Green Mound is a prairie cemetery a few miles east of Cheney. It was started by the Independent Order of the Odd Fellows in 1883. “Burying the dead was taken very seriously by early Odd Fellows, and most lodges purchased land and established cemeteries as one of their first activities in a new town or city,” the lodge order remarked. The order kept the cemetery for over 100 years, relinquishing ownership around 1990.

Nature took a strong hold over the cemetery, and prairie grass has grown over some of the graves. Some cemetery markers have gone missing. It is a quiet, peaceful spot.

An interesting feature of the small cemetery is John Wilker and his family. Wilker was born in 1840 in Germany. At some point, his family emigrated to Dubuque, Iowa, where he joined the volunteer 5th Iowa Cavalry as the Civil War began in 1861. The unit fought in numerous engagements including Fort Donelson and the Seige of Atlanta. He was discharged in Nashville, Tennessee 1964. His wife and children are buried beside him. Wilker is perhaps typical of the many Union veterans who settled in eastern Washington in the decades after the war.

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The KEWC Radio Station started broadcasting in 1950 on 89.5 FM. The station played classical music such as Beethoven, Mozart, Schuman as well as history commentaries about the Inland Northwest. The radio signal’s strength was only 10 watts, which meant it could only be heard on campus.

KEWC Station’s first big hit happened during their second year in 1952. “The Ron Mckinney and Hal Hartely’s tele requests is the most popular program on KEWC,” The 1952 yearbook promoted. The program aired every night giving the public two mystery tunes a week for anyone to guess. If someone guessed the mystery tune they would win two free tickets to Pix Theater, Cheney’s local movie venue.

KEWC changed its name to KEWU in 1986, and the frequency was upgraded from 10 watts to 10,000 watts. It also switched music from classical to contemporary jazz, a format that continues to today. Program director Elizabeth Farriss was awarded best radio programmer in Jazz Weekly Magazine in 2005 and in 2009.

The KEWU philosophy is to “stay true to contemporary Jazz music while exploring and pushing the musical boundaries."

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