Stepping into western Arizona at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic was like stepping into the set of a movie. While the entire world was going crazy with lockdowns and restrictions, here was this alternative reality. Quartzsite, Arizona’s closest comparison would be Barter Town from Mad Max, where the desert dwellers come to trade. You can buy literally anything under the canvas of a tent. Including groceries. Encircling Quartzite is miles and miles of campers, vehicles and tents. Thousands of people, just living in the desert. It may be the freest place in the United States. I’m not sure where else you can just show up and decide you’re going to live wherever you plop your rig. (There are restrictions of course, but I know places they don’t mind as long as you keep your camp squared away.) A cheat code for the universe. Just north of Quartzite, and its radio stations I’ve written about before, lies Parker, Arizona. Home of the closest Walmart. And one of the most interesting radio stations in North America.
It was President’s Day, 2021, when I called KLPZ and asked if I could come visit. Having made contact with the station before via email, this wasn’t necessarily a cold call. Tuesday, February 16 comes around, and I roll up to one of the most beautiful radio stations I have ever seen. An adobe-colored brick cathedral to radio with the tower right out back. Everything faded to a perfect western patina. Hollywood couldn’t have done it better. I opened the screen door, walked through the unoccupied lobby and saw the man himself across a sort of second lobby there in the studio. He ushered me right in, and before I knew it, we were on the air. Keith Douglas Learn, better known as Radioman (insert year here), Amazing Man, the Black-Footed Ferret, K-11 and on and on and on, is a man who lives on the air. He doesn’t even like to know much about a person before he interviews them. He’d rather do it all on the radio. And for four hours a day for over 30 years, he and his eventual sidekick, business partner and wife, the Lovely and Talented Juanita, did just that.
I’ll admit, I’ve been putting off writing this story, because I knew it would be a lot to put together. With December 31st, 2024 being Keith and Juanita’s last day on the air, though, I knew the time was now. Besides my parents, I don’t know a more generous couple than Keith and Juanita. After my first impromptu day on the air, they invited me our to the Parker Strip along the Colorado River (which is actually completely separate geographically from Parker) for lunch. It’s the land for floating dock bars and crystal blue water that contrasts strikingly with the desert. I thought that was a very generous gesture and assumed that would be the end of things and we’d all go on our merry way. But no. Keith and Juanita invited me to come back on Friday. And they sweetened the deal. Come out to their place in Bouse, AZ on Thursday, hook up the Winnebago, have dinner and go in to work with them the next day. Who could say no?
Thursday I roll into the Last Buckaroo Ranch in Bouse, which was the headquarters for tank practice during WWII, and not a ton has changed since then. It’s a perfectly sleepy western village where most people own either a jeep, side by side or a horse. I’ve never forget Juanita’s home cooking – we had lasagna with all the trimmings. Apparently, Juanita thought they hadn’t been generous enough (or my month of rationing shower water in the RV wasn’t working), because she offered me the chance to take a shower too. Is this sounding like I’m living my own western yet?
4:45 a.m. rolls around, and we’re off to the radio station, about a 35 minute drive. And yes, the dog comes too. We arrive at the station just before 5:30. Keith goes in to get started picking out his CDs for music to start the day, Juanita dives into her paperwork, and I take the dog for a walk around the station, which is oddly enough completely surrounded by a tow truck operation, right up to the tower. Beyond the station is – nothing. Just the Colorado river and the mountains of California. The stark cutoff is thanks to the adjacent land being owned by the Colorado River Indian Tribes. One thing I miss about Parker is the unique ability to see the edge of town no matter where you stand in town. Another fondness about the desert I can’t quite explain.
Keith told me that I’ve “gotta bring something to the table,” so Juanita set me up in an unused office, and I start getting some show prep. By 7:30, Keith’s cranking up the “yakin’” portion of his morning show, and I slide into the third mic. Time flies and by 10, the show’s wrapped up.
The next day was Saturday, and Diesel the horse had to go to the vet. Keith said I didn’t need to be in a rush to head out. They had to go to Blythe, CA and it would be an all-day affair. So I stayed another day. And another. Then Monday rolled around and I went into work with them again. And just kept doing that for almost two months.
And we got into a pretty good groove. I started getting the hang of Keith’s freewheeling style of radio. There’s no way to categorize it, but I’d call it “Real Radio.” The morning started out with news, weather and gospel music (because the good Lord’s blessed us in so many ways in this country we love to call AMERICA), and a unique hand-picked selection of country music, often with a theme. Then Keith would throw in “a little bit more,” as part of the station’s name and unique sound, often departing from the Country genre but always with purpose. Later in the day, there’s a look at the day’s special events, a whole hour of world and national news commentary, longstanding features like “The Wild West Experience,” “Lost Mines and Hidden Treasures,” “The Ultimate Sacrifice” and “Tales from the Script.” Or sometimes we’d just eat Pez for 30 minutes. You never knew where the show would go. A hallmark of the morning show was guessing famous birthdays at the end of the show, something that I will continue to be hilariously terrible at for the end of time.
After the morning show is over, between 10 and noon is unofficial nap time at KLPZ. And most people who call on the station know this. Juanita rarely participated, she’d either be working or calling on clients. Keith might grab a snack before or after his nap, then would stroll on down the hall to the recliner in his office. I’d usually take the dog for a spin around the block, usually venturing over the railroad tracks adjacent to the station, then come back and get flat on the production room carpet.
After nap time would more often than not be snack time. Chips, apple slices and listener-provided smoked cheese were perennial favorites. The KLPZ kitchen was where Keith introduced me to lemon pepper on apple slices (try it sometime!). One of Juanita’s self-appointed duties we keeping the fridge fully stocked. From there, Keith would always get in his exercise time in his office, some bible reading, then might work on production or cruise YouTube (show prep, right?). The afternoon could also be a mix of calling on clients and attending to the various busy work that’s involved in running a station.
By three, we were usually back on the road to Bouse, where equine chores awaited and of course, dinner. Naturally, I was not allowed to leave the Last Buckaroo Ranch until I had watched all of Lonesome Dove, which took several nights to accomplish as Radiomen have to go to bed early.
As the La Paz County Fair approached, Keith and Juanita managed to actually get me a job doing overnight security at the fairgrounds and camp on site in my Winnebago. That was a whole other experience, but speaks again to their generosity and deep involvement with the fair. After two months, found an opportunity to work as a tour guide and caretaker at a missile base in central Arkansas, which I could not pass up and opened up an entire new world for me. My farewell to Arizona was only temporary, though, because I actually returned for another stint the next year, eventually parking the Winnebago in front of the radio station for a time. QGoLive’s Lee Harris even made a visit to the station that year, appearing on almost the entire morning show.
KLPZ celebrated 50 years of broadcasting in 2024, and as we head into 2025, it’s sad to know that there will be no more morning shows as the residents and visitors to La Paz county have come to expect. The unfortunate truth of true mom-and-pop operations as KLPZ was, is the fact that’s it’s almost impossible to find a replacement host in a case like this. While they had help calling local games and KLPZ Veteran John Wright, who hosted an afternoon show for 15 years an continues to help on the tech side, for all practical matters, Keith and Juanita were KLPZ.
When I look back, the “Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened” quote comes to mind. I’m genuinely happy for Keith and Juanita. I personally know the grind of the operational side of radio, and while it’s unfortunate for the listeners, Keith and Juanita can now do all sorts of things they’ve always wanted to do, and Keith can spend all summer at the family ranch in North Dakota. Juanita can have uninterrupted time with the grand kids without having to remote in to here computer and worry about sending out invoices. And they plan to keep spending a majority of their time in Arizona. As Keith said on their last day, “This is our home.”
Keith taught me so much about radio – and life. He called himself the last of the Radiomen, and while that’s an even longer story which involves the tower out back falling down, he recently passed that honor down to me. Here are a few qualifications of a radioman in no particular order, that I have derived from Keith, outside of the obvious fact that radiomen are always loyal to the station and keep it on the air.
– Live a life outside the station. It will be better for you and the listeners. Plus you’ll always have interesting content to share with them.
– Show Prep, Show Prep, Show Prep. But be willing and eager to roll with the punches.
– Don’t deny the verbal reality.
– A radioman is on the AM dial. (If I was a DJ they’d put me on the FM dial and I would say “that was, this is…”)
– Be a patriot. And a man of faith.
– It’s OK to have a completely opposite viewpoint with someone and still be friends.
– Do the chores. They’re part of life and can even be enjoyed.
– Appreciate the little things.
– Have fun – don’t be afraid to be silly. Humor is all around.
– Don’t take yourself too seriously
– Observe the fine details of the world around you.
– Look up at the stars in the morning.
Keith’s Birthday – A big deal!
I learned more about radio during my time at KLPZ than anywhere else. In my handful of trips to western Arizona, I’ve made lifelong friends. While KLPZ the way we knew it is now a memory, Keith and Juanita’s impact will be felt for generations, and their deep connection to the community will continue. One of the reasons radio continues to be the most intimate and mysterious medium is the fact that you never know all the people you impact, and hearing listeners call in and come by on the last day is a small reminder of that. Very few radio hosts would drive their jeep into the vast expanse of the Arizona desert with a 6-pack to do a welfare check on a listener. But Keith did. Keith always said that radio is actually very simple. You need just three things: content, advertisers and listeners. And remember, without you, none of this would make any sense. Always taking us out of our morning show, Mr. Waylon… Jennings.
Watch a video I made for a taste of what the mornings were like!