December Anniversaries

December 2, 1947, marked the first day of broadcasting for KREL, Pelly, the second station in the Tri-Cities area, a full-timer operating with 1000 watts on 1360 kilocycles from studios and transmitter on Decker Drive. The station owners were the principals of the Goose Creek Daily Sun and they announced on the front page of their paper the calls KREL had been requested because ‘Robert E Lee High School has been, and will continue to be, such an important part of life in the Tri-Cities area.’ Goose Creek and Pelly consolidated in just 2 months and took the name Baytown and the station has been licensed to Baytown ever since. In late 1959 the calls were flipped to KWBA, then, ca. 1968, to KBUK, and they are now KWWJ, a Black Gospel station.

KLEE-TV, Houston’s first television station, first broadcast its test pattern at full power on Channel 2, December 20, 1948.

Broadcasting Yearbook gives January, 1964, for the launch of KBNO-FM at 93.7 megacycles but listings first appeared in the Chronicle on December 21, 1963. Calls used on that frequency have included KRLY-FM, KLTR-FM and it is now KKRW-FM, The Arrow.

Houston’s second FM station signed on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1946. KPRC-FM originally operated on 99.7 megacycles. It has changed frequency twice in its history, moving to 102.9 mc in 1947 and to 99.1 in 1959. It has changed call letters twice, to KHGM-FM in 1958 and to KODA-FM in 1961. It is Houston’s oldest surviving FM station.