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to this site If you don't want your name to be used or an email to be quoted, please state that at the beginning of your message. Unless otherwise indicated, all commentary and photography on this site are by Grady McAllister.
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About This Radio Site . . . No Country for Young Punks!
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O.J. GYPPED! OR, Is this a radio fan site?A while back, the operator of a radio web site referred to me as a "radio fan" even though he knew I had actually worked in radio. The term "fan" was used while challenging the accuracy of the material on this site. All of the material on this Houston Retro Radio site is tentative. When recalling events from 30 or 40 years ago, individual memories can vary. In my own case, I am often writing about something from between ages 12 and 19. Those were the years when I paid the most attention to radio as a listener. Because so much relies on memory, many of my statements are qualified or cautiously written. Sometimes, I have gone back and changed my own words because someone might infer something I had not actually stated. On two occasions, I have found myself caught in the middle of a dispute among people writing to this site. The words disputed were not my own, but words included in an email I quoted. I had no direct personal knowledge either way. On both occasions, I removed the material altogether rather than let a trivial controversy linger. I simply don't have the time to personally research every claim and counterclaim to the point of absolute certainty. Sometimes I just have to give people the benefit of the doubt. When a man in Austin identified himself as the voice on one of my airchecks, I took him at his word. I have little fear of anyone challenging that claim. Back to that webmaster's remarks: Whether intentionally or not, referring to me as a "fan" rather than a former broadcaster had the effect of minimizing my authority to write on the subject. In any event, "fan" is not a term I would use for myself in connection with this web site. Please allow me to elucidate...Here is my image of a fan. It is loosely based on something I once saw in a Mad magazine in the 70's. A football fan is yelling at his TV screen while holding a newspaper sports section. The headline reads "O.J. Gypped!" The man doing the yelling makes $180 a week. That wasn't a lot even in the 70's. Here is another O.J. Moment from 1994: O.J. is riding along in a Ford Bronco. He is being pursued by police in that famous slow motion chase. Along the side of the road, fans are yelling, "Go O.J., Go!" O.J. always had a few million fans. Just like O.J. himself, sometimes fans can be dangerous to have around. Don't just take my word for it. Ask John Lennon or Selena. So, I am not a fan of the idea of turning myself into a fan. If I were a real radio fan, I would be seeking head shots of DJ's done with main lights, fill lights, background lights, and hair lights. If it is fan photos you seek, you will find none of that here. You may have also noticed that my attitude toward radio and its personalities does not always take the form of worship. A real fan would go into a state of euphoria at the sound of a DJ's super voice. A serious fan would never, ever utter a word of criticism about the state of radio today. I may have been a mere fan when I was twelve years old, but, since 1974, I have had a four year university degree in Radio-TV. Nobody gets one of those because they want to be a fan. Also, since 1997, I have had a master's degree in Occupational Technology Education from the University of Houston College of Technology. This later degree leaves me particularly qualified to research and write about skills used in employment. What about practical experience? As far back as 1969, I was conducting interviews later used in a KILT program on illegal drugs. Radio was my primary occupation during the last half of 70's and into the early 80's. My main radio job was as news director at KIOX in Bay City. I also held an on the air news and public affairs position at KIKK (AM & FM), then the number one station in the Houston market. My public affairs show was not one of those recorded shows that run at 5:00 AM. The program was live and aired in the early evening on Sundays. Although part time, the KIKK job ran to about 20 hours a week when I include show prep time and extra newscast shifts. In addition, I did newscasts for KENR in 1977 and 1980. I was also a DJ in both Bay City and Baytown. At the time of my involvement, the Baytown AM operation, KBUK, was one of the most professionally run stations in the outlying Houston market. So, if I wasn't exactly big time in radio, I have certainly paid my dues in the field. There is another way of looking at this "fan" business: Suppose that you had followed me around since 1975 and kept a time log on everything I did. If you evaluated the total data all the way up to the present, I am sure you would discover I had spent far more time working in radio than listening to it. Even though I haven't worked in radio lately, I'm not much of a listener either. You would have to be doing a lot more listening to be a real radio fan. I am not twelve years old anymore, and radio has changed a lot. There is very little about radio that appeals to me today. That is why the main focus here is on the history of Houston radio. I don't cover things like who just got fired at what station last week or who just became PD at a hip hop station. This is not that kind of web site. Normally, the only current radio news is whatever might appear on one of my RSS news feeds from an outside source. Another thing that qualifies me to write for this web site is that I really know how to write. I have been a paid writer for such corporate giants as Du Pont and BP Amoco. Having also been a radio newsman, I know how to write quickly. Yet, I never assume that my first effort is my best. Almost everything on this site has been rewritten three or more times. That's enough about my qualifications to run this Houston Retro Radio web site. I have had other people's airchecks on line since 2003, and I am only now giving information about my own background. If I write any more, it will look like bragging. I will conclude this soliloquy by turning to the subject of bragging in general. There are, after all, a lot of big egos floating through the air waves and cyberspace. I am reminded of one of the many profound song lyrics by the eminent philosopher Kid Rock. In the song, "Cocky," Kid Rock raps vociferously about his favorite subject. His favorite subject is himself:
Such is the state of music today. Kid Rock actually has some talent, but he tries hard to hide it from adults. (It must be hard to be The Kid when you are pushing 40.) Speaking of kids, I came to Houston from Alabama at the age of nine. (I was looking at my birth certificate recently and was surprised to learn that my first legal residence was the University of Alabama campus.) As a kid in Alabama, I dreamed of living in Texas. It was where Davy Crockett had died. I had a toy Alamo set and a coonskin cap. I liked cowboy movies. Sometime during my last year in Tuscaloosa, I saw a cowboy movie that included that old bit about, "It's not bragging if you can back it up." Even at that age I detected a logical fallacy. I knew that bragging meant to assert boastfully. If you asserted anything boastfully, you were by definition bragging. Whether or not the thing bragged about was true was a separate issue. I have since come to the realization that you should be careful about basing your life on lines heard in movies and songs. That Kid Rock song not withstanding, bragging is still bragging whether you can back it up or not. — Grady McAllister. M.S. (Occupational Technology Education) Revised February 14, 2010. Houston Retro Radio is hosted as part of VASTHEAD.COM. You can also access these pages by going to http://houstonretro.com. |
The anamorphic photo below is adapted from a slide shot in Galveston in 1980. The arrow, which pointed to the 61st Street fishing pier, is no longer there. Hurricane Alicia may have destroyed it in 1983. This arrow image is the emblem for all of The Vasthead web pages.
