Submitted photos

Randy Parks hard at work at KZHC Radio.

Randy Parks is back on the radio!

Elkhorn Media Group hired Parks to manage operations at KZHC Radio (92.7 FM, 99.1 FM, and 1230 AM) in October 2020. In addition to broadcasting news and weather, Parks is hosting a live show, Harney County Live, which airs every week day from 8:30-9 a.m. on 92.7 FM. During the live show, Parks interviews local leaders to get the scoop and keep the community in the loop.

The voices of Harney County

If you lived in Harney County between 1989 and 2005, you know Parks’ voice and infectious laugh from KZZR Radio. During that time, Parks and KZZR owner, Stan Swol, informed and entertained audiences of all ages.

“Everyone in the community in the ‘90s turned on the radio at home or work just to hear Randy and Stan, especially the morning show,” Burns High School (BHS) football coach Terry Graham said. “When you got in the car, the radio was always set to KZZR. Anyone of any generation at that time knew Randy and Stan. It was the best of radio to listen to those two guys. If you wanted to laugh, you didn’t have to wait long if you had the radio on. Randy’s laugh alone was enough to make you feel better.”

Parks moved to Burns in 1989 to launch his career as a sports announcer.

“In the beginning, I thought Burns would be a stepping stone for bigger and better things,” Parks said, explaining that he wanted to work his way up to broadcasting college football games.

After three or four years in Burns, Parks was offered a job in Nebraska. However, after he and his family packed up and moved halfway across the country, Parks realized that the job wasn’t as advertised.

“What was promised wasn’t true,” he said. “We didn’t even unpack, just headed back to Burns.”

Eventually, Parks came to realize that he had a passion for announcing high school sports, and he and his family decided to set up camp in Burns indefinitely.

“It makes no difference whether you’re announcing high school, college, or professional games,” Parks said. He acknowledged that the skill of the athletes increases a bit, but said, “Otherwise, you’re still broadcasting sports.”

“I never got to hear the live game broadcasts, but I always enjoyed hearing the highlights of our games on Saturday mornings,” Coach Graham said. “Later, Randy would make copies of our games for me to listen to. I was really impressed that a small town like Burns could have such a professional-sounding play-by-play announcer for our games.”

With Swol’s support, Parks was able to try his hand at broadcasting a variety of athletic contests.

“Stan was a big sports fan,” Parks said. “He let me do any sports that I wanted to do. He was all behind it, and he was a great guy to work for. He treated me and my family very, very well.”

Over the years, Randy has provided play-by-play announcing for football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, and wrestling, and he has been joined by Randy McCorkle, Gordon Mallon, Pete Runnels, Jose Rementeria, Randy Fulton and others.

Parks and Fulton have been broadcasting football games together throughout the past 30 years. They were also the first broadcasters in Oregon to provide play-by-play commentary for the state wrestling tournament.

“That’s one of my accomplishments that I am really proud of,” Parks said.

When asked which sport is the toughest to call, Parks replied, “I can’t say any of them are difficult because I enjoy the heck out of every, single one of them.” However, he joked that cross country would pose some unique challenges. He imagined himself saying, “They’re off! Wait…We’ll be back in 20 minutes when they get back.”

Parks’ quick wit and fun-loving nature made him a staple in sports announcing and on KZZR’s morning show.

“After Stan asked me to join him on the morning show, that’s when we started to do the team thing, and that was really a lot of fun,” Parks said. “I think that’s what people really enjoyed listening to. The funnest part of radio was working with Stan. He was a kick!”

Unfortunately, Swol decided to sell the station in 2005, and Parks had trouble working for the new owner. Parks was contemplating leaving Harney County when the Burns Times-Herald called a few days later and offered him a job. He ended up working for the local newspaper for 15 years and was eventually promoted to editor. Parks was also one of the newspaper’s owners for a number of years. However, despite his success in the newspaper business, Parks always dreamed of returning to radio.

Swol died April 2, 2007. He is buried in Taylors Falls, Minn. On his headstone, there is an engraving of a radio microphone and an inscription that states, “The voice of Harney County.”

“It really wasn’t me. It was Stan and I together that people enjoyed,” Parks said. “That was the key right there. He was a great boss, a great mentor, and a good friend.”

Parks returns to radio with Elkhorn Media

About two years ago, one of Parks’ friends informed him that Randy McKone, owner and chief executive officer of Elkhorn Media Group, was interested in purchasing the Burns radio stations. Upon hearing the news, Parks emailed McKone to express interest in interviewing for a position at what would become KZHC Radio.

“I always said if I ever wanted to do the Burns deal, I needed a Randy Parks,” McKone said, explaining that he was familiar with Parks’ work at KZZR. “I probably wouldn’t have done the deal without Parks. It’s hard as an owner to find a person with passion for what they do. Randy has the passion and desire to be in the business. If you can find those kinds of things in this market, you’re miles ahead. Randy is an anchor, and it allows us to come in and build around that.”

McKone, who grew up in Ontario, has been broadcasting in Eastern Oregon for 38 years. He and his wife, Debbie, started Elkhorn Media in 2012 with two radio stations in LaGrande. Since then, Elkhorn Media has grown to 15 stations throughout Eastern Oregon.

“We added John Day, then another station in LaGrande, and then all of a sudden we had Pendleton,” McKone said. “I’ve always kept my eye on the Burns piece because it fits our footprint. It fits Eastern Oregon. I always thought Burns was a great place, and there’s no reason we can’t fit. It’s nice to give Burns back the radio stations they lost several owners ago.”

Although Elkhorn Media has the largest continuous footprint of any broadcast company in the West, McKone said the company is “just a local, Eastern-Oregon-owned business.”

He added, “We like what we do, and we’ve been at it a long time, and we enjoy the heck out of our small, Eastern Oregon towns. Eastern Oregon is just the best place to be.”

The McKones, who have two children and three grandchildren, emphasize the importance of family and community in everything that they do.

“I take care of the family first,” McKone said, explaining that he considers his employees to be part of his family.

Elkhorn Media has 24 full-time employees across its 15 stations, and 95 percent of them have been working with McKone for more than 17 years.

Regional Manager Colleen Brady has worked with McKone for 24 years.

“She’s more qualified in some areas than I am,” McKone said. “She’s been my consummate student and does a great job. We’re a good team.”

Brady said she is excited for the Harney County community to visit the new KZHC studio, which is located at 42 S. Broadway in Burns, and to get to know the Elkhorn Media team. Brady added that Emily Dowell was hired to cover news and sales at KZHC in the afternoons.

“I’m just excited to grow a local staff and have locals helping locals and being able to hear great things from our marketing partners that we have here in Burns,” Brady said. “That’s what I think we do best as well as informing our folks with news and information.”

Although a few things have changed since Parks and McKone began their broadcast careers in the 1980s, Eastern Oregon’s rural communities still depend on local radio stations for news and information.

In the future, Parks said he hopes to implement more live segments on KZHC.

“Live is more fun,” he said. “The more fun you have on the air, the more people are going to listen.”

Of course, Parks is also looking forward to announcing athletic events again. If the Burns High School football season starts in February, Parks and Fulton will be ready to call the action on the air. Elkhorn Media is also working on a live streaming option so that folks who live outside of Harney County can tune in.

Great reception

Several community members have responded favorably to hearing Parks on the radio again.

Longtime Harney County rancher Scott Franklin said, “It feels like home again. He’s there just like it used to be, and that’s what everybody wants. I do wish Stan was there with him, because they did get to cracking up sometimes.”

“It sounds good again,” Big R employee Kevin Peasley said regarding the local radio stations. “It makes you feel good again.”

“I just love it,” Gourmet & Gadgets owner Jan Oswald said. “It brings back such great memories of when him and Stan were on together. It’s just a great thing to have a local, wonderful radio station with Randy Parks.”

“This is a passion. I love doing this,” Parks said. “I like being the voice behind the microphone.”

He added, “I would like to thank Elkhorn Media Group for giving me a chance, and I hope it all works out. There are a lot of people who remember me and have asked me when I was going to get back on the radio. Well, I’m back on the radio, and I hope I can bring them what they expect. That’s all I can do.”