JOHN DAY – A radio and TV career that started at KBAR radio in Burley, Idaho in the fall of 1960 is coming to an end as early as Sept. 1 for KJDY station owner Phil Gray.

“I was 15 when I started in October 1960 working weekends on the air,” said Gray, who recently sold his John Day AM-FM station to Elkhorn Media Group, which has three radio stations and offices in La Grande and Baker City.

Gray says he got the radio bug at an early age, pestering his father to take him to TV and radio stations wherever they lived at the time. The fact that his father moved about a lot with his job throughout Idaho and Eastern Washington worked out well for the younger Gray, because it meant more opportunities for station visits.

Throughout his career, Gray bounced around from station to station in Idaho and Eastern Oregon ending up in John Day, where he finally put down roots. He took over ownership of KJDY on Dec. 1, 1988. Three years later it would become an FM station, as well, and eventually employ up to six people, full- and part-time.

Working at stations in smaller markets, Gray got used to a varied work diet, and he thrived on it.

“We did everything… writing copy, production, news; whatever had to be done,” he said of his early days in radio. “No day was ever the same, so the days just flew by.

“It was a lot of fun, and it’s still fast-paced now, but the tools have changed over the years.”

Gray “guesstimates” that he spent a good 60 percent of his broadcasting career in radio. His last job in television was with KMVT in Twin Falls, Idaho, prior to moving to the John Day area.

“Magic Valley Television was the station’s tagline,” said Gray, who can still readily recall the various station call letters he worked for and the dates he was employed.

Of the stories he has stockpiled over the years, and there are a lot of them, two stand out in particular, and they endear him to Grant County and the people who call it home.

“A day or two after 9/11, Dave Barntish (owner of Prime Time Video) came into the station in the morning and challenged people to contribute $100 towards the relief effort. By 7 p.m. that night we had over $40,000 in contributions from the community,” Gray recalled. “This community has never failed to open its pocketbooks to someone who needs help.”

Another time, it was Gray himself who needed help, and the community responded. This followed an automobile accident in 1996 that left him with two crushed feet. During the six-month period he was laid up afterwards, Gray said he didn’t have to cook.

“People just kept stopping by and dropping off meals. I don’t think I fixed one meal during that six months,” he said.

Looking back on a career spanning over 50 years, Gray, who started out playing 45s as a teen on weekends, says he’d do it all over again in a heartbeat; he has no regrets.

“It’s a lot more automated now,” he said. “It used to be very hands on, we physically manipulated things, and now it’s pretty much all computerized.”

But while some things changed, others did not.

“We still do the small town things,” he said of the KJDY experience, “… an announcement about a lost dog or relaying information that comes over the dispatch. We try to be a part of the community… be there for our listeners.”

Radio, said Gray, will probably always be around, but it will continue to change with the times. The latest innovation he is privy to is smart phones that will have the capability to access FM stations.

“The technology to do that is in place,” he said, and it’s only a matter of time.

Speaking of time, having a little more of it on his hands is something Gray is looking forward to as his impending retirement nears. He’s “cautiously optimistic” that will happen by Sept. 1, pending FCC approval of the station license transfer.

“I don’t have any big plans yet, relax a little, maybe sleep in a little more. We’ll see how it goes,” he said.

One thing is certain, however, he said. He and his wife, Peggy, won’t be moving any time soon from the area and community they, too, call home.