Weaver Morrow - RIP

I am very shocked and saddened to report the passing of Weaver Morrow, longtime Houston radio man. I first met Weaver in the first week of September, 1970, during the first days of KAUM. He was a Houston Radio Legend from the first moment he cracked the mic; his humor turned the market upside down and was a huge part of the success of KAUM - and we were the most successful of the ABC-FMs, at least at first. Radio people came from all over to hear what we were doing that had vaulted us from something like 27th to 7th in the ratings in one rating period. The ABC execs in NY suggested moving him to afternoons, when more of our audience would likely be awake; they listened regularly and so did the other ABC-FM PDs. Everyone loved him. I was so disappointed when he first left the market and glad when he returned. He had long stints at KRBE-FM and KODA-FM.

Chronicle obituary and services

Gallery IV - Miscellaneous Ads

Published in November, 1922. Bering-Cortes was one of the forerunners of today's Bering Hardware.


Once upon a time, everything in radio was battery-powered, not just receivers but studio and transmitting equipment, too. And we're not talking a couple of AAs, either. Batteries had to be charged up, of course. Automobiles did not have generators or alternators so garages were set up to service, i.e., charge, batteries and they serviced home batteries, too. One such business in Houston was the Hurlburtt Still Electric Co. who also obtained the first broadcasting license in Houston, for WEV, and whose garage on McKinney at San Jacinto served as the station's studios.




These ads were published in the Scripps-Howard Houston Press in the fall of 1950 when the newspaper and radio station were sharing news coverage and reporting. Gordon McLendon's Liberty Broadcasting System was heard over several radio stations over the years. KATL was the first Houston affiliate.


Published July 23, 1960.








The ads for KFMK, KHUL, KODA, KRBE and KTLW all appeared in the Houston Now section of the Houston Post for August 4, 1961, which was shortly after KODA first signed on. I have misplaced my original for the Lone Ranger on KODA ad and do not know the date.

A full page ad for KULF, 790, formerly KTHT, in Houston Home and Garden Magazine, June, 1978.

A full page ad for KRTS-FM, 92.1, in Houston Metropolitan Magazine, May, 1992.

KODA-FM Outdoor, ca. 1978-9, after purchase by Group W, Westinghouse

An ad from Broadcasting Yearbook, 1964.

Following are some ads from the broadcasting trade papers sent to me by Chris Huff of the DFW Radio Archives.


KLBS, 1957


An ad for the Veterans Broadcasting group of stations; date unknown but has to be later than late 1961.


KTHT, 1956


KYOK, 1956


A business card for Utah Carl, a Galveston performer on KLUF (1400),KGUL-TV and KTRK-TV, sent to me by Dave Westheimer.

My apologies for the quality of some off the images, the result of over-inked newspapers and the impossibility of getting a decent print off of a microfilm printer sometimes.

Gallery III - Memorabilia

A collection of miscellaneous bumper stickers.



ABC-FM was running Love FM on their 7 FMs, a taped album rock format, but flipped them all to live and local with new calls in September, 1970. In Houston KXYZ-FM flipped to KAUM. The artwork and calls were determined by ABC. Houston got the coolest artwork. The bumper stickers came in about a half dozen different colors.


The Air Corps was a locally conceived, short-lived positioning first used in the fall of 1971. This is actually a billboard card; the bumper stickers were longer and not as tall.



This was when the station was known as Rock 'n Stereo, beginning in 1972. The positioning and design were selected by ABC-FM.













A reverse window sticker for Majic 102, KMJQ-FM


Calls very briefly used on 100.3, KILT-FM



The calls were officially KIKK-FM.

OUT OF TOWN


KMKS-FM, Bay City


KMZK, Fort Worth, ca. 1981, owned by Taft Broadcasting of Houston at the time.

A FEW MISCELLANEOUS RADIO SURVEY SHEETS

A KLBS Survey from February, 1955

A KXYZ survey from May, 1956

A KXYZ survey from November, 1956

A KXYZ survey from January, 1957

A KILT survey from August, 1957

A KTHT Hit Parader survey from May, 1961

More surveys from Houston radio stations (text only) can be found here.

Gallery I - People

This gallery will be a collection of miscellaneous pictures of people. Most photos will be in galleries associated with the stations they worked for or in individual posts but for some, I don't have enough material to have a separate station gallery or they occur as a part of a collection, as with the first listing here. Station galleries are listed on the respective station profile page under Stations on the sidebar; if there isn't a station profile yet for a station, there is no gallery for that station.

I am always happy to receive photos of Houston radio personnel to publish on the blog, along with some personal information, from any time period.  It is not necessary of course to give up any precious family keepsakes - just scan the image and email it to me (email address on my Profile on the sidebar).  JPEG and PDF files are acceptable (JPEG format is preferred).  Put each image in a separate file please.   Photos which include studio equipment are desirable but not necessary.

A group of photos at the University of Texas, part of the Bob Bailey Collection, concerning some sort of public expo arranged by Aylin Advertising and presenting personalities from several Houston radio stations. Some personalities and stations are identified on placards but others are not and I would appreciate hearing from anybody who can supply any names. Since one of the stations identified is KLBS the photos date from the period 1952-1957 and I would guess earlier in that time period. The first photo, obviously, has historical significance but is not related to radio history.  Note:  Checking this link out I see numerous photos that were not in this group originally now appear, only a few of them related to radio.  hrhwebmaster 1/9/2015.

Chester McDowell, aka Hotsy Totsy, KYOK, date unknown. Photo courtesy of Bud Buschardt.

Dan Shelton, Mornings, and Dan Parsons, News, KODA-FM, ca. 1980. We had formed some sort of athletic team, hence the jerseys. Behind them is the Shafer Automation unit for KODA-AM and to the right, the unit for KODA-FM.

Debra Forman, Evening announcer on KODA-FM, ca. 1980.

His name was Dave and he did evenings on KYND-FM in the waning days of that station before it flipped too KKBQ-FM but I have not been able to remember his last name. Shown is the KYND-FM control room in Greenway Plaza with the station reception area visible through the window.

Michael Sheehy (air name: Michael) in the KAUM studio, ca. 1973.  The board was a McCurdy.  Michael came to Houston from Santa Rosa, CA.  After several years in Houston he went on to work in radio in Honolulu and Los Angeles and then started a production studio.

The following 6 photos come from the May/June 2003 issue of the now defunct Inside Houston magazine.  The cover story was entitled 'Radio Active - Putting faces with the voices of Houston's top radio personalities.'  The article was written by Laurette M. Veres, identified on the masthead as Publisher/Editor-in-Chief.  The photoghraphs were taken by Pam Francis.

Donna McKenzie - Smooth Jazz 95.7, photographed at Scott Gertner's Sky Bar (McKenzie also graced the cover of the issue).  The text noted her 13 years in Houston radio up to that point including the original staff of KZFX, Classic Rock 107.5, KLOL, KHYS, and The Arrow.

Hudson and Harrigan - KILT-FM, 100.3.  The text noted their 22 years on KILT and revealed Hudson - on the left - almost became a lawyer and Harrigan began his career as an aspiring actor in a church production of 'Annie Get Your Gun.'

Heather Walters - KHPT-FM, 106.9, 80s Rock.  The text noted she was the only solo female morning show host in Houston at the time; from Houston originally, she got her start on Power 103 Abilene while attending Abilene Christian College.

Maria Todd, Psycho Robbie and Sam Malone - Top 40 KRBE-FM, 104.1.  The text noted Malone had a degree in finance and was headed to Wall Street when he noticed the girls and glamour surrounding a 'dorky' disc jockey and badgered a friend about how to get into the business.

J.P. Pritchard and Lana Hughes -  News/Talk - KTRH-AM, 740.  The text noted the duo had been together 18 years up to that point delivering the morning news block.

Tom Richards - Classical - KTRS-FM, 92.1.  The text noted he was another native Houstonian and had been hosting the KRTS morning show for 14 of his 20 years in broadcasting and also that he was officially a Deadhead, with more than 300 Grateful Dead concerts on tape.

From the 1965 Baytown Lee High Yearbook, courtesy of Tori Mask of the South Belt Houston Digital History Archive.