Allen Gray

2001 Charter Inductee

Ernest Bundgaard was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa on November 13, 1920. In his more than 60 years in broadcasting, Ernest "Allen Gray" Bundgaard rose from student announcer to station owner, doing it all with honesty, charm, integrity, and style.

His career began at WSUI at the University of Iowa in 1939. where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Radio Broadcasting. He then joined KMA in Shenandoah, Iowa, while still in school.

After graduating from the University of Iowa in 1943 he immediately enrolled in Officer’s Candidates School at Fort Benning, Georgia, graduating and becoming a Second Lieutenant in the infantry on September 6, 1943. He married his longtime girlfriend, Mary Lee Burden, on September 10, 1943. Gray served in the Armed Forces for three years, mustering out in 1946. While in the service he joined the Second Replacement Depo and become Information and Education Officer. He was offered several opportunities in the broadcasting field with the Armed Forces, but chose rather to go home when he had sufficient points.

In 1947 he went to work at KFAB in Omaha, Nebraska, where he was named one of the top twelve radio announcers in the nation. In 1950 he moved to WCCO Minneapolis/Saint Paul, where he served as director and talent for the CBS Housewives Protective League and also hosted the late-evening Starlight Salute" program. He was then asked to join WCBS in New York City where he was on the air until 1963. After returning to the Twin Cities he operated an advertising agency and did freelance radio and television work before building his own station, KLKS FM in Breezy Point, in 1984. Gray was chosen Minnesota Pioneer Broadcaster of the year in 1997 before being inducted into Hall of Fame in 2001.

Allen Gray passed away on December 8, 2013.