About Us

Tom has lived in Ridgecrest since 1979, and is married to his wife, Shannon.
Tom has a daughter, Denise, and two step daughters, Elizabeth and Nicole, including son-in-law, Kevin, He also 2 grandchildren, Justin and Jolene.
He worked at Raytheon, where he was initially hired as a contractor, and eventually became a Program Manager at Raytheon. He was hired by the Department Of Defense as a Program/Contracts Manager. Tom retired from the Department Of Defense in 2005. He started GUNS4US in 1987 as a small business. As the business grew and he moved towards retirement from the Department of Defense, he decided to invest in the business and Ridgecrest further. Tom designed and built the over 3000 sq ft GUNS4US building he is now in. The 2nd floor of this building just became home to the new KZGN TV station that he and his wife, Shannon just recently purchased. Tom is the President and CEO of GUNS4US Inc and the new KZGN TV station. Tom feels we have selected a great staff and he is looking forward to great things for KZGN and Ridgecrest!

Education:
• Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from University of Redlands and Minor in Accounting.
• Associates in Science Degree in Business Management from Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio
• Department Of Defense certification for Contract Management
• Department Of Defense certification for Program Management
• 1 year of law at Ridgecrest School of Law

City Government Experience:
• Ridgecrest Planning Commission
• Ridgecrest City Council and Kern Council of Governments
• Past Ridgecrest Representative to LAFCO
• Chairman of the City Infrastructure Committee
• Member of the City Organization and Services Committee
• Alternate current KERN COG representative
• Ridgecrest Police Dept. PACT Volunteer Patrol Captain & Code Enforcement Officer, Completed LEVEL ll State of CA Police Officer Training

Other Experience:
• Lead Proponent for the voter approved Ridgecrest City Council Term Limits and Direct Elected Mayor initiatives in 2012
• Owner of GUNS4US Inc. since 1987
• Owner of KZGN-TV Station
• President Ridgecrest Gun Range Association a 501c nonprofit organization
• Worked at AM and FM radio stations in Ohio in the late 1960's.

Military:
• U.S. Army, Enlisted, 1969 to 1972

Memberships:
• Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
• Life Member of Vietnam Veterans of America
• Member Our Saviors Lutheran Church
• Life Member of the Single Action Shooters Society
• Life Member to National Rifle Association
• NRA Certified Shooting Instructor

Shannon co owns and recently started KZGN TV station with her husband Tom. She has two daughters named Elizabeth and Nicole including a son in law Kevin and step daughter Denise who also works at GUNS4US. She also has 2 step grandchildren Jolene and Justin. Prior to moving to Ridgecrest she had worked for several years as a Registered Nurse in the following medical areas as a charge nurse which included Oncology. Hematology, Telemetry, Orthopedics, GI Bleeding, Medical and Surgical units in LA prior to coming to Ridgecrest 8 years ago. She received her RN clinical training at UCLA. For the last 8 years she has been handling US and International internet sales at GUNS4US in Ridgecrest. She will be handling and maintaining the TV station's business licenses, records, insurance, correspondence, billing and assisting the KZGN staff. She is very excited to have her husband Thomas Wiknich as KZGN's station manager, Tonia Pyle as KZGN's contributing news writer reporter, Keith Laux as the Lead Station Technician, Joe Adams as News Producer and Lead Editor, Jolene Senn as Traffic Manager, Lois Beres, Robert Eireman, Al Huey, Paul Vanderwerf and Tom Heck as Ridgecrest Talk's hosts, and sales manager Denise Wiknich as part of the KZGN team. Shannon hopes to see the station become a major community asset for the citizens of Ridgecrest including a major focus of the station to encourage citizen participation and involvement.

Keith is from Southern California and is a father of 4 daughters, 4 step-daughters, 2 step-sons and many grandchildren. After graduating from Huntinton Beach High School, Keith joind the army as an EOD Specialist. After his time in the army, he worked at Morse Signal Devices in Oxnard California as an Alarm Technician and Installer. While working he attended Oxnard College and earned an AS Degree in Computer Science and Programming.
Keith moved to Ridgecrest in 1990 where he worked at Del Taco as a manager for 12 years until in 2004 he assisted as the lead computer technician for KZIQ The Coyote.
Keith opened and operated Coyote Tech in 2005 until 2012 when he was hired at GUNS4US Inc. as a store clerk, internet sales and tech support.
While working Keith attended Kaplan University from 2009 until 2014 for his Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, his main studies was Web Site Design, Java & VB Programming, Networking Technologies, Network Design and Analysis. Keith has a few hobbies when not at work, pistol and rifle shooting, ammo reloading, lead recovery & reprocessing, and recreational gold mining.
Recently he has become interested in black powder firearms.
Keith is currently working as the Assistant Manager and Lead Technician with KZGN TV and interested with the Indian Wells Valley TV Booster organization.