KDYS (AM)
radio station in Great Falls, Montana (1922-1923)
KDYS was a short-lived American AM radio station in Great Falls, Montana. First licensed on May 13, 1922, it was the first broadcasting station authorized in the state. KDYS was deleted in November 1923.
History
The US Department of Commerce regulated radio stations in the United States from 1912 until the 1927 formation of the Federal Radio Commission. Originally there were no restrictions on which radio stations could make broadcasts intended for the general public. However, effective December 1, 1921, a regulation was adopted limiting broadcasting to stations operating under a Limited Commercial license that authorized operation on designated wavelengths of 360 meters (833 kHz) for "entertainment", and 485 meters (619 kHz) for "market and weather reports".
KDYS was first licensed on May 13, 1922, to The Tribune, for operation on 360 meters. The call sign was randomly issued from an alphabetic list of available call letters. Because there was only a single "entertainment" wavelength, KDYS was required to establish a time sharing agreement with any other local stations broadcasting on 360 meters. In August, the station was authorized to also use the 485 meter "market and weather" wavelength, although this was canceled the following April.
“KDYS (AM)” enters the record as radio station in Great Falls, Montana (1922-1923). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what KDYS, radio and station can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“KDYS (AM)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, KDYS, radio and station provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q136032360. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1922, 1923, 1912 and 1927.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “KDYS (AM)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.