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KOAX: Slightly ridiculous question

R

Robert Bass

I have kind of a silly question. Long story short, I was wondering what they did with the space up in Reunion Tower after KOAX moved out. Is the glass enclosure still there or was it knocked out? I haven’t been up there since the early 80’s.

Thanks,

R
 
> I have kind of a silly question. Long story short, I was
> wondering what they did with the space up in Reunion Tower
> after KOAX moved out. Is the glass enclosure still there or
> was it knocked out? I haven’t been up there since the early
> 80’s.

The calls had changed to KQZY (``Cozy 105.3'') but the location
remained in Reunion Tower. The offices and production facilities
were on the main floor of Union Station. We moved out on Martin
Luther King day in 1990 and into the location on Merit Drive
in Park Central.

The last time I was in Reunion was not too long after the move.
Some station material had been left behind. At that time, one
of the traffic sevices (can't recall if it was Metro) had taken
over the space.
 
Does anyone have any photos of the studios while
they were there?
 
> > I have kind of a silly question. Long story short, I was
> > wondering what they did with the space up in Reunion Tower
>
> > after KOAX moved out. Is the glass enclosure still there
> or
> > was it knocked out? I haven’t been up there since the
> early
> > 80’s.
>
> The calls had changed to KQZY (``Cozy 105.3'') but the
> location
> remained in Reunion Tower. The offices and production
> facilities
> were on the main floor of Union Station. We moved out on
> Martin
> Luther King day in 1990 and into the location on Merit Drive
>
> in Park Central.
>
> The last time I was in Reunion was not too long after the
> move.
> Some station material had been left behind. At that time,
> one
> of the traffic sevices (can't recall if it was Metro) had
> taken
> over the space.
>

It was indeed Metro Traffic that moved into the Reunion Tower location back in the 1990.. they stayed there until mid 1994 or so when they moved to Farmers Branch to the Villa Creek office complex.. been there I believe every since.. unless they moved recently...

KOAX was also once upon a time ago located off of Audelia just north of Northwest Highway--- that was back in the 70's and very early 80's before they moved to the Top of Reunion... interesting story of where stations were and where they are today-- and the migration of how they go from one location to another..

just a thought!

<P ID="signature">______________
Dave Michaels
Davradio Productions
Dallas, Texas</P>
 
> KOAX was also once upon a time ago located off of Audelia
> just north of Northwest Highway--- that was back in the 70's
> and very early 80's before they moved to the Top of
> Reunion... interesting story of where stations were and
> where they are today-- and the migration of how they go from
> one location to another..

That location (McCree Road) appears to have been KMEZ (the old
KBOX and later KTLC) which was right across from my church. The
AM used to bleed into our PA system on occasion.

AFAIK, before KOAX moved to Reunion, it was in Campbell Center
off Central X-way.

Anyway, I will state that working in the studios atop Reunion
was much more fun than the generic office park location to
which we eventually moved. Plus, we staffers got to ride the
elevator for free. :)
 
> > > I have kind of a silly question. Long story short, I
> was
> > > wondering what they did with the space up in Reunion
> Tower
> >
> > > after KOAX moved out. Is the glass enclosure still
> there
> > or
> > > was it knocked out? I haven’t been up there since the
> > early
> > > 80’s.
> >
> > The calls had changed to KQZY (``Cozy 105.3'') but the
> > location
> > remained in Reunion Tower. The offices and production
> > facilities
> > were on the main floor of Union Station. We moved out on
> > Martin
> > Luther King day in 1990 and into the location on Merit
> Drive
> >
> > in Park Central.
> >
> > The last time I was in Reunion was not too long after the
> > move.
> > Some station material had been left behind. At that time,
> > one
> > of the traffic sevices (can't recall if it was Metro) had
> > taken
> > over the space.
> >
>
> It was indeed Metro Traffic that moved into the Reunion
> Tower location back in the 1990.. they stayed there until
> mid 1994 or so when they moved to Farmers Branch to the
> Villa Creek office complex.. been there I believe every
> since.. unless they moved recently...
>
> KOAX was also once upon a time ago located off of Audelia
> just north of Northwest Highway--- that was back in the 70's
> and very early 80's before they moved to the Top of
> Reunion... interesting story of where stations were and
> where they are today-- and the migration of how they go from
> one location to another..
>
> just a thought!

Perhaps none more famous than the KLIF Triangle Point location at 2120.
>
 
A great question...

What a view that must have been. Who couldn't have had a great show with the city laid out like that before them.

The Ballpark was nice, and I don't mind the 7th Floor one bit...but that 180-degree panaorama from 12 at 9400 N. Central wasn't bad at all. Neither was 5307 Mockingbird in its day.

Jody

> > KOAX was also once upon a time ago located off of Audelia
> > just north of Northwest Highway--- that was back in the
> 70's
> > and very early 80's before they moved to the Top of
> > Reunion... interesting story of where stations were and
> > where they are today-- and the migration of how they go
> from
> > one location to another..
>
> That location (McCree Road) appears to have been KMEZ (the
> old
> KBOX and later KTLC) which was right across from my church.
> The
> AM used to bleed into our PA system on occasion.
>
> AFAIK, before KOAX moved to Reunion, it was in Campbell
> Center
> off Central X-way.
>
> Anyway, I will state that working in the studios atop
> Reunion
> was much more fun than the generic office park location to
> which we eventually moved. Plus, we staffers got to ride the
>
> elevator for free. :)
>
 
Re: A great question...

There is NOTHING on the observation deck in Reunion Tower that would even indicate a radio station was even there. My wife & I took a ride up the glass elevator the last time we were visiting "Big D"-

It was very strange working at that place (I did weekend overnights for a while when I was in high school) but, I made friends with one of the girls who worked at Antare's, and she used to bring me goodies, so it was not all bad!

PS-Hey Jody!
 
Re: A great question...

The last time I was at Reunion Tower was at the Paul McCartney concert in May 2002. I do remember in the early 80's watching the DJ thru the glass on the observation deck. Is it just empty office space now? Might be worth a trip to go to RT to see what it is...
 
Re: A great question...

Well hell... We have some old beautiful music reels on storage somewhere. Someone find some reel decks with 25 Hz tone detectors and let’s put a station up there! We can even make it just an internet only station if we can’t get an FM frequency. :)

R

> There is NOTHING on the observation deck in Reunion Tower
> that would even indicate a radio station was even there. My
> wife & I took a ride up the glass elevator the last time we
> were visiting "Big D"-
>
> It was very strange working at that place (I did weekend
> overnights for a while when I was in high school) but, I
> made friends with one of the girls who worked at Antare's,
> and she used to bring me goodies, so it was not all bad!
>
> PS-Hey Jody!
>
 
Re: A great question...

> > Anyway, I will state that working in the studios atop
> > Reunion was much more fun than the generic office park
> > location to which we eventually moved. Plus, we staffers
> > got to ride the elevator for free. :)

> What a view that must have been. Who couldn't have had a
> great show with the city laid out like that before them.

I for one had no difficulties whatsoever with doing merely
average radio at that venue in spite of the tremendous
view and the psychological boost it gave! :)

There was one time when that otherwise magnificent location
got a bit scary during my time there. In February 1988, we
had some pretty wild straight line winds in Dallas and even
as solid as Reunion Tower was constructed, it did sway. Good
thing we were on cart by then...don't think tone arms on
turntables would've been too steady. I sure wasn't that
afternoon.
 
Re: A great question...

When did they use records? The few times I saw them, they were using reels. This would be early 80s or so.

R

> There was one time when that otherwise magnificent location
> got a bit scary during my time there. In February 1988, we
> had some pretty wild straight line winds in Dallas and even
> as solid as Reunion Tower was constructed, it did sway. Good
>
> thing we were on cart by then...don't think tone arms on
> turntables would've been too steady. I sure wasn't that
> afternoon.
>
 
Re: A great question...

> > There was one time when that otherwise magnificent
> > location got a bit scary during my time there. In
> > February 1988, we had some pretty wild straight line
> > winds in Dallas and even as solid as Reunion Tower
> > was constructed, it did sway. Good thing we were on
> > cart by then...don't think tone arms on turntables
> > would've been too steady.

> When did they use records? The few times I saw them,
> they were using reels. This would be early 80s or so.

The remark was actually meant in humor for those of us
sufficiently ancient to recall records. Indeed, the whole
time I was there, the only turntables we had were down in
Union Station in the production room.

The tape machines from the B/EZ days of both KQZY and KOAX
were still in the control room and mostly unused for 363
days of the year. The only time they were put into service
was during Christmas when we aired syndicated programs.

On the topic of records, at KAAY in Little Rock, we were
still playing everything on QRK turntables up through 1978.
Although not in a large market, it was a station of some
significance (at least in the midwest) and may have been
among the last of the big top 40's to convert to carted
music. If I had a dollar for every record I mistakenly
started at wrong speed there...
 
Tone arms and towers

Tone arms. Accursed things. Either you cranked up the monitors so loud that they resonated through the pedestal, or you got in a hurry and lifted one off the record that was on the air.

Pity that place is empty. It always held mystique, no matter the format. Piloting the airwaves from a pilot's point of view. And purely "Dallas".

Jody

PS., Hey back at ya, Hoss.

> The last time I was at Reunion Tower was at the Paul
> McCartney concert in May 2002. I do remember in the early
> 80's watching the DJ thru the glass on the observation deck.
> Is it just empty office space now? Might be worth a trip
> to go to RT to see what it is...
>
 
The station was purchased by Able Communications on February 2, 1971, so it was probably then, or very close to then. I know Irene Runnels was hired as VP/GM in April, 1971, and that might be another indicator of a general date of change as well. Of course, it was nothing for a station to "stunt" (even then) until an airstaff was put into place, and I'd bet they waited until Irene was in place before making a staff-full of hires.

(Irene, BTW, was a pioneering female in the world of broadcast management...started KBOX as a secretary in the late 50s, and quickly moved up into management by the early 60s. She ran things at KKDA-AM under their new "Sunny" format in 1969, and was in management at KRLD in the 1970s. And, before someone makes an uneducated guess, many can attest that she didn't move up 'the old-fashioned' way...it was all about hard work and a hard-nosed management style. Google her name sometime for an interesting story. The Morning News did a feature on her in the 80s, and a nice obit when she died in 1989.)

BTW, the station remained at KXXK's/KMAP's studios at Exchange Park (Harry Hines/Mockingbird) until moving to the new Campbell Center in 1973.
 
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