High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Edmund Blodgette "E.B." "Ed" Craney (February 19, 1905-March 6, 1991) was an American radio and television executive. He brought the first radio station to Butte, Montana, in 1929, KGIR, which eventually became a part of his chain of unparalleled radio stations dubbed “The Z-Bar Network.” Craney also had a hand in beginning Montana`s first local television station in 1953 that was also located in Butte. Craney founded the Montana Broadcasters Association, while KGIR was the first station to join the National Broadcasters Association.