KIFI 65 years: Lloyd Lindsay Young
Michael Coats
Idaho Falls, IDAHO (KIFI) – It’s not just the big news stories we remember when looking back on the 65 years of broadcasting history at KIFI. We also remember the numerous personalities that came through our front door. Michael Coats talks to one memorable weathercaster from KIFI’s past.
“Helllooooo Pocatello!”
That un-mistakable voice might bring back some memories for viewers of KIFI in the 70’s. Lloyd Lindsay Young got his television start as a weathercaster here
“I was working in Salt Lake City, and I went up to do a live audition. It made me pretty nervous but somehow I pulled if off.” Young said in an interview this month. “I wasn’t under contract in Salt Lake, so I gave them two weeks’ notice and BOOM! 1971 Hello Jackson Hole!”
Elements that became a trademark for Young, started at KIFI and followed Young’s career through San Franscisco and New York City.
The infamous long helllloooo, was a Lloyd Lindsay Young staple, invented on the spot at KIFI. “I don’t know what got into me that day, I said helllloooo Jackson Hole. I figured I might be on to something.”
“I might have been on the air for about a month when I go, HELLLOOOO Jackson Hole Wyoming and somebody sent me, like a cane to point at the weather map. I had a lot of fun with weather pointers. People would send me all sorts of contraptions. Basically, when the weather wasn’t serious, I did a lot of schtick, and it got a lot of attention.”
“Funniest story, one day I got this long stick, I didn’t know what the heck it was. The Rachers, believe it or not, had sent me a shellacked bull’s penis.”
“I always felt, and I don’t know if you feel this way? A lot of the news is so serious that I felt my job was to add a little bit of levity. You know a lot of the news can be depressing, shootings etc…I wanted to add a little levity into it, fun you know and try to do that.”
After working for several years at KIFI, Lloyd eventually jumped to KGO-TV in San Francisco. Then Young went on to WOR-TV (WWOR after 1987) in New York City. He retired years ago after a decades long career in radio and television. Young now enjoys retirement just outside of Sacramento with his wife.