Houston Retro Radio
The anamorphic arrow above is adapted from a slide shot in Galveston in 1980. The arrow, which pointed to the 61st Street fishing pier, is no longer there. Hurricane Alicia may have destroyed it in 1983. This arrow image is the emblem for all of The Vasthead web pages.
Above:December, 6, 1980. A Dallas TV reporter on the Galveston seawall while covering the 1980 Dickens on The Strand.
Below: The Galveston Seawall at dusk, December, 1980. This time exposure was shot on a tripod set up just across the street from Jo Jo's Restaurant (now a Denny's). The tallest building on a pier is the Flagship Hotel, built in 1965.
Below: Clear Lake, January, 1984. Click image for a wider view.
Photographer's note: With the recent decision to discontinue Kodachrome slide film (1935-2OO9), I thought I would post one of my own Kodachrome 25 images (above). To shoot in that light with that film is to put yourself under a bit of a handicap.
It was a Saturday in January, 1984, and a typical winter day for the Houston area: Humid and cool, but not really that cold.
It is quite a stretch to call this a wedding shot, but it really was taken as part of a wedding. It was the only wedding I ever photographed, and this is all I have to show for it. I gave away all the "real" wedding shots to the happy couple.
This was taken from a moving paddle wheel boat on the lake at Clear Lake City. The wedding ceremony had concluded, and I got the urge to step outside. With my large Sunpak flash still charged, I shot this entirely on impulse.
The flash seems to have been just enough light to brighten up the number 17 and separate it from its drab surroundings. There is not much other color, but if you look carefully, there is an American flag flying in the distant background.
Grady McAllister
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Unless otherwise indicated, all commentary and photography on this site are by Grady McAllister.
On our Facebook site: Galveston 2010 Mardi Gras Pictures
Below: December, 1980. The Buccaneer Hotel, one of the historic landmarks
in Galveston. Built in 1929, it was demolished on New Years
Day, 1999.
Above: In 1980, the Last Days of Disco had begun
Radio's Last Tango in Galveston...Galveston's KGBC Leased Out to China-Based Media ConglomerateGalveston County Daily News, January 5, 2010:
I used to listen to Paul Harvey on KGBC when it was a true Galveston station. I would usually keep listening through all the local news. As you have probably noticed, Galveston is prominently presented on my web site. This Radio China International programming will be aimed at all of the Houston area, not just Galveston. That is what always happens when an outlying station adopts a highly specialized format. I can think of two other local Galveston stations that are now long gone, KILE and KUFO. The old KGBC will be remembered as the last Galveston station to program to a diverse local audience. There are some who will hail any Asian station as a Triumph of Diversity. If diversity is what you seek, you need look no further than Galveston Island itself. That is the audience which is no longer being served. Now you will get the kind of China programming that used to require a short wave radio. It comes at this price: The elimination of local programming in Texas' most famous medium sized city. It's bad enough to have local programming usurped in favor of syndication, but it is something else entirely to simply sell out to the highest bidder, particularly when that bidder is a foreign government. Does Galveston have a licensed radio station so that all off metropolitan Houston can be lectured on the need for censorship in China? Responding to the recent dispute with Google, Radio China International stated that censorship is to maintain the "stability" of China and the "mental health of its people." I actually heard that while driving in Houston, listening to the new AM 1540. |
Galveston, suburbia
& Exurbia
Houston Retro Radio is hosted as part of VASTHEAD.COM.
The Vasthead also includes The Galveston Arrow, a site featuring news, weather, tourism, and photography for the Galveston area.
Galveston's KILE Radio in the 60'sDarrell Hendrix was a B.O.I. ("Born on the Island") KILE announcer in the late 60's. Darrell mailed us his own 1969 airchecks already organized into mp3 files. They arrived from Nebraska, a state where hurricanes hardly happen. By the way, 1969 was also the year when Glen Campbell and songwriter Jimmy Webb looked at Galveston and catapulted its name into a top ten hit. My guess is that the first aircheck was recorded on June 13, 1969, since it was the only Friday the 13th that year. KILE,
Galveston, 1969, Darrell Hendrix, Part 1 More KILE air checksKILE,Galveston,
July 5, 1961, Paul Williams A local station for Clear Lake City: Girl DJ's and all that jazzKMSC, Clear Lake City - Houston, August 17, 1968 This aircheck features Linda Allen. I never talked to her personally, but she was one of several obscure DJ's I heard during the pre-dawn hours that particular summer. Who was Linda Allen? I doubt that was the exact form of her name on her birth certificate. Even in 1968, it was unlikely that a woman working the all night show -- probably alone -- at a suburban radio station would have used her real name. Of all the FM stations, I tended to give extra attention to KMSC. Located in Clear Lake City near NASA, it was in my part of the Houston area. I visited the studio on at least one occasion while still in my teens. I tended to think of it as a local station for southeast Harris County and the bay area. As this aircheck indicates, KMSC played up its proximity to the space program: "Overlooking NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center from luxurious studios..." That also explained the call letters. John "Shorty" Powers, the NASA voice for early manned space launches, held an interest in the station at one point. When I was about 16, I called the station, and Powers picked up the phone. That was when I first learned that it is not all that hard to meet a celebrity. This 1968 recording was made at a time when I only listened occasionally. Jazz is not my strong suit, and I actually listened much more during its early history, 1965 and 1966. At that time, KMSC sounded more like a cross between KXYZ and KQUE. The staff included KXYZ veteran Jeff Thompson, all night man Hert Porter, Gordon Bassham (who I knew later at the University of Houston), folk music aficionado Jim Bell, and Bob Elton, a DJ who became station manager during its Jazz Age. All the while, much was made of the NASA connection, and KMSC even staged its own "real time" coverage of manned space launches. KBTL has a very specialized formatKBTL, Texas City, September 7, 1983-1 KBTL, Texas City, September 7, 1983-2 Roger Reini sent this material from Michigan. Houston Retro Radio is hosted as part of VASTHEAD.COM. You can also access these pages by going to http://houstonretro.com. |
Below: The Galveston Strand Historical District, March 13, 2010.
