. It was still running in 1986 hosted then by Bob it ran from 6:30 to 8:00 AM. On November 18th 1941, W75C began simulcasting WMBI’s programs on the FM band. they later changed calls to WDLM and they too carried the Morning Clock. According to author Arnold Passman, writer of The Deejays (mandatory reading) there were plenty more. At WBT-AM, Lee Everett was hosting the "Morning Clock" starting in 1934. At about the same time, in New York, John B. Gambling was hosting the "Morning Clock" on WOR-AM. Some of the programs were more zany than others. At WDAE-AM  in Tampa, there was another musical clock program. This one had a time signal on the program which was the sound of a guy grinding his teeth. Ugh.

The Variety Radio Directory of 1938, lists yet more for which I have no other corroborating reference, "Alarm Clock" on KWTN and CJOC, 'The Alarm Clock Club" on CKCK, the "Alarm Clock Frolic" on WPTF, another "Alarm  Clock" on KWOS, the "Alarm Clock Program" on KFJB, "Alarm Clock Revue" on WBRC,  "Alarm Clock Salute" on WNAC, the "Alarm Klock Klub" on KIEV, and a different "Alarm Klock Klub" on KVOG in Salt Lake City. There was even an "Alarm Clock Serenade" on WICC. I'm sure there were even more, but this programming novelty has been dead for decades. In it's place we have the morning zoo, which is less novel but more local.