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.)

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.

Added December 15, 2007

KULF at the end of 1981

KULF, Houston, December, 29. 1981, Beau Weaver

His KILT talk show is history, but 1981 finds Beau Weaver running the midday show at KULF.

Roger Reini sent this material from Michigan.

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

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

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 promoted odd products such as a Chinese junk and an executive yo yo. Station promos recommended competing stations by name for people who wanted a "change of pace" from beautiful music. They read lyrics of inane rock and roll songs to help parents keep up with their teenagers. 

The 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.

Some KXYZ promos celebrated the history of Houston. One item which I just barely recall, quoted a 19th century Frenchman (possibly Alexis de Tocqueville) who called Houston "a city lost in a forest." (Houston lost in a forest — what a concept. I need some Houston historian to help me identify that quote and its true author.)

The nameless KXYZ announcers projected an attitude of high mindedness mixed with whimsy. Click here for two KXYZ intros which I recorded in 1966.

The station was so stylized that it almost seemed to lampoon itself. But it was never dull, except to the dullards.

Unfortunately, that 1966 segment was the only KXYZ material I saved which has fairly good technical quality. (My only other material from this format is included in the low audio quality 1964 to 1965 recording of discontinuous materials).The format peaked before I could afford both a good recorder and lots of tape.

I liked both the music and the format, and, unlike the typical conformist teenager, I moved easily between KXYZ and the top 40 stations. Sadly, today this format is even rarer than pure classical stations.

If you know where I can obtain more material like this, 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.

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