THE RADIO SEASONING PROCESS HAS MANY MERITS
A near four decade
long career in broadcasting began its course in 1964 at Elkin's Institute of Broadcasting in Dallas. A couple of
small town radio stations in far east Texas were next on the menu. Then, in 1966, CAL DRUXMAN, General Manager
of KHFI FM and AM in Austin asked me to join his choice radio crew as a DJ on KHFI FM. This marvelous package included
Program and Music Director duties, plus my own private production studio. Also, I was put in charge of the
one thing nearly every KHFI DJ despised, the KHFI FM random-access brain. This thinking machine got quite confused many times
which took a lot of effort to get it back on track. Just ask anyone who ever was at KHFI in the Sizzling Sixties.
MIKE KELLAM, KHFI's audio
engineer par excellance, was the only one in the building who could bring this monstrosity back to reality. Soon MIKE
joined NBC in Chicago as an audio engineer at WMAQ radio and television. This left me all alone to deal with
KHFI FM's perplexing automated marvel. Normally, everything was smooth as silk, but when the phone rang sometimes
at 3 am on the weekend, I had to rush to its rescue.
During the week,
my DJ show was 6-9pm and used the air-name, The Voice of Austin. Saturday nights from 8pm-midnight the doors were
thrown wide open. Took requests on the Saturday Night Dance Party and used my own name. The phones remained lit up
the whole time. Very exciting and lots of fun.
KHFI FM was like a cool
breeze from heaven. CAL was the epitome of what a radio station General Manager should be, both in attitude and
function. KHFI FM, KHFI-970 AM and TV 42 were a marvelous group. DAN LOVETT headed the KHFI radio and TV empire. LARRY TODD was a TV 42
news anchor.
After the nightly 10
PM TV-42 newscast, most of the TV crew evacuated over to a wonderful old fashioned and very charming pizza
ristorante. This was like pizza eateries used to be. Dimly lit large dining area with well broken in and carved wooden
tables and benches. MIKE KELLAM had informed me of the fun and frolic the TV newshounds enjoyed each night.
KELLAM and I lived in the same Parkview apartment complex. So did KHFI radio's sales manager.
Late one night when
I got off the air at 9 pm, KELLEM and I joined the TV newscasters after their 10 pm telecast. The news bulldogs
at TV-42 filled the wooden tables which were end-to-end. That was my very first exposure to beer in pitchers. Never saw
it served that way. After all, I grew up in Oak Cliff, which had a ban on such substances. Those TV guys were well seasoned
elbow-benders. Lots of good-natured laughter and joviality permeated the surroundings.
In 1967, moved back home
to Dallas as a noon-3 pm DJ on KPCN-730. Then from 1967-68 WFAA-820 and WFAA-570 became my broadcast homes. WFAA-820's control
room was by far the largest I ever saw or imagined.
As a clear channel
50,000 watt radio station, WFAA-820 covered much of the United States. Received calls from many states while on the air, 8-midnight.
Very exciting to find out where the next listener call was to come from. Everything at WFAA was massive. The huge structure housed
WFAA-820, WFAA-570, WFAA FM and WFAA-Channel 8 television. WFAA's moniker was Communications Center for the Great Southwest. Next
door was the Dallas Morning News palace. A.H. BELO held the keys to that city within a city.
WFAA in the sizzling sixties
had the most unique operation in the history of radio. Both WFAA-Dallas and WBAP-Ft. Worth each owned 50% of the clear channel
50,000 watt 820 kc and 5000 watt 570 kc frequencies. What that meant was while WFAA broadcast on 820, WBAP was on 570 and
vice versa.
Every six hours each
on-air DJ made the switch. Only one switch per night for me. At ten seconds before midnight, I would give the 820 station
I.D.: This is WFAA 820, Dallas, Texas, Communications Center for the great southwest. Home of WFAA radio, Channel 8 television
and the Dallas Morning News. Then, at five seconds before midnight, I flipped a switch and repeated the same thing, except
substituted 570 for 820. At the same time, the DJ at WBAP in Ft. Worth uttered their station I.D, but inserted the WBAP call
letters and frequency.
The lever was located
on a large panel to the right of the control room conbsole and looked just like a mic switch. One of the first nights on the
air, switched the mic on to be ready for the station break and changeover. At ten seconds before midnight, I reached over
and flipped the frequency switch before I said the 820 station I.D.
That meant listeners
all over the United States heard nothing on 820 kc. but five seconds of dead air. The 570 kc. audience received two for the
price of one, because my WFAA 820 I.D. was right on top of the WBAP 570 DJ's words. My headphones were not hooked to an on-air
monitor. So, everything sounded natural to me, until I reached over to flip the switch at five seconds before midnight. That
was a heart stopper because I realized what had happened. Nobody ever mentioned a single thing about that to me, but it never
happened again. Another step in the radio seasoning process.
RITA KRESS (Houston, TX) atir511@yahoo.com Subject: Jim Rose Remembers Radio You have done an excellant job with this website. Quite computer
savvy you have become. Keep up the good work, very interesting and informative, I am glad you have preserved a bit of radio
history...Rita
Not really that computer savvy, just
a fast trigger finger like my buddy, QUICK DRAW MCGRAW.
DAN BURLESON (Orlando, FL) danburleson@yahoo.com Hi Jim: Just discovered your webpage and am enjoying it immensely! Thought I'd pass along
a couple of stories for you.
I worked at several stations in San
Antonio between 1978-1982. I was a "graduate" of the Elkins Institute of Broadcast Technology in downtown San Antonio. Got
my first job at KKYX. During the week I assisted Ken Carter with his morning news. I'd dub news feeds from the network and
was basically his gopher. Then on the weekends I'd pull a ten-hour shift from midnight Sat. to 10am Sunday morning!
Even had my then-wife record me
on 8-track tape, including the time I swatted the tone arm across a 45 rpm record. One of those really dumb things newbie
dj's do. It was about 3:30 in the morning and I even screamed ****! Looked over at the mic switch...and it was ON! Thought
I was gonna die! I remember
jumping in the car to make the quick ride to the transmitter building to take numbers. That's where I met Jerry King and Jim Flowers. Two of the nicest,
most genuine guys in radio one can ever know!
Anyway, also jocked at KCCW, KTFM,
KONO, KTSA. Newscaster at KBUC, KAPE, KSLR. I was in and out of radio until about 1999 where I was doing weekends at COOL
105.9 in Orlando, FL.
I've got a small webpage featuring
short snippets of my time on-air at KTSA and a couple of other places: http://danburleson.net/airchecks002.htm The couple of radio stories are attached. One is from KONO in San Antonio, the
other is from a very small station in the foothills in Oregon in Cottage Grove. Love your stories Jim. Take care now!
BURLESON's site has many great photos,
plus a few of DAN's aircheck links and some good radio stories.
DAN BURLESON (Orlando, FL) danburleson@yahoo.com Oh, I meant to tell you: I was an army medic stationed at Ft Sam Houston. I lived
in that very neighborhood you described. About a month after I got out of the army I got my weekend gig at KKYX and my then-wife
and I lived in that neighborhood for another couple of years. Brought me back man.
Yes, that first apartment in San
Antonio at 926 Natalen, which was adjacent to the Fort Sam Houston Army base, was quite an experience. The
vast World's Fair entourage had saturated the entire Mission City housing market and you had to accept whatever
was available. When the international onslaught moved on, living quarters were once again opened up to
the general public. Unearthed a very nice brand new apartment in the northwest portion of the Alamo City at
2222 Vance Jackson. This place was a Godsend. It had many high points, one of which was fine new furniture, plus was
in a much nicer part of the Alamo City.
DAN BURLESON (Orlando, FL) danburleson@yahoo.com A friend of mine that I worked with at KONO back in the day just forwarded a link to your site. I spent
an hour or so relishing the stories and commentary.
This friends' name is Gentleman
Jim Carter. We worked together at KONO back in 1980-81 and have stayed in touch ever since. Jim was doing pm drive, I was
doing middays there at the mighty 860. Jim and I remained very close friends and did alot together for years after we both
left San Antonio radio. Jim goes way back too. Including, I believe, a stint at KLIF. He still lives in the Alamo City as
is semi-retired.
KBAT-680's (KABC - KKYX) transmitter house
was quite a distance from the main studio back toward the woods. It had a long wide wooded ramp with rails which was perched
about 3 feet from the ground that led to the transmitter building. To visualise this, think of an ocean pier. Early in
the morning, you could see huge deer who scamped in and out of the forest near that walkway. Guess that tall quay was
to protect us DJs and engineers from snakes, lizards, scorpions, mud and high water. Never saw that area flooded, but all
of San Antonio is very low and eagre prone.
When I was a DJ and talk show co-host at
KBAT (1970-71), we had remote control guages to the transmitting facility. Early days in radio, used to have to
make those readings every 30 minutes and log them between 2 minutes before and 2 minutes after the half-hour, plus
the same on the hour. Years later, that duty was reduced to only every three hours. That's one of the functions of early
day radio which disappeared with the emergence of computer controlled meter reading machines.
Today's radio announcers don't know
what we mean about meter readings. Just one of the many responsibilities we early day DJs had. BMI log month
was the only thing I ever totally disliked about radio, This was because we DJs had to write each record's information down
on a log in consecutive order - the name of each tune we aired, plus its record label, number, song writer and artist.
If you got behind just a tiny bit, you never caught up. That process is now computer generated.
DAN BURLESON (Orlando, FL) danburleson@yahoo.com Yeah, I remember it was at the end of a long driveway a couple hundred yards off Bandera Rd? The four
towers were out there and the transmitter building was at the bottom of one of the towers. I'd jump in my car and drive to
take readings. I don't believe there were remote dials in the control room. Long time ago...hard to remember. Jim Flowers was a black gentleman who was doing 7-Mid on Sat
night...then, I came to do the marathon shift.
Have always loved jocking classic country
music. I ended up in central California at KTOM, KHIP and then a couple of stations in Monterey..KMBY, KXDC. Then, up in Oregon
at KUGN, KEED. Kinda got "out" of radio after that. (do you ever really leave?) and got into aviation.
Worked as an airline pilot for
a few years and also did airborne Metro Traffic here in Orlando while jocking weekends at WOCF (Cool 105.9). That was 1999.
Haven't been on the air since and sorely miss it. My voice is better than ever and I'm seriously considering giving radio
another run. I've lived in a suburb of Orlando, FL. since July-1995.
Jim Rose
Houston, Texas
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