I started working for KBWD in 1961 and I thought it was about as modern as radio could get. Little did I know! It’s still a pretty good radio station and still at 1380 on the AM dial. Of course, it was the “boss” in Central Texas for all those years from the early ‘40s to 1980 or so, but at one time it was “THE” station. It was the only station in Brownwood until a little later when the Farrin twins, Jimmy and Eddy, put KEAN on the air. Eventually they sold the call letters to a station in Abilene, but it was KEAN in the beginning and they were AM as well.
You say how did the FM come about and I was right there and I can’t tell you because I don’t really remember. It wasn’t there and then it was there, but I’ll tell you the interesting thing about it is that it took about half of the floor space in the new radio station, which was built behind the old one. There were no disc jockeys. There weren’t any personnel. They had no news. They had very few commercials and it just sat there. It was a monster – 100,000 watts! It would have worked well as a backdrop for a Sci-Fi movie. It was just there. It ran all the time. No news, no commercials, no nothing but music. It finally graduated a little bit. It got a little more popular and well known. They got some commercials. They made a little bit of money with it but it still just sat there. The reason is because most people in the mid ‘70s didn’t have FM radios in their cars or in their home.
Then FM started to boom and growing and getting bigger. All of a sudden, I’m not sure when but it was a little later, it became a dominant station. So they totally transformed the studios. All of the sudden the FM was the “big boy” and the AM, KBWD, became the “little sister” if you will. The FM exploded when it took off.
The Brownwood Lions, and a lot of people don’t realize this, but the Brownwood Lions made the switch from AM to FM in 1997! Yeah, it kind of shocked me too. They were on the AM until 1997. Of course, the FM has been the “Voice of the Lions” for those years since.
I hated FM when it first came in. I mean I despised it. I wouldn’t listen to it. I thought it was a piece of trash and it was never going to be anything. I was as wrong as wrong could be for thinking that way. FM now dominates the radio dial wherever you go. If you’re not listening to FM you’re bound to be listening to some sports or a ‘talk show’ or some ‘oldies.’
Anyway, that’s how FM came to be, at least around here. Of course, now it’s moved down the street. If you walk in the front door, that’s the FM studio right in front of you. The AM is around the corner and down the hall. I understand they are improving the studio for the AM and making it nicer. I think about all of the people at the radio station that made everything possible through the years, and I get a little bit teary eyed.
But, these radio stations are still a big deal to so many people. I like both of them and pray they’ll be around for a long time to come.
Until next time, so long everybody.
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‘Out of the Box’ with Dallas Huston is published each Monday morning at BrownwoodNews.com. Dallas was the radio voice of the Brownwood Lions and Howard Payne Yellow Jackets for more than 55 years. He currently is Pastor of Center City Baptist Church and hosts a Men’s Bible Study in Brownwood on Monday evenings. Your comments are welcome at [email protected].