Author Archives: David L Stevens

About David L Stevens

David has been the creator and maintainer of Trona on the Web since 1996. He has been creating websites since the beginning of the World Wide Web. He is not the best person to be the webmaster for a Trona Website but someone needs to do it and Doug Polly isn't with us any longer. David worked in maintenance for the San Bernardino City Schools, retired from Honeywell, worked in IT for a while, as school bus driver until COVID-19 made it too dangerous. David is now retired and spends his time gardening, collecting stamps and learning to cook.

The Mighty 690

AM radio was an important part of my life in Trona in the 40s and 50s. Television made to Trona by way of cable in the last half of the 50s. That was about 10 years after the rest of the country had TV. Radio and movies at the Trona theater were the two choices we had for modern entertainment until we finally had TV. Once Trona had TV there wasn’t enough people going to the theater to keep it open. Sadly it had to close.

KFI was a 50,000 watt NBC affiliate station that still broadcasts out of LA. It was the only station that could be reliably heard during the day in Trona. My mother would listen to the soap operas it broadcast while she did her housework. My favorite soap was “Just Plain Bill“. As I remember it every time the lead actor’s contract came up for renewal Bill would die. Then as the ratings would drop they had figure out an inventive way to bring Bill back from the dead. KFI was the station of the Bob Hope show, Dragnet, Amos and Andy, The Lone Ranger, Bob and Ray, and Fiber McGee. KNX was the CBS station in Los Angeles. It carried Burns and Allen, and Jack Benny and others that I no longer remember. The problem was that KNX would only come in at night or very weakly at sunrise and sunset. At night, KSL the 50,000 watt station in Salt Lake City was actually, a better source for CBS programs than KNX. As TV became more popular in the rest of the country radio drama started to slowly disappear.

During the last half of 50’s when we were all teenagers interested in rock and roll XEAK, “the mighty 690“, a rock and roll station came barreling out of Mexico and could be heard in Trona during the day most of the time and at night there wasn’t any radio signal that was louder. With 70,000 watts of power it covered all of southern California and beyond. The station was in Mexico but the studios were in the LA area. Every night. It would stop broadcasting rock for a half hour and do a hundred “Hail Mary’s” as if it had to do penance for playing rock. XEAK signed off in 1961. Mighty 690 was a big hit with Trona teens of the era.

That was the days of tube radios and early transistor radios. Many people are predicting that AM radio is going to go completely away and be replaced completely with internet radio and podcasts. That may very well happen but if it does it will be a sad future that has been brought about by poor stewardship and perhaps political corruption in the FCC that has allowed radio station ownership to be trusted to a few corporations that are only interested squeezing all the profit they can out the stations they bought. They have no concern for the future or the public interest. Radio could stay innovative but that would require investment and commitment. The industry has been so run into the ground it almost has to fail before anyone can hope to put it together again. If there is any hope at all for it.

When I started this post I was just trying to share memories but somehow the path I took ended taking a swing into the political realm. Hey, sometimes these things happen. I grew up with radio. I am still a big fan of radio even though 80% of what I now listen to are podcasts downloaded from the internet.

Road to Death Valley Reopens Jan 31, 2014

By Mike Bodine
STAFF WRITER
mbodine@ridgecrestca.com 

An intense storm hit the high desert area in July 2013, wreaking havoc in Ridgecrest and surrounding areas. The event, called a micro-burst, lasted only a few minutes, but the damage is still being repaired. The rains and subsequent flash-flooding destroyed portions of the Trona-Wildrose Highway that leads from Trona to Panamint Valley in Death Valley National Park. Portions of the Panamint Valley Road have been closed due to the flooding as well. Aside from being a nuisance for travelers, the road closure has put a damper on local tourism.

Bob Brown, supervisor for Inyo County’s road department, said Wednesday that crews have been working tirelessly since the Thanksgiving weekend to make the repairs. He said an emergency opening of one lane of the road should be made by the end of the working day on Friday, “If everything goes OK.” 

Read more: http://www.ridgecrestca.com/article/20140130/NEWS/140129568?refresh=true#ixzz2s5GZ75Fh

Jess D

Jess Dominguez

Update: Jess passed away March 29, 2023. The following was put together in 2014:

No, Jess didn’t die. Unfortunately that is how most of my fellow alumni make it to these pages. Maybe this will be a new trend for me, creating posts about living people.

I’ve been wanting to write something about Jess for a long time, ever since he sent me the short book he put together about living on Mojave Street. I put it off and then almost forgot but then yesterday Linda Monroe reminded me about what a great story Jess would make. I guess that is the problem. I’m not sure I can do his story justice. I’m going to do my best and come back and revise it when the mood strikes me.

Jess graduated from Trona High School in 1959. His accomplishments make me feel very humble about my own life.

The information attached to the video above and the video say it better than I ever could:

An instructor of life modeling and 3-D design at SDSU for more than 25 years, Jess Dominguez’s work can be seen all over campus.

The War Memorial at Aztec Green, the statue of President Black near the Old Quad and a relief at the Lipinsky Tower are all his creations. He is volunteering his time and talent for the Coryell bust project.

“I want to keep doing things for the university as long as I can contribute,” he said, “and this one is very special.”

Last year, Dominguez sculpted a bust of football coach Don Coryell. (http://universe.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscen…)

Dominguez said sculpture is intended to be more representational than literal. It should capture a subject’s essence more than a literal likeness that, for example, a figure in a wax museum might represent.

“It’s not supposed to look like a death mask, it’s supposed to look like a sculpture with tool marks and imperfections,” he said.

Before Dominguez casts a final version of a sculpture he tries to have family members or someone close to the subject approve the work.

Jess Dominguez  Jess has come a long way from that house that was on the other side of the tracks on Mojave Street where his family once lived. When I talked to Jess he reminded me of the salted jelly candy that my dad would bring home from work. I didn’t know it but Jess told me that AP&CC would give the candy to the workers. He said that some of the men in the plant would throw their candy over the fence to the kids that were playing on Mojave Street. If I had known that I might have gotten to know Jess much sooner. I loved that salty candy.

Actually I was forbidden by my mother to visit Mojave Street. At that time racism still had a strong hold on the minds of many Americans, including my mother. It wasn’t so much racism as a lack of understanding.

Jess’s book about Trona tells about how his father would find remnants of grain in boxcars that they would sweep up and use as feed for their chickens and how his mother would pass food through a hole in the plant fence so her husband could have a warm lunch at work. Or maybe that was from when we talked?

He also gives credit to his art teacher Lois Pratt for encouraging him to continue with his art. Jess is making a bronze plaque now for the Centennial which will incorporate high points in Trona, like Austin Hall and Valley Wells.

I didn’t know Jess very well. The Dominguez that I knew and that I looked up to at the time was Jess’s older brother, Ernesto. Ernesto was one of my brother’s best friends and since I always looked up to my older brother he and and all his friends were heros in my eyes.

I reserve the right to come back and revise this as I feel the need and I can truly say I’m sorry for postponing writing this for so long.

For more about Jess read:

Professor Emeritus Creates Bronze Bust of Legendary Coach

Memorial for Freda Walker

The Memorial will be held at the Eastside Cemetery in Tehachapi Saturday, February 15th,  at 11:00 am.  This will be followed by a luncheon at Pacino’s at noon.  Pacino’s is allowing the group to visit for as long as it wishes.

Cemetery – Take Tehachapi Blvd to Dennison Road.  Turn onto Dennison Road going back toward Highway 58, cross the railroad tracks and at the end of the road is the cemetery.

Pacino’s is almost at the intersection of Tehachapi Blvd and highway 202. The address is: 1100 Tehachapi Blvd.

For More information about Freda visit:

Freda E. Walker – Former Trona Resident

Richard Wilkinson

Richard Wilkinson passed away in November of 2013 at the age of 88. Mr. Wilkinson was a beloved teacher and coach at Trona High School from the 51-52 school year until the 54-55 school year. Although he left before I started high school I can tell by how well he was remembered that he left an impression on his students duding the four years he was in Trona.

Marian (Steger) Micallef – Class of 1951

Marian (Steger) Micallef passed away in her residence on January 9, 2014. Marian is survived by her four children, Debbie Neumann, Kevin Micallef, Mark Micallef and Sharon Eaton. She also had five beautiful grandchildren and one great grandson. Marian was preceded in death by her husband Jack, who passed in 2007. Together they enjoyed 50 years of marriage, retirement, traveling and most of all golfing. She was a loving wife and mother. She will be missed. For service information please go to: www.murrietavalleyfuneralhome.com

Published in Press-Enterprise on Jan. 14, 2014

Marian was the homecoming queen in her senior year. Looking at her senior picture I can see why.

Gerald Birdwell

Gerald Birdwell – Class of 1960

Gerald Birdwell (class of ’60) died Jan 13, 2014 after an illness of several months. No details are available at this point as to services. Bob Birdwell (THS ’64) called to notify friends.

[edited 16 Jan 2024]

Jerry was born on 10 Feb 1942 in Long Beach, CA to Dayton and Dorothy Birdwell.
Jerry spent some years in the full-time ministry and attended a special school for Jehovah’s Witnesses for those in full-time service. He was a Jehovah’s Witness for 51 years.
His hobbies were country music and computers. He loved to travel. I his later years, he took up barbecuing.
He was preceded in death by his parents Dayton and Dorothy Birdwell.
Jerry is survived by his wife Penny Birdwell of Ridgecrest, CA, stepson Jeff Teal of Grand Rapids, MI, sister Aleta Brown of Trona, CA, brothers Robert Birdwell of Ridgecrest and Michael Birdwell of Trona, brother-in-law Harold Brown of Trona, sister-in-law Melody Birdwelll of Ridgecrest and a host of nieces and nephews to the third generation.

Published The News Review, Ridgecrest, CA 22 Jan 2014

Find a Grave