Tim Nolan and Bob Byron

I've been working on an article on these two broadcasters, most famous as the duo of Tim and Bob on KPRC for nearly 15 years, but I've been beaten to the punch by JR Gonzales of The Chronicle, who published an article on the show today.

It's a good article. JR has access to the archives with an index so he found a lot more than I had found but I've been in touch with descendants of both Tim and Bob and will also have a lot more on their respective careers with, I hope, more pictures.

In the meantime, don't miss JR's article.

A KPRC and KPRC-FM Gallery

A letter by Alfred P. Daniel, program director of KPRC, dated 1932, confirming a date and time for a prospective guest on a KPRC program. The image in the lower left is the Post-Dispatch building on the southwest corner of Polk and Dowling showing the flattop antenna on top (see below for another image). By this time the KPRC transmitter and antenna were located at Sugar Land and the former KPRC antenna was being used by sister station KTLC. The image in the upper right is the Post-Dispatch 'skyscraper,' 22 stories tall, on the corner of Fannin and Texas, now the Magnolia Hotel. The building was completed in 1926 and starting February 3, 1926, KPRC programs began emanating from a suite of three studios on the top floor that were to become known as the Skyline Studios of the Houston Post-Dispatch. They had a view of perhaps the whole city at that time as this would have been one of the tallest buildings in town.

Image courtesy of Andrew Brown.

For a very good shot of the Post-Dispatch skyscraper dating probably from the late 20s, see the first post in this thread on HAIF.


Alfred P. Daniel, Dean of Houston Radio. Owner of Houston's second radio station, WCAK, program director of Houston's first radio station, WEV. First program director and announcer on KPRC in 1925. Photo by Paul Huhndorff, published in Jack Harris' book The Fault Does Not Lie With Your Set.


The Houston Post building, originally the Houston Post-Dispatch building, on the southwest corner of Polk and Dowling, now demolished. First occupied in 1925 just weeks before KPRC signed on. The radio station occupied the structure on the roof for the first nine months of its existence but had long since moved out of the building when this picture was taken. Photo by Al Shire from the website Toasted Posties.


Judd Mortimer Lewis, early KPRC children's show performer 'Uncle Judd,' Post columnist and first Poet Laureate of Texas. Lewis' great grandson Judd Perry maintains this website devoted to his poetry.

The following photos are courtesy of Robert Wilford, an engineer at KPRC, and date from June, 1949.

Pictured is Raymond Franks in the AM Master Control. Franks was a student at Rice who worked at KPRC while going to school and moved to California on graduation.

This is Jim Bailey taken in what was called the 'broom closet' at KPRC-AM. It was located at the end of a hallway. According to Robert Wilford, Jim was a very good announcer with a voice to match. He was the one who did the Houston Symphony broadcasts originated by KPRC for the Texas Quality Network (WSAI, WFAA, KARK) weekly. The broadcasts were sponsored by the Texas Gulf Sulfur Corporation.

An ad from Broadcasting Yearbook, 1965.


KPRC-FM

The following pictures are also from Robert Wilford. All the photos date from June, 1949.

The FM control room, located in the City National Bank Building at Main and McKinney, a new building at that time but since demolished. The transmitter and tower were atop the building. The people are unidentified.

The FM transmitter.

Robert Wilford is shown working on one of the 250 FM receivers that were being installed in the city's buses as mentioned in this blog post. The other people are unidentified.

An unidentified piece of equipment.

This gallery will be listed under the KPRC station profile on the sidebar and will be added to from time to time as more pictures become available.

A KXYZ Gallery

A KXYZ Rate Card from 1936.



A KXYZ ad dated January 20, 1949


A KYYZ ad, undated.


Some KXYZ stationery and a letter from one KXYZ engineering employee to another in the Army in World War II. Dated 1942 the stationery shows KXYZ was using the color green long before Glenn McCarthy took over (the 1936 rate card above is a pale lime-green color).





The ads and letter are courtesy of Andrew Brown.

The following images are from a brochure published by KXYZ in the 1950s. Although a letter from Fred Nahas makes reference to KXYZ serving Houston for 27 years (KTUE became KXYZ in August, 1930), there are other clues that the brochure was published in 1956 or perhaps early 1957, such as the reference to Buff Baseball on KXYZ in 1956 and the fact the morning man pictured, Tim Nolan, left KXYZ in March, 1957, to join KPRC.

The first 2/3rds of the brochure dealt with Houston and its history, with images from over the decades, plus modern photos of the city and its industries and landmarks and some shots of outlying communities. I have posted only the images from the last third of the brochure dealing directly with KXYZ.

There are numerous images of Houston radio people of the era, some of whose careers were just beginning and others who were at their peak, plus one of Ted Hills, who had been involved in Houston radio since the 1920s and served as program director of several stations over the years.














These images are from the archives of the Houston Public Library.

This image is from the St. Agnes Academy yearbook for 1955 and was shared by Tori Mask of the South Belt Houston Digital History Archive.


This gallery will be listed under the KXYZ station profile on the sidebar and may be added to from time to time.