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
Buddy Holly in Fort Worth, Texas called Heads Up. Waylon Jennings voluntarily gave up his seat to J. P. Richardson (the Big Bopper), who had influenza and complained that the tour bus was too cold and uncomfortable for a man of his size. The pilot, Roger Peterson, took off in inclement weather, although he was not certified to fly by instruments only. Shortly after 1:00 am on February 3, 1959, Holly, Valens, Richardson, and Peterson were killed instantly when their plane crashed into a cornfield five miles northwest of the Mason City, Iowa airport shortly after takeoff. Holly's funeral was held on