All right, moving on.
This year KTVB is celebrating 70
years of broadcasting as Idaho's
very first television station.
You've likely seen some of our
amazing commercials running,
showing just how much things
have changed over the years.
Some people in this building today have
seen so many of those changes f.
No, not that far back.
And from the technology to the s
both in front of and behind the camera,
there are dozens of people who'e
made KTV be successful over the years.
It all started, though, with one woman,
a name you likely wouldn't have heard
outside of this building or even
outside this industry because, ,
she didn't really enjoy the spotlight.
But her name is Georgia Davidso.
I think she knew she had done an
accomplishment, but she never,
she was never bragged full that that,
just that. That's not her natur.
In a time when women were typicy
left at home to raise the famil,
Georgia Davidson bucked the tre.
Very compassionate, very
kind. She had
wonderful wisdom. She also had
a wonderful sense of humor.
Georgia Marie Newport was born
in May 1907 in Notice, Idaho.
She went on to attend
the University of Oregon.
That's where she met her future husband,
Curtis Phillips,
affectionately known as Kiddo.
During a trip to visit her
parents in Idaho in 1928,
they noticed an ad in the local newspaper.
A radio station KFAU was up for sale.
They placed a bid one and then
moved to Boise to run it.
KFAU eventually became KIDO.
In 1942, Kiddo died of a heart attack,
leaving Georgia a widow with two young girls.
She was a very happy woman, even with
the sudden death of her. First husband
in 1946. She married Boise
businessman R Mowbray Davidson
and became Georgia Davidson.
The two of them were a wonderful pair.
They had a lot of fun.
He always called her mom
and the grandkids called him Grandpa Mob.
They loved each other dearly.
As you can see in one of the ph,
They just took pleasure in each other.
They took pleasure in family.
Family was important to both of them,
George's granddaughter,
Christy Mcentee, says.
Growing up, she would spend a lt
of time at their home on Warm
Springs in Boise and remember se
odd visitors that looking back,
may have been pure coincidence.
They always had Peacocks there,
which was interesting.
I mean, she didn't bring them i,
they just were there.
Which is kind of funny when.
She joined NBC following program
is brought to You in Living color. In
1952, the freeze on new televisn
stations across the country was
lifted by the FCC and Georgia
filed to bring a station to Ida.
In 1953, that application was
accepted and Ki Do TV was born.
On July 12th of that year,
Ki Do TV went on the air for the
very first time as an NBC affil.
At NBC network meetings,
Georgia would be one of the only women
in the room of more than 120 me,
women, you know, at the table
and kind of in those big rooms.
If you think about what NBC was
like at that time in the 50s,
they were a couple of very few,
if not the only women that were
really there and present. She hd
wonderful support from
the men in the community.
They had a wonderful network and they
would bounce ideas off each oth.
And she was the only female in the group.
In 1956, Georgia hired a familiar face.
I want to work here August 13th,
1956, which was a Monday.
Her son-in-law, Bob Kruger.
In 1951, I married her daughter.
That daughter was Betty Davidso.
Georgia and Bob met in McCall when Bob was
working the boat docks at the Shore Lodge.
In 1959, three years after Kruger was hired,
Georgia called him into her off.
She asked me to shut the door.
And I thought, oh, I'm going to
get fired or whatever's going o.
Tears started streaming down
her cheeks and I thought, what?
What's happened?
And she looked at me and she sad
I've got to sell KIDO radio.
I believe in television and
I need the money out of KIDO
radio to keep us going. She
really took on some big risks and I have
tremendous respect and admiration for that.
So Georgia sold KIDO AM to a man
by the name of Bill Boeing Juni,
the son of the founder of Boeing Aircraft.
That same year, KIDOTV changed
its call letters to KTVB.
Georgia, Bob and the rest of KTB
then focused solely on running
Idaho's first television statio.
Georgia soon went to part time d
began spending a lot of time outdoors.
In 1971, KTVB moved to its
current location on Fairview Av.
We had the dedication on
her birthday in May of 1971.
KTVB became even more of a famiy
affair when Christy came to
work in the traffic department.
I do have to say, when I did stt
work here, God bless her, she s.
Don't you dare call me Grandma.
So she called her Gigi. Everyone else,
they called her Mrs. Davidson.
No, that that's part of her being proper.
I mean, it was a very comfortable work
environment, but you had your boundaries.
In 1980, Georgia decided to sele
station to Dorothy Bullitt, her friend
who owned King Broadcasting in Seattle.
I think a big part of that was e
admiration that they had for each other,
the mutual respect that they wee
both women well ahead of their .
Georgia passed away in 1997 at the age of 89.
But she paved the way for future
generations of female leaders at KTVB
to work at a station that really
has had fantastic female leader.
And it even started with a
female leadership, right?
Like I was hired by a female news director
when I don't think there were that many.
So we've it's and and to be able to grow
and be supported and be inspired is just
not something that you get everywhere.
And knowing it started with
her just means a lot, I think.
Georgia's legacy at Channel 7
is really that deep commitment
and service to the community,
that idea that we can be a part
of what helps connect people,
that we can really help bring
people shared understanding,
that we can help shine a light n
things that maybe were in the shadows.
That commitment to community
has been a part of, you know,
News Channel Seven since day on.
And I think that all started with Georgia.