Radio station 600 KGEZ moved into a new location in downtown Kalispell on Monday. The historic radio station—the second in Montana and first in the Flathead Valley—recently started broadcasting from 315 First Ave. E., known to many longtime locals as the former Saverud Paint Shop.

“At long last, we’re here downtown,” station owner John Hendricks said.

The move from their prior location on U.S. 93 South, near Green Hyundai, came out of a desire for a more centrally located station.

The station is focusing on developing more localized programming, and felt being in downtown Kalispell was essential to this mission. “We’re going to have new local programming,” Hendricks promised. “We needed this configuration to pull it off.

“I wanted to be downtown,” he added. “We have to be in a place where we’re visible, where people can easily get to us.”

The move has been in the works for about three years, and part of the reason for the relocation was also to utilize new equipment and a more up-to-date facility.

“We’re redefining how radio is done,” Hendricks said. “We needed the space and the facility to create a new type of radio.”

He said the newly renovated building is home to a station that is “so much different than probably what you’ll see in any radio station.”

The historic downtown building—the façade of which was originally transported by logs from Demersville to Kalispell almost 100 years ago by former Kalispell City Council member Wayne Saverud’s grandfather—is undergoing renovations that have been moving along for the past three years.

“Frankly, we completely rebuilt it from the foundation up,” Hendricks said.

Work is still being done on the remodel to the building’s first floor, but it currently includes multiple studios that can be used individually or all together, and a “very open, very transparent” layout. Hendricks said the idea was to develop “something that everybody feels like they can participate in.”

It’s part of KGEZ’s ongoing efforts to revitalize the long-running station and meet the interests of local listeners.

“We’re sure a very different station today than when we signed on nine years ago, and a lot different than before then,” Hendricks noted.

Hendricks joined Davar and Todd Gardner in 2011 when the family, who also runs Gardner’s RV, took over the station from controversial “shock jock” John Stokes in a bankruptcy settlement. Since sending out its first signal in 1927, KGEZ had a long and colorful history well before the station was passed to Hendricks and the Gardners.

Part of this interesting history will likely come to its conclusion soon as the station plans to discontinue the use of its current radio tower near the old station—which has been the subject of disputes over municipal air space—and starting to broadcast from a new transmitter site.

“The old one will die,” Hendricks said frankly of the station’s previous radio tower. “I think we’re very close to solving that.”

What’s less certain is the future of the old station building, which is still owned by the Gardner family. But, Hendricks said, “The Gardner family has been very supportive of our efforts and very patient with us” throughout the moving process, which Hendricks admitted has been a little rocky.

One of the challenges, according to Hendricks, was navigating the Federal Communications Commission’s regulations, which can make it complicated for radio stations to relocate. “The FCC doesn’t just let you pick up and move,” he pointed out. “It’s a little different than a normal business.”

But now, those issues have largely been resolved, and all that remains is to finish work on the new building and settle in. However, Hendricks said even this process might be ongoing throughout the next year as KGEZ personnel adjust to new changes, like parking in downtown Kalispell.

In an email, KGEZ Executive Producer Brian Eklund warned station guests and other visitors the station no longer has its own parking area, so they should be mindful of downtown parking regulations and plan a few extra minutes ahead when coming to the First Avenue office.

But aside from the new local programming, Hendricks and Eklund said there won’t be any changes to KGEZ’s broadcasting.

The radio landscape, both locally and nationally, has changed significantly throughout KGEZ’s lifetime, and Hendricks said the key to keeping up is focusing on local listeners and staying on the cutting edge of industry trends.

“As the world changes, we have to change around it,” he said.

He recalled the history of the longstanding station, including a time when KGEZ was the only signal in Northwest Montana, compared to the 15 local signals in the market today, and when radio was the major form of communication for most people in the valley.

“The challenge is to continue to be relevant,” he said, but he also insisted, “We’re going after it.”

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at bserbin@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.