EARLY HISTORY OF KABC
The Alamo City's 680 frequency has quite a history. The year 1971 presented an opportunity to ease
back from the Program Director's post at KBUC FM-AM and settle into the Pop Standards set-up at KBAT as
a DJ and co-host of a nightly talk show. The call letters, they keep a changin'. Before KBAT, it was KENS and prior to
that, KABC. For three decades, KKYX has been the call sign. JERRY KING, JOHNNY SHANNON, NICK ST JOHN and I were
in the Elkin's class of 1964. JERRY came to KKYX not too long after the format switch to Country in the early 1970s.
Over the decades, many of us departed 680 on the dial, but JERRY has remained like a rock.
EDWARD
GUERRERO (San Antonio, TX) edward-guerrero@sbcglobal.net Jim, More Old KABC AM Trivia. Found these e-mails posted on airwaves.com website. I think the 2nd author forgot
to mention the interim call letters KBAT before becoming KKYX. Am i wrong on this? I wonder what 60's $25K would be worth
in todays dollars? Regards, Ed G. San Antonio, Tex
MILTON
FINKS fmbenton@ix.netcom.com Re: KKYX & History of 680 frequency in San Antonio. It was KABC in its early days. Gene Cagle sold the calls
to ABC for $25k I was told. Milton Finks
DAVID
R. BLOCK drblock@airmail.net It was originally co-owned with KENS-TV (by the San Antonio Express News, and I believe started as KENS-AM. Some
newspaper co-ownership rule problems resulted in it's sale. I DO remember some old peeling billboards in San Antonio with
KENS 680 on them. Belo now owns KENS-TV, and there is a new KENS-AM on 1150 now. I don't think that Belo owns the Express-News,
and they may not own the AM. David Block
ED
GUERRERO (San Antonio, TX) edward-guerrero@sbcglobal.net Jim, I passed by KKYX's old transmitter/studio site on Bandera Rd. recently while driving to my eldest daughter's
home, off Guibeau Rd. Every time i drive by that area i see less and less of the open spaces you write about in the web pages.
Urban sprawl has certainly crowded the deer and wild bird habitats elsewhere. Where the entrance road; which led to
Your studios now sits 3-4 story apartment complexes. The next plot next to them is a brand new Walmart superstore. Developments
like these continue all the way to Helotes Tex.
Did Your ever make it over Floores Dance Hall and Store? Willie Nelson's favorite gig venue i hear. The hall's management
has never the taken down the sign advertising Willie's performance on weekends by the way.
Studios and Antennae Tower Arrays: KKYX 680 - I remember the studio and the antennae location. Now the only towers
(6) you see in the vicinity are the ones used by KCOR 1350 which are located just north of the old KKYX site.
KONO 860 - The original studios were located on Grove street. Off St. Marys street across from Central Catholic High
School. When KSAT TV ( ex KONO TV ) building was erected ( mid 50's ) that building's back wall was butted against the KONO
AM studios back wall. The original KONO front facade ( which i think still stands ) faces Grove, while KSAT's TV front faces
St. Marys streets. It makes for a very interesting architectural oddity. I never knew where their transmitter was located.
WOAI 1200 - Their studios have, i believe, always been located on the corner of St. Marys and Navarro. As for the
transmitter site, in its early years, was located close to SelmaTx on the Austin Hwy ( now I 35 ). Traveling north towards
Austin Tx it would be on your right. Now this bldg is an architectural master piece, with a high wall facade and real ornate.
Very European in style. No money was spared when it was built then. It was established back in the 20's by the Halff family.
The
bldg was used to about the mid 50' until a disabled B 29 based out off Randolph AFB plowed into one of the station's tower.
Being located on the base's flight path WOAI transmitter was relocated to the local TV stations antennae farm off highway
181 ( south east San Antonio ). The new tower was designed by their Chief Engineer, whose name i don't recall, and was erected
next to the tall TV towers. The design was very unique. The mast was wider
than most and was center fed and not at the base. It has been moved again but i don't now when or where. I'll have to check
with radio-locater.com to find it's present location.
After
the bldg's sale the City of Selma used it as a City Hall and i believe as a Police Station for a while. The bldg is privately
owned and has been recently renovated quite extensively and is now occupied by hOOters. The bldg is not painted in the standard
orange color but in a dull dark grey. A somewhat small sign identifies the place..maybe city ordnances requires this. Regards,
Ed
Yes,
indeed, JOHN T. FLOOR's Country Store is one of Texas' living legends. Surprised that it's still standing. Should be turned
into a state monument. Most of the biggest recording stars of the Fabulous Fifties and Sizzlin' Sixties got their start
right there in that small bandshell. Folks from all over Bexar county two-stepped the night away many, many nights at FLOOR's
Country Store.
RAY
PRICE and his Cherokee Cowboys could be heard for miles and miles. Both ROGER MILLER and WILLIE NELSON were members of PRICE's
band in those days. WILLIE gave RAY the timeless classic, Night Life, which became PRICE's signature song. Even after
NELSON had hit high center in the recording industry, WILLIE always returned to that same bandshell for surprise performances.
WILLIE
NELSON's still kickin' out the jams in 2005. NELSON's 32nd Annual 4th Of July Picnic is at the Fort Worth Stockyards. One
of WILLIE's friends who will be in attendance includes BOB DYLAN. Over 20 entertainers are expected to join in on the celebration.
If you don't want to be left out, better act fast. Tickets go on sale Monday, April 25th at 10 am at Ticketmaster.com and
at the BILLY BOB’s Texas Box office (817-624-7117). You can find out more at Williespicnic.com .
CHET
MAXWELL (San Antonio, TX) chetmaxwell@sbcglobal.net Hi Jim, I just read your column, and I need to correct something. I was only Sales and Sales Manager at KENS; only
in sales at KILT; but you're correct, I was GM at KBOX/KTLC/KMEZ. Chet
JOHNNY
SHANNON (San Antonio, TX) kirbystudio@yahoo.com Jim, Been trying to call you but your line is busy, I understand the line is probably tied up with the 'puter. Could
you just send a quick note to say when is a good time, when you're free to talk. Best regards, Johnny
Neither
JOHNNY nor I could remember the name of the young woman, mentioned awhile ago, who had joined us
about 1970 in making joyful noises into my new Crown all-in-one FM/AM receiver-record player-cassette deck-public address-speaker
system. She had the sweetest meow I have ever witnessed. Time marches on.
Awhile
back, DON GREEN, who had done some time at Mission Broadcasting's KONO-860 in San Antonio several years back, inquired about
the whereabouts of some of his and my old San Antonio radio cronies. Through this column, some of those broadcasting whizkids
came forth. DON pondered the subject of the renewal of old acquaintances for possible meetings of the minds. Sounds mighty
inviting.
MICHAEL
JAMES LUCAS (Austin, TX) mjlucas@austin.rr.com Jim, I thought you would like to know that there is not a San Antonio/Area Broadcasters group that consists of people
who have spent a part of their time (sentence) in San Antonio radio. "Skinny" Don Green aka George Bason, former KONO'er contacted
me several months ago, along with Liz Patranella from KTSA about their little group. They just had a lunch gathering last
week and plan on getting together every few months. I have attached their roster. You should contact George or Liz and get
on their email list. Lots of guys and ladies with whom we've both worked are on the list and you might like to have
their contact info. Hope all is well with you. Stay in touch. Michael James Lucas
The San Antonio area broadcasters group list which MIKE sent is definitely not a complete roll call. Somehow BUBBA REDING
and JERRY KING were overlooked in MICHAEL's rostrum, plus I put in a little time in the Mission City, too, at 6
separate radio stations in the late sixties and early seventies. JERRY and I were in the same Elkin's class in Big D. KING has been the AM Drive leader of the pack at KKYX-680 for decades.
BUBBA was a very close friend and compadre. REDING was Sales Manager (sometimes deejay) at KBUC FM-AM, during my tarry
in the building from 1968-70. Prior to that, BUBBA became well-known as ALFRED E. NEWMAN on the KONO-860 all-night operetta.
When I first hit KBUC's doorway in August 1968, the World's Fair was in full swing in San Antonio's fantabulous Hemisfair
68 showgrounds which blanketed mucho terra firma. Human beings from everywhere on planet earth had descended on San Antonio
like bees flock to honey.
That protracted journey out of Dallas had lead nearly 300 miles southwest on I-35 and I was plumb tuckered out. Felt like
my 1966 Dodge with its 383 magnum engine had motered way out to Los Angeles or San Diego, but somehow avoided the Arizona
desert in between. The Dodge was jam-packed with nearly everything that I owned. BUBBA and I removed as much as we could to
a niche inside the large KBUC sales exec's office. REDING and his sales crew's desks lined the perimeter of the square-shaped
chamber, which left a nice large open space anxiously awaiting my paraphenalia. Kind of like today's cubicles, minus the cube
confines.
KBUC shared quarters with TOM TURNER's Sigmore-Shamrock home office in the large wide low-slung building. Good ole TOM
TURNER had begun his climb to millionaire status with just one gas station in San Antonio. We can thank TURNER for dreaming
up the idea of us having the dubious honor of pouring gas into our own automobiles. By the summer of 1968, good ole TOM had
amassed 255 Sigmore-Shamrock u-fil-em-up gas stations throughout south Texas, a large Amalie oil franchise, many gas and oil
18 wheelers, at least 100 employees and four Texas radio broadcast properties. TURNER was certainly over qualified to set
the course for his radio stations.
A. V. BAMFORD held the papers to KBER FM-AM, plus BAM was a well-known Texas concert promoter. KBER had been the only
modern day Country music venue in San Antonio for years and posessed quite a large audience. The Nashville Sound
was KBER's moniker.
KBUC tried to be modernistic with the Countrypolitan nomenclature. Hated that title. The moment that I became
KBUC's Program Director, the Countrypolitan jingles and liners were the very first in a long string of objects to
be shot down on the target range of radio.
TURNER
had secured a San Antonio daytime AM frequency, plus an FM badge that the FCC had licensed to Terrell Hills, which was an
Alamo City suburb. TOM created brand new studios for the recently acquired acquisitions and crowned them KBUC.
TURNER
began a mad quest at all costs to topple the BAMFORD KBER dynasty. HARREL BANKS was KBER's infamous General Manager. TOM forked
over big bucks to BANKS and tossed in a brand new fully loaded shiny silver Cadillac with fancy black leather interior and
a black vinyl roof as a bonus to play leap-frog from KBER to KBUC. During my KBUC tenure, was motored around to many concerts
in that elegant limo with BANKS as chauffeur. When out on the town, HARREL packed a bright chrome flask filled with Tennessee's
finest spirits tucked neatly away inside his suit jacket which shielded his heart like a flack-jack.
BAMFORD
came to the United States from Cuba. BAM, as folk tended to identify him, was a diminutive leprechaun who at times
presented ear-piercing emotions. This flagrant TURNER move steamed BAMFORD from stim to stern. To paraphrase GEORGE JONES,
The Race Was On. HARREL was certainly no slouch with the guillotine.
Many had worn BANKS' Program Director helmet at KBUC. Numerous deejays had sat behind the KBUC mic. The course was
well-layed out at KBUC.
REDING
and I set out in his fancy gold Buick Riveria to scour the Alamo City for my new abode. Have heard of downpours in my time,
but as we hit the road, it began to rain cats and dogs and horses and cows. We were the Country Brothers on a mission
from GOD. Had to keep on keeping on so we could locate a site to stack my paltry belongings and sign the dotted line for a
permanent rest stop.
Up
to then, the farthest from home in Dallas to where I had set up residence was straight east on I-20 to Shreveport-Minden (KASO)
in the northeastern quadrant of Louisiana. That was a little over 200 miles from home. For a young chap who lived all his
life in Big D, seemed like it was all the way to China. That locale was commonly referred to as the Ark-La-Tex, due to its
immediate proximity to the border lines of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.
Not
long after, this young man headed west. The new adventure into Alamo City radio dispatched me nearly 300 miles in the other
direction of homeland. San Antonio's streets, highways and byways became overflooded almost to hurricane proportions. Many
passages were unpassable. If matters weren't worse enough, the World's Fair was in progress at Hemisfair and absolutely not
one single apartment vacancy could we find. People from all over the globe had filled every empty nest in town. Even motel
suites were leased as apartments. BUBBA and I kept on keepin' on.
Finally,
we came upon a tiny efficiency on a drab side street which flanked Fort Sam Houston's massive Army base. This tiny pad had
the appearance of home written all over it. The bedroom was also the living room. The sofa was an undersized two part apparatus
kind of like two petite half-beds accompanied by two long loose rectangular shaped foam cushions which lay against the wall.
These could be substituted for thick, firm snooze pillows. To go to bed at night, simply pull back the dark rootbeer brown
corduroy covering and voila! There was the bed. No matter what. This was the spot. Never will forget that fateful address
- 926 Natalen.
When
Hemisfair '68 began to subside, I had already scouted out the area of town to where a proper San Antonio deejay should dwell.
Head northwest young man. There was a brand new apartment complex at 2222 Vance Jackson which was equi-distant from north
Loop 410 and 1-10. Apartment 109 was simply gorgeous. Beautiful new classy furniture. The covered reserved car port was right
at the back door to the kitchen. The front door led out to a very nice swimming pool about 25 feet away. Mucho changeo. This
was similar to a shift from hades to Elysium.
Discovered later that CRASH STEWART's ex-wife lived to the left of my front door diagonally across
the atrium. The nice swimming pool was to the right. CRASH was JOHNNY BUSH's manager. In south Texas at that time,
JOHNNY was almost as popular as ELVIS. Got some interesting stories about CRASH and JOHNNY that might pop up in the future.
After
I became fairly situated in the initial home on Natalen, BUBBA got me to ride shotgun over to his ex-wife's house to pick
up the pieces of what she hadn't tossed out into the street. Didn't think it was as bad as REDING had described, but not too
many minutes after our arrival, my mind repositioned itself rather fast.
Not
too long before, that same nice lean-to was BUBBA's castle. Not anymore. Queen BUBBA was a feisty filly. She had busted REDING's
stereo record player and tossed many of BUBBA's personal papers and pictures into a box. We grabbed what we could and hit
the road. This was my first taste of ungolden matrimony. Why did this attractive blue-eyed blond headed paramour turn into
witch Hazel? My seasoning process was not limited only to radio.
About
a year later, BUBBA pronounced wedding vows to FREDERICA, who was our KBUC continuity person. Most of us called her FREDDIE
for short. REDING and FREDDIE were like two peas in a pod.
Many
referred to BUBBA as the KBUC Cowboy. On occasion, just for fun, BUBBA would beg me to let him sit behind the mic
at KBUC. When REDING sat down behind the radio control board, he seized Ma Bell in one hand and slapped on platters with the
other. BUBBA would put out calls to all his clients and relatives to let them know the KBUC Cowboy was on the
air. BUBBA was the kind of fella who everybody liked. He always packed the widest grin in the county and was a quick wit.
Kept everybody in stiches.
One
hot summer afternoon, BUBBA and I motored along I-10 east which aimed toward Houston in one of KBUC's mobile news units. Each
car was white with KBUC news scribbled in huge letters on both sides of the vehicles and a bubble gum machine on top. Difficult
to tell the difference from a patrolman's highway cruiser or policeman's street car. KBUC had a total of just one sole solitary
person in the news department and he never laid hands on a KBUC news car. The entire KBUC sales staff drove identical mobile
news vehicles. Made for quite a news presence in Bexar county because the sales staff were seen all over Bexar county as they
searched high and low for sales, but not news.
Pretty
girls everywhere waved to us like we were celebrities. BUBBA said it happens all the time. He just kept on grinning and waved
right back. All of a sudden, the engine began to sputter. We pulled off on the freeway shoulder. This fancy new news pony
was out of petrol. Did happen to have a mobile radio. BUBBA put out an SOS back to headquarters.
Late
one night in ole San Antone, BUBBA, FREDDIE and I made the rounds of San Antonio's night spots. The Hemisfair City was second
only to Nashville in the quantity of Western night clubs. During my sojourn in the late sixties and early seventies, there
were more than sixty evening coteries which featured Country music in Bexar county.
When
I was a child and beyond, the apellation was Country-Western music. These days the euphony has morphed into simply one word,
Country. Reminds me of a very hilarious line in The Blues Brothers when JOHN BELUSHI asked the female nightclub owner who
was tending bar, What kind of music do you play here? She promptly replied, We have BOTH - Country AND Western.
Country bands played every night all over the territory in Bexar county.
While
we were sitting at a dimly lit table, the band leader yelled out for the KBUC Cowboy to come onstage. BUBBA leaped
up, ran like an antelope to get behind the bandshell mic. REDING was going to sing. WHAT? BUBBA sounded as good as RAY PRICE
on WILLIE's timeless classic, Night Life.
Could
go on and on about the many fun times BUBBA and I had during those golden KBUC days in the Queen City of the Missions. Years
later, REDING became a radio station owner in south Texas. JOHNNY SHANNON informed me a couple of years ago that BUBBA had
passed away. This just cannot be.
Jim Rose
