April Anniversaries

Broadcasting Yearbook, 1979, gave April, 1963, for the launch of KLJT-FM, Lake Jackson on 107.3. It was co-owned with KBRZ, Freeport, and had studio and tower on Willow Drive in Lake Jackson, just 2 blocks from my home. The station is now on 107.5; other calls have included KGOL-FM, KLDE-FM and KHTS-FM.

April 12 marks the anniversary of the first operation of a licensed broadcasting station in Houston in 1922, WEV. See the Chronology of the 1920s and WEV under Stations on the sidebar for more.

April 15, 1947, marked either the issuance of the permit or launch of operations for KWHI, Brenham, 1280, now operating once again with the original calls.

The Yearbook gives April 16, 1951, for the launch of KMCO, Conroe, a 500 watt daytime station on 900 kilocycles.

Easter Sunday, April 17, 1949, brought KREL-FM, Baytown, 92.1 megacycles, co-owned with KREL-AM, 1360.

On April 26, 1946, The Houston Press reported in passing that Lee Segall of Houston had been granted FM license. This is believed to be the first license for an FM station in the upper band in Houston but the exact date of issuance is not known. The permit was never activated.

March Anniversaries

KPFT-FM, 90.1 MHz, signed on at 10:30pm, March 1, 1970, with the airing of ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by the Beatles. It was bombed off the air twice in the first 12 months but has been on the air continuously ever since. The station has a brief history on its website celebrating 38 years.

Broadcasting Yearbook gives March 10, 1962, for the launch of KHCB-FM, at 105.7 mc. A religious station since its inception, the calls stood for ‘Keeping Him Close By.’ There was no story in the Chronicle, not even in the Church Chronicle, a weekly special section. Listings first appeared in the paper on March 16. The station operated originally only from 4pm to Midnight daily.

The Houston area’s second TV station, KGUL-TV, Galveston, Channel 11, came on the air at 6pm, Sunday, March 22, 1953, from studios at 2002 45th street which was dubbed 11 Video Lane. A 550 foot antenna was located 1.3 miles north of Arcadia. Actor Jimmy Stewart, a part owner of the station, was in town to handle the opening ceremonies.

March 23, 1922, brought the issuance of the first broadcasting license for Houston, for station WEV to operate on 360 and 485 meters. It was licensed to the Hurlburt-Still Electrical Company and was the 4th broadcasting station licensed in Texas and 108th nationwide. The first broadcast was on April 12.

March 24, 1930, KTRH signed on as a Houston station from studios in the Rice Hotel and transmitter at Deepwater on the La Porte Highway. It was previously licensed to Austin as KUT and before that as WCM.

February Anniversaries

Saturday, February 1, 1947, was the first day of broadcast for KGBC, Galveston, 1540 kc. Originally a daytime station it became a full time operation within a couple of years and still operates on the same frequency and with the same call letters, making it the second oldest station in the Houston/Galveston market with the original call letters.

In the midst of the hoopla over the launch of KLEE, the news that the city had been awarded its first TV license and the start of the Rodeo for that year, Houston’s 4th FM station slipped on the air on Sunday, February 1, 1948. KXYZ-FM operated at 96.5 megacycles for 5 years before going silent for 8. Other call letters on that frequency since 1961 have included KAUM, KSRR, KNRJ, KKHT, and since 1991 KHMX-FM.

A decade later Houston’s 4th oldest FM signed on, KFMK-FM took to the airwaves on Sunday, February 2, 1958, at 5pm on 97.9 megacycles with 10,000 watts from studios in the Medical Arts Building at 1709 Dryden, between Main and Fannin. The station now on that frequency is KBXX-FM.

Broadcasting Yearbook, 1979, gave February dates for 2 suburban FM stations, February 14, 1965, for a station in Conroe on 106.9 MHz. The call letters in 1979 were KMCV-FM but I think the original calls were KNRO-FM. The station now on that frequency is KHPT-FM. February 11, 1968 was given for KUFO-FM, Galveston, 106.5 MHz. The station on that frequency now is KOVE-FM.

February 18, 1948, was the date of the big flip on 1230 kc and the launch of KTHT on its new frequency of 790 kc. KTHT was allowed to simulcast on both frequencies for 24 hours before KNUZ took to the airwaves on 1230.


February 20, 1948, brought the launch of KULP, El Campo, 1390 kc. The station is still on the air with the original calls from what is probably the original studios in downtown El Campo and calls itself The Texas Original.

January Anniversaries

January has been a big month for television developments in Houston. On January 1, 1949, the Age of Television arrived with the launch of KLEE-TV, Channel 2. The station hit the airwaves around 9:30 pm in the evening after a 3 and a half-hour delay due to last minute technical problems. Houston hotelman W. Albert Lee had been granted Houston’s first television permit 11 months earlier, on January 30, 1948.

On January 5, 1948, KTRH applied for a permit to operate KTRH-TV on Channel 13, the first of 5 or 6 applicants for that channel.

On January 6, 1967, KHTV-TV, Channel 39 signed on, owned by Gaylord Broadcasting of Oklahoma City. The station still operates from its original studios on Westpark at Hillcroft and is Houston’s oldest independent and oldest UHF station. The call letters KHCW-TV have also been used and the current call letters are KIAH-TV.

On January 8, 1954, the formation of Houston Consolidated Television was announced, a merger of the competing applicants for a TV permit to operate on Channel 13. Just days later on the 14th, KGUL-TV, Channel 11, Galveston, announced a deal has been signed for new Houston studios in the Prudential Building on Holcombe Blvd. at Fannin (the building is now part of the MD Anderson Center complex and is slated for demolition).

And on January 17, 1948, the Houston Post reported that Texas Television had applied for a permit to operate KTHT-TV on Channel 7, at that time allocated to Houston. Texas Television was the TV branch of Roy Hofheinz’s Texas Star Broadcasting.

Also on the 17th in 1968, KENR signed on at 1070 on the AM dial. The station has also had the call letters KRBE (AM), KKHT and KCCR; it is now KNTH.

On January 21, 1948 The Houston Post reported on p.1 that KPRC Radio and the Post had applied for a permit to operate KPRC-TV on Channel 4, at that time allocated to Houston. .

January 26, 1964, the Houston Chronicle reported on the launch of KMSC-FM at 102.1 megacycles, licensed to Clear Lake City. The owners included some workers at the Manned Spacecraft Center at Clear Lake. The station has also been known as KLYX-FM and has borne the call letters KMJQ-FM since 1977.

On January 31, 1948, W. Albert Lee received notice of the FCC approval of his application for a TV license in the midst of the hoopla surrounding the launch of his first broadcast venture, KLEE-AM, operating on 610 kilocycles from studios in his Milby Hotel at Texas and Travis. Lee, who had been on the Board of Directors of the Houston Fat Stock Show and Rodeo since 1938, had timed the launch of his radio station to coincide with the rodeo parade and first performance that day and took advantage of the entertainment stars in town for the rodeo for the opening festivities. The station became KLBS in 1952 and KILT in 1957.

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.

November Anniversaries

November 6 marks the 57th anniversary of KUHF-FM, the University of Houston station. UH students had been producing programs for KATL for several years but now they would be responsible for a whole station. Studios were in the Ezekiel W. Cullen Building which had just been dedicated a week earlier. KUHF-FM is the 3rd oldest surviving Houston FM and oldest one with the original calls.

KRBE-FM signed on at 6pm on November 8, 1959, operating on 104.1 mc from studios in the 1400 Hermann building, a high rise residence across from the Rose Garden in Hermann Park. It was originally a full time classical station and the calls stood for 'The Key to Radio Broadcast Excellence.'

Broadcasting Yearbook gives November 15, 1948, for the launch of KFRD, 980 kc, Rosenberg but whether that's the date of the license or first broadcast is not known. KRTX, a Tejano station, operates on that frequency now, licensed to Rosenberg/Richmond.

November 28, 1923, was the date the license for KFLX, Galveston, was issued, the oldest station continuously in operation in the Houston-Galveston market or anywhere on the Texas Gulf Coast. The station is now KHCB and is licensed to League City operating on 1400 kHz.

Broadcasting Yearbook gives November, 1947, for the launch of KTLW, Texas City, 920 kc. That is now KYST.

October Anniversaries

Lots of anniversaries are due in October.

Broadcasting Yearbook gives October 1952 for the launch of KBRZ, Freeport, at 1460 kHz. The station is still on the air with the same call letters but has recently been re-licensed to Missouri City.

In the first week of October, 1957, Baytown’s KRCT, 650, completed it’s move to new studios at 227 East Sterling in Pasadena. Three and a half years later it flipped call letters to KIKK.

October 1st is the anniversary for two FMs. KQUE-FM, 102.9 MHz took to the air on that day in 1960, occupying the frequency that had been vacated by KHGM-FM 17 months earlier when it moved to 99.1 MHz. The station on 102.9 now is KLTN-FM.
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Broadcasting Yearbook gives 10/1/73 for the launch of KTSU-FM, 90.9 but whether that’s the date of the license or the start of actual operations I don’t know. According to the station’s website the station launched with just 10 watts of power.

Two more stations share October 4th as a birthday. KHUL-FM, took to the air on that date in 1959 on 95.7 MHz. The station became KIKK-FM in the 1960s and is now KHJZ-FM.

Meanwhile KXYZ-FM returned to the airwaves on that date in 1961 after being silent for 8 years (that was the date of the first listings in the Chronicle). It returned to the air on its original frequency of 96.5 which it had occupied from 1948 to 1953. The station has undergone a number of call letter changes and is now KHMX-FM.

10/7/22 was the date the license was issued for WTAW, Bryan-College Station, the oldest station in southeast Texas outside of the Houston/Galveston or Beaumont/Port Arthur market.

On the weekend of October 15-16, 1960, KARO-FM took to the air at 94.5 MHz. Other calls used on that frequency have included KLEF-FM, a full time classical station, KLDE-FM, an oldies station, and it is now KTBZ-FM, The Buzz.

October 22, 1953, brought the launch of KNUZ-TV, Channel 39, Houston’s fourth television station overall and first UHF. The station was a DuMont Network affiliate but lasted only 8 months.

September Anniversaries

Broadcasting Yearbook says KLVL-FM, originally on 92.5, now KKBQ-FM, 92.9, started in August, 1962. The first listings appeared in the Chronicle on September 7, 1962.

9/12/53 - installation of the second coaxial cable serving Houston-Galveston was completed and in service – up until that time Channels 2 and 11 had been sharing one line for live network programming.

9/15/64 - KWHI-FM, Brenham, 106.3

August Anniversaries

August 4, 1968, marked the launch of KFRD-FM, Rosenberg on 104.9 MHz, although whether that’s the actual launch date or the date of the permit I don’t know. The station on that frequency now is KPTY-FM licensed to Missouri City.

The 15th will mark the 36th anniversary of Channel 26, originally launched as KVRL-TV in August, 1971, Houston’s 6th oldest surviving television station.

Coming up toward the end of the month the 22nd will mark what would have been the 61st anniversary of the first FM station in Houston which also happened to be the first FM in Texas and first sustaining FM anywhere. The station lasted only a few years - FM was way ahead of its time - but it was an important milestone in Houston radio history. There will be another post documenting the achievement as the date approaches which will serve to launch the FM Chronology section of this blog.

August 24th marks the 81st anniversary of KXYZ which launched on that date in 1926 as KTUE.

Monthly Anniversaries

This is a collection of monthly anniversary posts giving launch dates and other important milestones in Houston broadcast history.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

July Anniversaries

On July 1, 1952, Houston television viewers got to see live network television for the first time with the completion of the first coaxial cable link. The networks had put a lot of pressure on AT&T to get the whole country connected in time for that summer’s political conventions and several cities came on-line on that day, including Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio. The Today Show with Dave Garroway on NBC was the first program aired, starting at 7am. Up until that time, network programming had aired in Houston as much as 6 weeks after being originated.

On Monday, July 3, 1950, KLEE-TV, Channel 2, became KPRC-TV. The station had been on the air since January 1, 1949, and was the second TV station on the air in Texas and, according to my calculation from this list, about the 52nd nationwide.

On the evening of July 13, 1944, Texas Star Broadcasting’s KTHT began ‘test’ broadcasts from studios in the Southern Standard building at 711 Main from 8:30pm to midnight, then continued with ‘test’ broadcasts from 6am to midnight for several days until final approval from the FCC. It operated on 1230 kilocycles with 250 watts, then moved to 790 kc and boosted power to 5000 watts 4 years later and KNUZ took its place on 1230. The head of Texas Star was Harris County Judge Roy Hofheinz. There will be more on KTHT's launch later this month.

On the 31st of July, 1961, Taft Broadcasting launched KODA-AM, 1010, from new studios at 4810 San Felipe, a daytime only station affiliated with ABC. The station is now KLAT, La Tremenda.

Broadcasting Yearbook gives July, 1961, for the start of KILT-FM on 100.3 megacycles but I have not been able to find anything about it that early in the papers.

June Anniversaries

According the the Broadcasting Yearbook, KANI, Wharton, 1500, signed on June 17, 1962. I thought I remembered listening to this station in the 50s when I was DXing as a kid, but I guess not.

By the 24th of this month, KIKK-AM, 650, will have turned 60. The exact launch date of the station is not known at this time but it was definitely on the air by this time.

And at the end of the month, KLOL-FM will also be 60. It started as KTRH-FM in 1947.

There will be more about both KIKK-AM's and KTRH-FM's history in posts later this month.

May Anniversaries

May 1 marks the anniversary of the storied KIKK call letters in Houston. KRCT, 650 AM, flipped on that date. The station had originated in Baytown but moved to Pasadena in 1957.

May 2 is the anniversary of KUHT-TV, Channel 8, the first educational TV station in the US.

May 5, 1947, brought the launch of KCOH, a daytime only, good music station on 1430 kilocycles. The station became the first Black-owned, Black-programmed station in Houston in 1953 and is the second oldest station in Houston still using the original call letters.

Three years later on the same date, Cinco de Mayo, Houston’s first Hispanic-owned, Spanish language station signed on, KLVL, 1480 kilocycles. It is the 3rd oldest station in Houston still using the original calls.

May 9 marks the anniversary of the oldest station in Houston, KPRC, which began on that date in 1925 and still uses the original calls.

May 12, 1947, was the first date for a station operating on 1590 kilocycles. Originally KATL, it became KYOK in 1954 and is now KMIC.

May 14, 1957, was the date the KILT calls were first used in Houston. On that date Gordon McLendon flipped the calls of KLBS, 610 kilocycles.

Broadcasting Yearbook gives May 20, 1971, for the launch of KTRU-FM @ Rice, but whether this represents the first day of broadcasting or the issuance of the license I don't know. This is later than I have extended my research so far on FM stations but here is an article from the Thresher on KTRU-FM.