KRIB KRIB KRIB (1490 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Mason City, Iowa. The station is owned by Digity, LLC, and licensed to Digity 3E License, LLC. It airs an Adult Standards music format. KRIB was one of the first radio stations in Iowa to play Rock and Roll in the mid-1950s and garnered all of the young audience. KRIB is also the radio station that was one of the sponsors of the Winter Dance Party at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa in February 1959 featuring The Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly, which ended that
Ritchie Valens Ritchie Valens Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Ritchie Valens, was a Mexican American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens' recording career lasted eight months, as it abruptly ended when he died in a plane crash. During this time, he had several hits, most notably "La Bamba", which he had adapted from a Mexican folk song. Valens transformed the song into one with a rock rhythm and beat, and it became a hit in 1958, making Valens a pioneer of the