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Unless otherwise indicated, all commentary and photography on this site are by Grady McAllister.

Below: This is what my home "studio" looked like in April, 1966. All of the my early airchecks of Houston radio stations were made on the little Western Auto reel to reel unit on the lower shelf.

By this time, I had a acquired hi-fi stereo recorder to use as my main unit. Not visible in this picture, it was set up on the left side of the desk.

I also used the studio to record my own "radio show." Never actually on the radio, it was played back over the telephone, mainly to students at South Houston High School.

I didn't know much about electronics, so I improvised. Notice the household light switches with chrome metal covers. I used them for both electrical and electronic connections. I don't think this set up would have passed a fire safety inspection.

Sitting in the midst of this technical wonderland is Candy Jones. For a time, Candy filed reports to KNUZ about activities at South Houston High School.

She lived on my street one block off Edgebrook and appeared on some of my original recordings. Candy is the sister of the late Bob Jones who worked at KQUE in the 70's.

A Bob Jones KQUE aircheck is on this page. The material is somewhat famous because the DJ is alleged to have been drunk on the air.

Candy Jones in 1966


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ALL RECEIVERS ARE GO!

This is a brief look the long history of AM 790. From the 50's to the present, the station used all these call letters: KTHT, KULF, KKBQ, and KBME.

Some of this is backed by nothing but individual memories from very long ago. Such recollections must always be treated with caution.

For example, without an aircheck, I can't be sure that the early Demand Radio newscasts said "All receivers are go" instead of "All systems are go." I am only stating what I think I remember.

I am positive that Agent 79 was a man and not a woman (back then it was easier to tell them apart), but I am only about 90% sure that his purpose was to give clues to contests. In many cases, I write what I think is true, not what I can prove is true.

Remembering Demand Radio 79 (also KTHT, KULF. KKBQ and KBME)

You have a great web site.

From the 60's, I remember KTHT, 790. Neat station, called itself Demand Radio 79, had a tight MOR format . . . Demand Radio News, Demand Radio Weather. No personalities, Just good music. Very well done.

— Dorothy Lemons

I also remember Demand Radio 79. I especially remember the early days of the format in 1962.

When it first launched, Demand Radio specialized in hit parade songs from the late 40's and the 50's. At first, it didn't play anything new. They ignored what was currently popular and went for what was "in demand."

They covered that musical twilight zone between the big band era and the roll and roll era, highlighting such artists as Guy Mitchell and Jo Stafford. The Demand format was my first exposure to many of the songs.

I especially liked "The Green Door" by Jim Lowe. Demand Radio 79 played that one repeatedly: Midnight, one more night without sleeping.' I was just learning to stay up late. I think that song gave me the idea.

(Go ahead and read the lyrics for "The Green Door" at the link below. This article on Demand Radio 79 will wait here until you return.)

Click here for the "Green Door" lyrics.

Did you read the lyrics to "The Green Door" at the link above? Welcome back...

The idea of extolling a station name while minimizing call letters was new at the time. Demand Radio 79 continued to be KTHT, but the letters slid by rapidly once every half hour in a low key voice. Eventually, most listeners called the station Demand and didn't even know the call letters.

Another ingredient in the early Demand formula was that it emphasized the format rather than individual jocks.

The closest modern equivalent would be Jack FM 103.7. It's an Adult Hits format. Jack sounds like a robot with an attitude, 24 hours a day.

Shortly after its launch, Demand Radio had a newscast intro that was as arcane as a spaceship launch. It actually had a countdown. It went something like this: "5-4-3-2-1," and then the bombast, "ALL RECEIVERS ARE GO!" Radio people today would deride such a news lead in as too wordy and melodramatic.

(For a different sort of countdown, check out this Richard Dobyn newscast on KIKK from December 22, 1966.)

I knew that turbo charged news intros were going out when KILT dropped hourly newscasts and switched to 20/20 News. That led to all of these other changes —

No more back timed instrumentals leading into the birth of a new hour...

No more softly beeping tone to lead into the long, loud automatic tone at the top of the hour — the radio equivalent of the Westminister Chimes of Big Ben...

No more brassy news themes lifted from big band albums with titles like "Sound Power!" or "21 Channel Sound!"...

No more of anything like that. The newsmen would just come on and start talking. When I did newscasts at KIKK in the 70's, you just read a short script plugging the station and a sponsor. Not very exciting.

Somebody should bring back the rocket blast sounds and all of the bells and whistles. Most stations today have no significant build up to the news. Most stations today have no news.

Another early feature at Demand was "Agent 79," a cryptic personage who came in from the weather from time to time. He had the clues to the latest contest. This was before James Bond, Maxwell Smart (Agent 86), and others had created a veritable secret agent mania.

The early Demand Radio 79 was one of my all time favorite formats. If anyone has an aircheck, please send it to me. Those pre-1965 airchecks are hard to come by. There just weren't a lot of people with tape recorders.

I do have this aircheck from later in the Demand Radio era:

KTHT, Houston, November 25, 1965, Demand Radio 79, Jeff Johnson

Or, click here for just the newscast featuring Chuck Williams

By the time of this recording, the Demand format had lost its unusual mechanized quality. In other words, it was starting to bring back personality DJ's and to move at a more leisurely pace. The recording also reveals that KTHT had become an adult contemporary station with much less emphasis on oldies.

The announcer on the musical news intro was heard frequently on commercials and promos during the 60's. He was brought in when production called for a voice that radiated both maturity and authority.

It is surprising to hear him on a Demand Radio 79 news intro. I associate his voice more with KPRC and with the newspaper that owned it, the Houston Post. You also hear him on a Post ad on the KXYZ recording from 1961. (It is the last aircheck listed in this column.)

The music on the news intro is from the album, "Stereo 35mm, Volume II" by the Enoch Light Orchestra. This is not just a memory. I have owned my own copy since I was 16 years old. I made a hobby out of collecting music suitable for news themes.

Let's look at the words in the news intro. What music station today would brag that "everything stops" for the news? Does the phrase "tune out factor" come to mind? A sales trainer would call this "bragging about an objection."

Also notice that the newsman puts reverb underneath each dateline location.

Before I leave the subject of KTHT, I will mention a format which I heard before they became Demand Radio 79. I was just a kid, and I was just starting to take radio seriously. The slogan for the format was "continuous music and instantaneous news."

The idea was to feed the KTHT audience the news in bite sized pieces instead of a five minute block. It was an interesting concept, and I have never heard it tried anywhere else.

Of course, if someone tried that now, the program director would get fired for using such big words as "instantaneous" and "continuous." Our society has dumbed down quite a bit since I first listened to radio. If you sincerely want to be rich in radio, it pays to keep a leash on your word power. I say this as someone who has done more than his share of writing for adults at the sixth grade reading level.

Another KTHT slogan during the pre-Demand days was "Red Carpet Radio."

By the beginning of the 70's, KTHT had become "Gulf Radio" KULF. Air checks for those call letters appear above.. I am still looking for the date (or at least the exact year) when the KULF call letters began.

A Wikipedia article on the station states that AM 790 became KKBQ on August 13, 1982.

At around that time, 790 began to simulcast with KKBQ-FM. Those were the new call letters for KYND, formerly a highly successful easy listening station in Pasadena.

The KKBQ stations eventually turned to a variety of formats including top 40, easy country, and new country. I personally listened to KKBQ-FM during its 93Q top 40 era, mainly in 1984. By that point listeners in general had flocked to the FM radio band, so the FM side of KKBQ dominated the operation.

Nonetheless, AM 790 did manage to help pioneer AM stereo. Appreciate that fact the next time you relax listening to music on your AM stereo radio.

AM 790 became KBME in 1998 and returned to its traditional role of appealing to a more mature audience. By that time, the audience had become more mature than ever, and the the station filled the demand for the "Best Music Ever."

KBME blended laid back hits all the way from the 40's to the 90's. Many of their older songs had previously filled the airwaves in the 60's during the days of Demand Radio 79.

KBME was the last AM music station I listened to regularly. I know of no remaining AM outlet that features music in English and aims at a general audience.

That tells me a lot about what has happened to radio. That tells me a lot about what has happened to Houston.

What is AM 790 doing today? You can be sure that few who work there now remember Demand Radio or Agent 79. The call letters are unchanged, but don't look for the BEST MUSIC EVER. Don't look for music at all.

KBME is now The Sports Animal. The name alone tells you their target demographics. It's a great place for Sports Animals (more commonly known as Young Cool Dudes) to hang out and be cool together.

The station reveals the bare facts on the latest sports scandals.

The Sports Animal web site reveals the bare facts on female pulchritude and features endless Babes on Parade.

But if you knock on the Green Door and say, "Joe sent me," someone will laugh out loud. You'll find it shut forevermore.

Grady McAllister, M.S.
(Occupational Technology Education)

March 17, 2008

Large version of arrow image

 

Adult Formats

KQUE: Drunk on air?

KQUE, Houston, September, 1976,
Bob Jones, Take 1

KQUE, Houston, September, 1976,
Bob Jones, Take 2

KQUE, Houston, September, 1976,
Bob Jones, Take 3

These are recordings of a DJ who is alleged to have been drunk on the air.

I was reluctant to post this material on my web site. How many of use can honestly say that we would like to publicize our worst moment on the radio or our worst moment on anything else?

I would not be posting this material if Bob Jones were still alive.

Bob Jones is one of several people I should have met in radio but never did. Not only were we in radio at the same time, but I have known his sister since high school.

I first heard about this material from the sister in January, 2003. We were having coffee, and it was our first meeting since the 70's outside of a couple of high school reunions. She mentioned that she had recently heard a morning drive shock jock play the "drunk DJ" recording over the air.

At that point, I didn't really think of myself as an aircheck collector. My only involvement was that I had just started copying my own radio tapes to CD.

Later that year, I just happened to come across that Bob Jones material when I met with an old radio friend who wanted to trade airchecks.

I later obtained another version of the recording from an out of state aircheck trader.

That, by the way, was the only time I ever exchanged recordings with a stranger. The trade was mainly to get my KXYZ recording from 1961 and my Weird Beard recording from 1965.

There was a part of my mind that didn't even want to get involved with the "drunk DJ" recordings, and I think I would have left it alone if I had not known the sister. That was enough to make me wonder what the material was like.

I had the sister listen to all of it. She expressed the opinion that Bob Jones was not drunk. She said that he had tended to have trouble speaking whenever he was really tired.

Also, at a point when he doesn't seem to know his microphone is open, you hear him state that he is sick.

Obviously, he is struggling to get through a shift.

I offer no opinion. You decide.

Revised September 11, 2009.

Cool jazz on 95.7 in 1964?

KHUL, Houston, December, 1964

The call letters were KHUL, and you pronounced them "cool." It was a jazz station for refreshingly cool libation.

As most Houston radio buffs know, the FM station at 95.7 MHz was country station KIKK-FM for nearly four decades.

Then, in this decade it became a jazz station and remained one until 2008. However, few realize that 95.7 was also a jazz station in the 60's before it switched to country.

Of course, the music that was called jazz back then was quite a bit different from the recent Smooth Jazz format. The emphasis then was on big bands, and vocals were relatively few.

This recording only gives you a small taste of KHUL. I cut the length of this recording at some point, so what you hear is only a fraction of the original material.

In the following description, I will include some details I remember that you don't actually hear on the aircheck.

The main DJ is Hugh Foley, and there is another man making comical remarks in the background.

Foley announces that Tom Overton, the DJ scheduled to come on duty, has been delayed about fifteen minutes.

Overton can't really be all that far away. You can hear him coming down the hallway.

(These guys really knew how to play around with the sound effect records. That is what this aircheck is really about.)

The Overton theme music and sound effects ran on for about another fifteen minutes. Not only did you hear the footsteps, but you continued to hear drinks pouring in anticipation of Overton's arrival.

Overton kept pounding down the hallway, but it seemed he would never really arrive.

Then, at long last, you finally heard the voice of the elusive radio star, Tom Overton. I must have decided that his journey down the hall ate up too much of my valuable tape and cut the length of the recording.

The reference to "private stock" meant that the DJ's brought in their own album collections. It may have also referred to the libation that poured so freely.

Tim and Bob on KPRC

KPRC, Houston, February 1, 1962, Tim & Bob

KPRC, Houston, January, 1971, Tim & Bob

The second item was sent recently by Jake Rees.

KENR

KENR, Houston, 1972, Scotty Morgan

KULF in 1972 & 1973

KULF, Houston, A Compilation from 1972 & 1973.

Use this link to listen to all of the materials at once. Individual cuts are listed and described below.

Bob Green, program director of KULF in 1972 and 1973, sent this material from Houston. KULF was one of the several incarnations of AM 790. (For a more general background, please see "All Receivers Are Go" in the column to the right.)

Even though I was not a consistent KULF listener, all of the DJ's that Green mentions are familiar to me — at least as familiar as the KILT personalities of the day. The AM 790 of 1972 placed a heavy emphasis on personality in both its DJ's and its newscasters.

That gave the station a glow that looked very different from the industrialized Demand Radio style of 1962.

And yet, I don't recall hearing any abrupt, all encompassing format change at a single time.

One thing that was usually true from the 50's through the early 80's was that the station aimed at a more mature audience than the reigning top 40 stations.

When did KTHT become KULF? My own recollection is that early one evening I was driving by St. Joseph Hospital near the I-45 overpass south of downtown Houston. I was not very far from the KTHT studio in the Central National Bank Building. I was tuned to the news on that station. At the very end of the newscast, the announcer stated that KTHT had become KULF on that very day. (I tend to think that this was in the fall of 1969. If you have the exact date of the change, please send me a note.)

Bob Green describes these KULF recordings as follows:

Here are several airchecks and other cuts from KULF circa 1972. The fact was that the MUSIC on KULF (essentially chicken pop/MOR mix) didn't, by it's nature, define the station. Incredible air personality-entertainers and self effacing production helped give it definition ... your entertainment station.

Here are the cuts included:

Cut 1 & Cut 2: Bits from the Joe Bauer Show: Joe was definitely the most talented air personality I have ever worked with.

Cut 3: Jim Tate aircheck. Wonderful guy & talent

Cut 4: David Fowler: A STYLIZED newscast!

Cut 5 & Cut 6: A few of over 100 "Jim Tate — your friend in the Morning" promos we did, No script — we just winged it. And as for the "singing"— my apologies.

Cut 7: Three Promos for a Tate feature from Dick Orkin: "You had to be There."

Cut 8: Promos for the "KULF Big Balloon Race" at Astroworld.

Cut 9: Assorted "Show & Tell" promos (same way as cut 5) cross promoting our outdoor campaign.

Cut 10. Two promos for "Vacation in Spain" giveaway.

Cut 11: "People to like music by" promos

Cut 12: Ron Morgan Birthday surprise. Ron had a "spot" indicated on his log, but when he hit the cart- this is what happened. Next is a "Simon & Gar" promo for Ron. Chutzpah continued with my "singing."

Cut 13: Jim Tate rode the Dexter Freebish Coaster at Astroworld to beat the record for the Guinness Book. Here's the ride condensed to 2 min.

Slowly, silently now...

KXYZ-FM, Houston, October, 1964

KXYZ news, commercials, and promos. I recorded each item off KXYZ-FM (96.5 MHz) on at least two different days.

Does the Walter Jenkins headline remind you of a recent political scandal?

Notice the KXYZ beautiful music promos. Each opens another half hour and tries to set the mood for each time of day:

You can almost tell time by the distinctive sounds of the city. Traffic becomes quieter, less raucous. Footsteps of leisurely window shoppers replace those of impatient pedestrians. It is mid morning in Houston as KXYZ continues with beautiful music.

Or, how about this one from the nighttime:

Slowly, silently now, the moon walks the night, lighting her way with silver beams. Below, men marvel and are inspired by her grace and serenity, matched only by the beauty of KXYZ music on Nocturne.

The first words of this doggerel are lifted straight from a poem by Walter de la Mare. To view the original, go to my full moon page and check out "Silver," the second poem listed by Walter de la Mare.

I place an especially high value on KXYZ materials from the sixties. You simply can't hear programming like this any more. Material prior to the switch to beautiful music is also wanted.

If you have any KXYZ recordings , please send them to me now. Here is my mailing address:

Grady McAllister
PO Box 87518,
Houston, TX 77287

Write to this web site.

The last item on this page contains more KXYZ recordings.

Web master's note: The phase "Brigadoon on the Bayou" is a phrase I coined myself. Houston used to be called "Baghdad on the Bayou," but that phrase has lost its original romantic flavor.

1961: KXYZ turns Houston into Brigadoon on the Bayou

Announcer One: "The feathers of the sunbird dangle down from the sky to dazzle on the asphalt of Houston streets."

Announcer Two: "The great waves of verdant foliage in Houston parks seem capped with crests of gold."

Announcer One: "Veils of mist rise from lakes and rivers like water sprites dancing into day."

Announcer Two: "The green, glistening sides of a fish are seen as he shatters the glass surface of a lake against a background of . . ."

Announcer One: ". . .Prelude."

KXYZ, Houston, August 25, 1961, Part 1

KXYZ, Houston, August 25, 1961, Part 2

Come with me now mentally to a leaner, greener, cleaner Houston.

Light classical favorites and Irish folk songs on AM radio? Such things were still possible in the Houston of the 1960's. So much for the myth that Houston was just an oversized cow town. So much for the myth that sixties' radio was just rock and roll.

Although the audio quality is low, this recording captures the KXYZ beautiful music format just weeks after it was launched. It was a distinctive formula which served Houston well for the remainder of the decade.

I obtained this material by trading a copy of one of my own original recordings.

KXYZ exuded a wit and ingenuity rarely heard in stations playing light classical and orchestral pop music.

They constantly ran announcements to promote their own image, but the items were often hard to classify as promos, PSA's, commercials, or brief feature stories. You'll see what I mean in the above air checks.

They promoted odd products such as a Chinese junk and an executive yo yo. On one pseudo snooty occasion, a product was offered only to "those with proper references."

Station promos recommended competing stations by name for people who wanted a "change of pace" from beautiful music.

They read lyrics of rock and roll songs to help parents keep up with their teenagers.

One of the lyrics they read was "UM, UM, UM, UM, UM, UM" by Major Lance:

Walking through the park, it wasn't quite dark
There was a man sitting on a bench
Out of the crowd as his head lowly bowed
He just moaned and he made no sense
He'd just go
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
I just couldn't help myself
Yes, I was born with a curious mind
I asked this man just what did he mean
When he moaned if he'd be so kind
And he'd just go
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Now that I've grown up
And the woman I love she has gone
Now that I'm a man, I think I understand
Sometimes everyone must sing this song
Listen to me sing
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Can't you hear me, now
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Everybody now
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Can't you hear me, now
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
One more time, now
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um
Um, um, um, um, um, um

That is a lot of "ums." Naturally, KXYZ edited the lyrics when they read them over the air. They cut the verses but left in a lot of ums. The Percy Faith orchestra soon recorded that song, and it was a version fit for KXYZ.

The KXYZ broadcast day was divided into segments of several hours with names like Rhapsody, Firelight, Nocturne, and Reverie, Each half hour opened with some poetic prose aimed at setting a mood for that time of day.

When taken as a whole, KXYZ promos made Houston sound like a majestic place to be, creating an electronic Brigadoon on the Bayou.

The original Brigadoon story was about a lost village which mysteriously appears in the wilderness. Similarly, one KXYZ promo quoted a 19th Century writerwho called Houston "a city lost in forest."

I only dimly recall that quote but I think they attributed it to a Frenchman, possibly Alexis de Tocqueville. I need some Houston historian to help me put that quotation in context and identify its true author.

Houston lost in a forest — what a concept. I think Houston must really be lost in a forest. Just look at the names of places surrounding Houston: The Woodlands, Kingwood, Roman Forest, etc.  Of course, if you grew up on the southeast side as I did, the forest fantasy is a bit of stretch.

KXYZ was so stylized that it almost seemed to lampoon itself. But it was never dull, except to the dullards. The nameless KXYZ announcers projected an attitude of high mindedness mixed with whimsy:

Two KXYZ intros and a midnight time announcement, June, 1966

If I am not mistaken, the voice giving the time and the phone number of the time service is Pat Brown, an announcer who had worked for KTRH when they were still playing music.

KXYZ simulcast 24 hours a day, and I recorded these items off the AM 1320 side. Even though they are bit over modulated, I had a better tape recorder at this point, so the overall quality is decidedly better than my 1964 KXYZ-FM material.

I liked both the music and the format, and, unlike the typical conformist teenager, I moved easily between KXYZ and the top 40 stations.

Beautiful music formats are rare today. I know of none in Houston. The few which exist around the country function more as background music services than as creative radio forces. Their main audiences are in retirement communities.

Nowadays, the mere mention of light orchestra music invites derisive remarks about "elevator music" (as if you could still actually hear that kind of music in elevators).

If you listen to Henry Mancini, Mantovani, or the Hollyridge Strings, don't tell anybody. Otherwise, you'll get clobbered by Cool Dudes and classical purists alike.

By the way, if you like the kind of music on these KXYZ airchecks, I recommend the Golden Age of Light Music series, available from Amazon.com. Some recordings in this series would have been too dated even for KXYZ in the 60's, but the material from the 50's and 60's would have fit right in with the KXYZ beautiful music style.

If you know where I can obtain more KXYZ recordings from the 60's, please let me know.

I have this fantasy that someone will send me a crate of unscoped KXYZ airchecks, recorded at 7.5 ips. I will then turn the entire collection into one 20-hour mp3 CD and listen to it for a few months in my car.

In short, KXYZ was a far cry from what people think of as 60's music. Even then, it had an anachronistic quality, and much of its style seemed removed from its own time and place, perhaps a hundred years out of place, either forward or back.

In the original Brigadoon story, the village awakens only after sleeping for one hundred years. Maybe, something like KXYZ will arise in Houston in 2061. Let's wait and see.

Grady McAllister, M.S.
(Occupational Technology Education)

Revised November 28, 2009

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You can also access these pages by going to http://houstonretro.com.

Hard & Heavy

90s Rock - 32 90s Rock hits on 2 CDs

Classic Love Songs of the '60s

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"Heidegger surf-boards along on the electronic wave as triumphantly as Descartes rode the mechanical wave"

— Marshall McLuhan,
The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962)

Sunset and sailboat

Above: The sun sets over Galveston's north shore, October 24, 2009. Photo by Grady McAllister

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An Inconvenient Quote

"Why do some people make a career out of getting mad at the drop of a careless sentence or misread facial expression? The answer lies in a simple, eight-letter word: neurosis. It is not my job, nor should it be yours to try to understand what makes neurotics tick. This is serious medical stuff; so give yourself a break and let the medical professions handle it. Why people are neurotic is one of those great mysteries of life. Just leave it at that."

— Robert J. Ringer

Getting What You Want: The Seven Principles of Rational Living. Robert J. Ringer. New York: G.P. Putman's Sons, 2000, page 113.