Co-founders and original owners Roger Blunt, Cliff Plagman and John Senn started the process of building the studio in February 1965, officially opening for business on June 1, 1965.
[1]: 33 The Iowa Great Lakes Recording Company, Inc.—or simply IGL—was founded by Roger Blunt, Cliff Plagman and John Senn.
Senn was involved with the performance end of music and was aware of the needs of musicians for a more conveniently located recording facility.
Although the endeavor was officially incorporated as the Iowa Great Lakes Recording Company, Inc. the "Inc." was often left unsaid as the name was already a mouthful.
[12] At some time in the early 1970s, the facility switched to the Queen City Album Co. (now QCA, Inc.) in Cincinnati, OH since they were a one-stop for all of IGL's needs in this area.
In 1980 John Senn, who was then sole owner of the facility, decided to close the studio due in part to declining business.
Other factors, like the growing affordability of semipro products for recording at home which started to appear in the mid 1970s, along with the number of bands declining after the boom which followed the British Invasion in the early 1960s, likely contributed too.
On one occasion while setting up for a dance at the PlaMor, Storey grabbed his guitar and showed Senn an approach to the song he thought would work well.
In January 1966, the group was playing for a dance in Jefferson, IA which was emceed by Jim Michaels, a dee-jay at one of central Iowa's AM Top 40 stations at the time - KIOA.
Michaels told the band he would add the 45 to the station's rotation for 3 weeks, if it generated a good response he would keep it on; if not, it would be removed from the playlist.
The quantity of copies on the IGL label that were sold numbered between 8 and 9 thousand prior to the song being leased according to Senn in an interview with KUOO radio's Becky Thoreson.
Michaels recommended that IGL and the band go with Mercury Records which released the single nationally on their Smash label.
[6][16][24][25][26] Throughout the history of the IGL Recording Co. the following individuals were owners of the facility: co-founders, Plagman and Blunt of Milford along with Senn of Spirit Lake.
Other owners during the period the studio was in operation were Dennis Kintzi of Milford, Dave Peterson of Arnolds Park, Jerry Wolford of Spirit Lake, Lynn Wee of Spencer, Dee Swenson of Ocheyedan and Rose Otto of Everly.
[2][1]: 29 [5] Senn opened a studio named IGL Audio in 1983 and was one of the founders of the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.