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.

Biff Collie, Texas Bill Strength, and other DJs

Here’s a brief biography of Biff Collie on-line.

In addition to the labels mentioned, Collie recorded first on Macy’s records in Houston and also later for Specialty. His only charted hit was as Billy Bob Bowman in 1972 on United Artists. He also was a morning man on KLEE.

The bio makes the claim that Collie was the the first Country DJ in Houston but I’m not sure that’s valid. Texas Bill Strength was a 16 year old teen in 1944 when he won a talent contest in Houston and was offered a job by KTHT, which may have been sponsoring the contest. Strength worked for KTHT for a couple of years but I don’t know for sure that he was a DJ or that he played country music, but if so, he certainly predates Biff Collie. He went on to a 25 year career in radio and recording.

Biff Collie’s first wife was the former Mrs. Floyd Tillman and his second wife later married Willie Nelson.

The bio indicates he stayed at KFOX, Long Beach, until 1969 so he apparently never returned to Houston to work at KXYZ as was suggested in the query.

The Country Radio Broadcasters Hall of Fame has listings for 6 DJs who worked in Houston radio and are in the Hall. On the link you’ll have to click on the Hall of Fame on the side bar - the site does not allow direct links to individual pages.

Houston DJs on the site include Biff Collie, 1978, Texas Bill Strength, 1990, Smokey Stover, 2000, Dr. Bruce Nelson, 2004, Arch Yancey, 2006, and Joe Ladd, 2007.

Note the CRB article on Texas Bill Strength gets the calls of both KTHT and KATL wrong. According to the article in the Encyclopedia of Country Music compiled by the staff of the Country Music Hall of Fame he started recording for Houston’s Cireco label and by 1949 was recording for Four Star Records then later for Coral and Capitol. While working at KWEM in West Memphis in 1954-55 he befriended a young Elvis Presley. He also later worked at KFOX in Long Beach, where Biff Collie worked, and recorded for Sun. His best know hit was Hillbilly Hades, a 1967 parody on Starday.

At one time on there was a picture on-line of Texas Bill Strength at the KTHT control board; I think that was on the CRB site but it’s not there now. That might have been taken ca. 1944-45 when he worked there although as I remember it he didn’t look to be just 16 or 17.

Arch Yancey arrived at KNUZ in January, 1958, from Memphis to do 1-4pm and had a long career in Houston radio as a hugely popular disc jockey. He was just inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame last year. There are pictures of Arch (who I had the pleasure of working with at KILT) and other KNUZ deejays among the Bob Bailey Collection at the University of Texas linked to in the External Galleries section on the sidebar.


The ad for Collie’s Coffee Club above comes from the archives of the Houston Chronicle at the Houston Public Library for October, 1950.

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.