KREL (1947), KWBA (1959), KBUK (1974), KWWJ (1988) - Baytown - 1360 khz

THE SECOND PART OF THIS ARTICLE, CONCERNING KWBA, WAS LAUNCHED AT 1 AM 7/5/25.

CORRECTIONS AND AMENDMENTS TO THIS ARTICLE WERE ADDED ON 7/4/25 @ 5:45 PM

THIS ARTICLE WAS UPDATED 7/2/25 @ 3 AM.

PART 1 - OVERVIEW AND KREL

KREL, owned by Tri-Cities Broadcasting, went on the air on December 2, 1947, licensed to Pelly.  In just a couple of months, Pelly, Goose Creek and Baytown united as one city, taking the name of Baytown, and the city of License changed.  Call letters have changed 3 times (along with ownership) but all have operated out of this facility on Decker Drive (Loop 330) at Wade Road west of Baytown.  

The FCC's History cards are not available online (or may never have been created) but a note on the current licensee's listing says the first license for the facility (FCC # 58724) was issued on March 3, 1948.  

As with many suburban stations, personnel who worked at KREL (and its successors) also found employment at other stations in the market.  A couple are noted in the original mention of KREL in the AM Chronology for the 1940s.  There was also the big nighttime DJ in the 50s who wound up running a Putt-Putt golf course for years.  And the one who went on to become a noted writer, innovator and performer.  

Galveston historian Bill Cherry published an article in 2008 about the nighttime DJ, Bill 'Rascal' McCaskill.  I posted this on the blog but failed at the time to add all the correct Labels so it may have been missed by some.  Here's the link again.  

I had never heard of him.  In fact, I wasn't aware of any station on 1360 before moving to Houston in 1970 - the signal didn't come in where I grew up.  Had I known about this show, I would've been a regular listener.

I got in touch with McCaskill and he filled me in on more of his career in Houston radio.  I don't remember the name, but I may have heard him at some time.  I was up late at night often with the headphones from my Zenith Transoceanic on, listening to the radio and was familiar with the Milkman's Matinee on KLBS.

I wasn't ready to start doing profiles of suburban DJs at the time, still focused on establishing a chronology for Houston radio up to 1970, so I didn't make use of it at the time.  McCaskill passed in June, 2013, but following is one of the letters I received from him, unedited.  Don't skip over page 2 of the obituary just linked to which has information about his broadcast career continuing in Victoria.

Hi Bruce!

Thank for the note!  Yes, Bill Cherry was one of my Galveston listeners back when he was in high school and has become my good friend!

Do you know Andrew Brown?  He put out a magazine called "Taking Off" in 2005 which is a chronicle on Houston radio. It is published by Pine Grove Press, P.O. Box 474, Carthage, Texas  75633.  I did an article for him for it.

I have sent various people information about my radio career.  I am probably the only DJ that worked at KILT under all three of its call letters..KILT, KLBS and KLEE. I was at KLEE from 1950 til 1952, then KCOH in 1952 and 53, then back at KLBS for about three months.

I took over KING records in January 1954, which led me to doing a 10pm to 2am stint at KREL that began in April 1954.  We sold record packages and it was so lucrative that I left KING in July to go full time with KREL.  We later moved the program back to 7pm til midnight and I
maintained it until the station was sold and all of us "jocks" were replaced by high schoolers to save money.

This decision was made by the new owner's brother who came in as station manager. He had no radio experience and his only sales experience was selling washing machines and dryers at Sear-Roebuck!!  Needless to say they didn't own it long!! I then moved to Pasadena and
when KRCT(later KIKK) moved up in 1957 from Baytown I went to work there as a newsman and a salesman. 

Took a job at KILT in early 1958 as the Sunday night DJ on the all night "Milkman's Matinee" and ran one of their "sock-hops" on Friday night. Made surprisingly good money just doing those two stints. 

When my old college chum, Ken Collins, called me Christmas Day about taking KXYZ's all night show the "Night Scene" over for one week(the DJ just got up and walked out at about 2am) I agreed to do it.  He told me New Years Eve that negotiations were still underway
and would I continue on it. January 4th, Pearl Beer renewed their contract and Ken asked me to stay on permanently. I told him I would if I could continue doing the Sunday night shift at KILT.  He agreed and 6 nights a week, I was "Bill Mack and the Night Scene" and 1 night a week as "Rascal McCaskill and the Milkman's Matinee.

In late 1959, KXYZ decided to Start Houston's first telephone call in program and they moved me from all night to 7 til midnight.  I became "Expressions" with Bill Mack.  The station was sold in 1961 and the new owner cancelled "Expressions"  They asked me to stay as a DJ, but I moved the program to KFMK-FM until my son was born in January 1962 and got tired of
working nights.I became DOT records South Texas representative with the same territory as I had with KING.  

My final radio years were spent here in Victoria. I put the firt (sic) FM station on the air here in 1965 and the first TV station on the air in 1970.  Then I just got tired of my profession and built me a 36 hole Putt-Putt Golf Course in 1972 and have been there now almost 35 years.

I can research some of my emails on KREL for additional information for you,  Just let me know.

What is the website on the article you saw that Bill Cherry wrote?  And, how did you know I had just had birthday? 

Stay well!!

Bill McCaskill

According to the Baytown Historical Association, Joe Arrington, a student and baritone sax player in the band at Carver High School in Baytown, wanted to get into radio and was given a shift to play rhythm and blues music on KREL.  He used the name Jivin' Joe at first but his time in radio was apparently pretty short and he moved on to being a writer and performer under the name Joe Tex.  He went on to a long career and a big rivalry with James Brown over stage moves which fans believe he created.  He also is credited with introducing 'soul preaching,' which he called 'rap,' that Isaac Hayes and Barry White copied.  He has been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame several times. Joe Tex died in Navasota in 1982, having changed his name to Yusef Hazziez.  

Perhaps the most famous of KREL alumni in the field of entertainment, there is much available online about Joe Tex.  Here's a brief summary of his career on the website Black Past but he's also in the Texas State Handbook, Texas Highways Magazine, Wikipedia and much more. Most that I have looked at omit any mention of his radio 'career' but Sir Shambling's Deep Soul Heaven notes "in the evenings he became ‘Jivin’ Joe’ on the local low-powered KREL-AM Radio Station, playing songs by ‘black’ R&B acts like Johnny Ace, Lloyd Price and early-50’s doo-wop groups alongside country winners from Hank Williams and co."

Gene Arnold was also a personality on KREL at one time.  Grady McAllister of the Houston radio history site Vasthead, which seems to have disappeared, had an air check of Arnold on KREL in 1958 on Night Train.  Arnold later worked at several Houston radio stations, including KXYZ and KODA.  I believe he later wound up as a television personality in Austin.  I was in touch with Arnold some years ago and promised him I would get back with him to get his whole story but failed to do so.  I will have to see if I can reach him again.  

Parenthetically I will mention there is, or has been in the past, a Christmas tree ornament from the Baytown Historical Association mentioned above with a depiction of the KREL building. Anybody out there collecting radio station commemorative Christmas tree ornaments?

To be continued .... this post is being composed on-the-fly, so to speak.  There will be more as time goes on.  I welcome input from others who have worked at 1360 over the years or listeners with memories to share. 

PART 2 - KWBA

From the Baytown Sun, Thursday June 22, 1959.  I first became aware of this station with these call letters sometime after moving to Houston in 1970.  It may have been while going to visit relatives in Baytown and passing by the studios on Decker Drive.  (I was working in FM radio at the time and didn't do a lot of listening to AM stations).  The station was an affiliate of both Mutual and ABC networks at the same time I think.

Probably the most famous radio alumnus of KWBA is Joe Ladd, pictured on the right in the photo.

Photo from The Radio Historian.

Today the call letters are used on a TV station in Arizona and by the Kenilworth-Winnetka Baseball Association (youth leagues) in Illinois. 

To be continued .... this post is being composed on-the-fly, so to speak.  There will be more as time goes on.  I welcome input from others who have worked at 1360 over the years or listeners with memories to share. 

To find other posts concerning any of these four stations or any stations mentioned in posts, click on the Labels below the post or use the search feature.  

Wonderful World of the Cork - KHUL-FM, 1965

 A researcher has contacted me for help in finding information on this program which aired on KHUL-FM in  1965 for about 6 months, apparently.  The Cork referred to in the title is Glenn McCarthy's Cork Club which was situated on the top (or top two) floors of the Central National Bank at 2100 Travis.  I believe KTHT/KULF later occupied part of this space?

Here is McCarthy, The King of Wildcatters, famous as the inspiration for the character Jet Rink in the movie Giant, using radio to promote his club.  Two and a half decades earlier it was Saturday Night at the Shamrock from McCarthy's Shamrock Hotel on his radio stations (KXYZ-AM-FM) and the ABC radio network.

This program was broadcast six nights a week from 6 pm to Midnight.  Tom Overton, who was the operations director of KHUL-FM at the time, was the host of the show which actually was broadcast from a shuttered fur salon next door to the club.  I have suggested to the researcher that 'live' probably only meant they were sending drop-ins back to the studio but I don't know.

The researcher is particularly interested in the appearance of the Tokyo Happy Coats, five sisters from Tokyo who had become well known from entertaining US troops overseas in the late 50s and early 60s and were touring the US club circuit for about 7 years.  They had appeared once at the club on an emergency fill-in basis and were invited back for a stand which aired from August 26 to September 8, 1965, and were probably featured in some way on the KHUL-FM program during that time. 

Does anyone have any information, perhaps memories of attending or listening, or are there any air checks?  Who was Tom Overton and is he still alive?  Is there anybody still alive who worked at KHUL-FM at that time?  

Here is a brief video of the Hakomori sisters, the Tokyo Happy Coats, on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1966.  English was not their first language.

Insert from the Houston Chronicle, 4/8/1965, shortly after the program began airing.

Howard Kemper - KXYZ - 1940

Howard Kemper was an announcer on KXYZ in 1940.  He was also an amateur photographer.  Recently his son John discovered some old negatives and with the assistance of grandson Michael Kemper restored them and shared them with me. 

John Kemper supplied biographical and career information about his dad which I am copying here as submitted since it needs no editing.

"Howard, my dad, was from Abilene, Texas and his very early interest in radio inspired him to pursue radio broadcasting.  As there were no schools for this, he was self-taught mimicking other announcers and practicing before a mirror.  At age 17, after graduating from high school, he took his first job as an announcer with KLAH in Carlsbad, New Mexico.  A year later, he was hired as an announcer with KBST in Big Spring.  Later, he worked at KRBC in Abilene and in early 1940 KXYZ in Houston.  His time at KXYZ was brief as his young wife and new daughter had remained in Big Spring. The distance was a strain on family life and he eventually returned to KBST in Big Spring.

 

During his broadcasting career, Dad announced the news, sports, and weather, did much on location reporting, announced live dance band performances, hosted talent shows, and as "Uncle Gus" even read the funny papers to kids. He also interviewed many local celebrities and movie stars including Bill Elliott, Jeannie Porter, and Spanky MacFarland.  

 

He is probably best remembered for his "Man On the Street" or "Curbstone Reporter" program interviewing people of all walks. He also participated in the Texas 1943 War Bond Tour traveling with Wild Bill Elliott, Anne Jeffreys, Gale Storm, and Gaby Hayes. He was later recognized for his fine efforts and contribution to the tour's success by the State of Texas and Republic Pictures.

 

Eventually, Dad entered the life insurance business and enjoyed a successful career for a good many years."

So Howard Kemper's time in Houston radio was brief but these pictures are priceless.  Thanks again John and Michael.

Howard Kemper was from Abilene.  He wrote to his younger brother in college there about his job at KXYZ.

Howard Kemper reading the news and making an announcement.  KXYZ was an NBC Blue affiliate, perhaps explaining the pretty blue stationery.  Notice what appears to be a pass-through along the bottom of the window.  Perhaps the headphones were handed through?

Getting ready for that 15 minute news review at 2 am?   Looks like teletype machines didn't change much over the years.

An unidentified individual at a control board in a very tight space.  No microphone so is this an engineer?  Did engineers have to show up in suit and tie in those days?  I cannot tell if the second board looks out over another studio (or indeed, the one the man is sitting at).  Any information that anyone can supply, including the identity of this individual, will be appreciated.

There isn't much evidence of soundproofing in any of these pictures.

The next three pictures are of the equipment room.

Close-up of one the transmitter tubes from the preceding photo.

Up on the roof of the Gulf Building, tallest building in town at 37 stories.

Looking south along Main Street from the roof of the Gulf building.

Looking north from the Gulf Building roof along Main Street toward the bridge over Buffalo Bayou and out over the North side.  

The Gulf Building was completed in 1929 at 712 Main Street @ Rusk.  At 37 stories it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi at the time and the tallest building in Houston until 1963 when the Humble Oil and Refining Company/Exxon building was completed.  It is now known as the JP Morgan Chase Building.

The 18 story Rice Hotel was completed in 1913 at the corner of Main and Texas, 2 blocks north of Rusk, on the site of a former capitol of Texas.  It housed the studios of KTRH for many years and now houses the Rice Apartments.

KXYZ had been operating on the 1440 frequency with 250 watts of power since 1932 when the operations of KXYZ & KTLC were consolidated and KTLC ceased to operate.  By 1935, power increased to 1 kilowatt.  The transmitter had moved to the Chronicle building, Texas at Travis, in 1928 and in 1930 to the Gulf building.  The main studios moved from the Texas State Hotel on Fannin at Rusk to the Gulf Building in 1935.  Thus, the studios pictured above were still quite new.  Just when Harris County Broadcast Co. took over the station from William John Uhalt is missing in the FCC data I have located so far, but the company retained ownership of the station until December, 1948, when it was taken over by Glenn McCarthy’s Shamrock Broadcasting.  The Uhalt Electric Company had been the original licensee (call letters KTUE) on August 24, 1926.

As a result of the North American Radio Broadcast Agreement in March 1941, KXYZ moved to the 1470 frequency and a couple of years later to 1320, where it still operates.  In 1943, KXYZ was authorized to relocate its transmitter facilities to Deepwater, Texas, subsequently identified in FCC records as ‘southwest of the intersection of Route 225 and South Avenue, Pasadena, Texas” and again as 2800 Powers Drive, Pasadena.  This was the site of the joint KTRH/KPRC transmitter facility, originally the location of KTRH when it first moved to Houston from Austin.  KTRH was exiting the facility.  Completion of all the construction needed took a couple of years and KXYZ wound up on the 1320 frequency with 5 KW daytime, 1 KW nighttime power.

The former main transmitter at the Gulf Building was licensed as an auxiliary transmitter, limited to 1 KW power, and was activated for use during the construction delays.

KXYZ moved its operations (studios, offices) out of the Gulf Building to the 16th floor of the Fannin Bank Building at Holcombe and Main in October, 1963.  

The longtime transmitter location on Texas 225 southeast of Houston, used by several local operators since 1930, became too valuable for industrial purposes and was sold in the last few years.  KXYZ now transmits from a triplex set-up with sister stations KBME (790) and KPRC (950), all owned by IHeart media.