Outlying Areas:

Galveston, suburbia

& Exurbia

Houston Retro Radio is hosted as part of VASTHEAD.COM. The Vasthead also includes The Galveston LIght, a site featuring news, weather, tourism, and photography for the Galveston area.

Galveston's KILE Radio in the 60's Darrell Hendrix was a B.O.I. ("Born on the Island") KILE announcer in the late 60's. Darrell mailed us his own 1969 airchecks already organized into mp3 files. They arrived from Nebraska, a state where hurricanes hardly happen. By the way, 1969 was also the year when Glen Campbell and songwriter Jimmy Webb looked at Galveston and catapulted its name into a top ten hit. My guess is that the first aircheck was recorded on June 13, 1969, since it was the only Friday the 13th that year. KILE, Galveston, 1969, Darrell Hendrix, Part 1 KILE, Galveston, 1969, Darrell Hendrix, Part 2 KILE, Galveston, 1969, Darrell Hendrix, Part 3 More KILE air checks KILE,Galveston, July 5, 1961, Paul Williams KILE, Galveston, July, 12, 1966, Tom Nathan Tyler A local station for Clear Lake City: Girl DJ's and all that jazz KMSC, Clear Lake City - Houston, August 17, 1968 This aircheck features Linda Allen. I never talked to her personally, but she was one of several obscure DJ's I heard during the pre-dawn hours that particular summer. Who was Linda Allen? I doubt that was the exact form of her name on her birth certificate. Even in 1968, it was unlikely that a woman working the all night show -- probably alone -- at a suburban radio station would have used her real name. Of all the FM stations, I tended to give extra attention to KMSC. Located in Clear Lake City near NASA, it was in my part of the Houston area. I visited the studio on at least one occasion while still in my teens. I tended to think of it as a local station for southeast Harris County and the bay area. As this aircheck indicates, KMSC played up its proximity to the space program: "Overlooking NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center from luxurious studios..." That also explained the call letters. John "Shorty" Powers, the NASA voice for early manned space launches, held an interest in the station at one point. When I was about 16, I called the station, and Powers picked up the phone. That was when I first learned that it is not all that hard to meet a celebrity. This 1968 recording was made at a time when I only listened occasionally. Jazz is not my strong suit, and I actually listened much more during its early history, 1965 and 1966. At that time, KMSC sounded more like a cross between KXYZ and KQUE. The staff included KXYZ veteran Jeff Thompson, all night man Hert Porter, Gordon Bassham (who I knew later at the University of Houston), folk music aficionado Jim Bell, and Bob Elton, a DJ who became station manager during its Jazz Age. All the while, much was made of the NASA connection, and KMSC even staged its own "real time" coverage of manned space launches. KBTL has a very specialized format KBTL, Texas City, September 7, 1983-1 KBTL, Texas City, September 7, 1983-2 Roger Reini sent this material from Michigan. Houston Retro Radio is hosted as part of VASTHEAD.COM. You can also access these pages by going to http://houstonretro.com.

Below: The Galveston Strand Historical District, March 13, 2010.

Above: A starry night at East Beach, Galveston, 1982. The thatched lifeguard stations were demolished by Hurricane Alicia the following year. Click on the image to see what it really looked like.