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KUFO Galveston?

S

Stormychuck

Asking the Houston radio expert's. Somehow during the summer of 1982 I ended up playing the hits on Galveston's AM rocker KILE, short lived, before moving on to a larger (several) Houston stations. One of the coolest/slickest looking radio station's that I've ever seen during my traveling radio circus day's was KUFO in Galvestion, located in front of a large hotel on Seawall Blvd. named, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm old, (Presidential or Ambassador) the station was in the shape of a UFO, port holes for windows and the call letter's to match, although it was off-air at the time, the irony of it is nobody locally including local radio people I met knew much about it, money available I would have bought it, thus my question, what was the story of KUFO, to this day I was always curious about it.
 
Chuck-

The actual studio is now a room addition on a home in Sea Isle, Texas. I see it about twice a month, and it still looks the same. Check out the pics on Grady McAllister's Vasthead BLOG.

Josh
 
Ok, here's what I know about KUFO. THe studios were indeed shaped like a spaceship and sat elevated on the seawall next to the Flagship Hotel. In 1980 when I last visited the place a guy named Hank Glaymann (sp?) was the PD and Kaci Love (Kim Fullilove) was doing Middays. I don't recall the format exactly but if Kimmie was there I'm pretty sure it was a Top 40 or some kind of AC. When Alicia blew through that was the end of KUFO. At least at that location. KILE was in the basement (or what served as a basement) of the Hotel Galvez. Dan Gallo didn't hire me there once! :D Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I remember. Course, I've slept since then.
 
KUFO was on 106.5 which morphed into a country format for a short time and eventually KQQK, which was known around here Kigh-Koo-Koo-Kigh.
 
bradgoehl said:
Well hunting around, I don't see there was ever a KUFO in Galveston, i just see out in west texas and up in Portland, OR. Are you sure it wasn't know by another call sign?, what frequency was it on?

http://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProFacLookup.php?calls=KUFO&tabSearchType=Historic+Call+Search
Click to expand...

The online databases are kind of spotty for anything before the mid to late 90's. For example, when I look up a station I used to work at that signed on in the 1920's, it shows a call sign change in 1999 and 2000 but says nothing about the call sign it had from the 1930's up until 1999.
 
But for the two of you that Gallo didn't hire, he DID fire John Walton TWICE, so I heard over the years. Once in Galveston and once in Jackson, Mississippi. (so the story goes) -which is kind of funny, just maybe not at the time.

I found the link to the photos from "the day" and 'the present' for what I was told was the KUFO studio. Judge for yourself. *Please note that in Grady's photo from the 70's it is not the STUDIO that he was trying to get a clear shot of ::)
 
Holstead said:
*Please note that in Grady's photo from the 70's it is not the STUDIO that he was trying to get a clear shot of ::)
Click to expand...

Uh huh. But turning our attention back to the station, while I was searching through some old information about 106.5 I discovered that there was a sale in 1981 to Marr Broadcasting. It really amounted to more of a cash infusion, and the subject of moving the tower and upping the power was brought up. The goal, of course, was to try to get a decent signal into Houston.

So exactly when was KUFO (and KXKX, which followed it) at the Flagship location? By some indications it was there from around 1974 until sometime in 1981. It was silent for a while, and there is some talk that when KXKX resurfaced in 1983 with their bilingual format ("La Estrella") it wasn’t using the Flying Saucer studio (Marr Broadcasting had an address on Palmer Highway at that time). If that’s true, there probably wasn’t much inside the building left to be destroyed by Hurricane Alicia, which blew through on August 18th.

And one more thing, when did the UFO disappear from the Flagship pier? Somebody's got to know. It didn't just twirl away in the middle of the night, or...wait, somebody call George Noory!
 
While it is second hand info (and I will get the REAL story) I was told that the owner of the structure now paid $1500.00 plus the cost to remove it from The Flagship. He then sandblasted it, removed the roof coating (which probably some sort of tar and heat repelling insulation) and retro-fitted it with poles underneath, and screwed it on the side of his beach house.

It realy looks cool too. I wish he had kept the lights that gave it the effect it was hovering!
 
Holstead said:
(and I will get the REAL story)
Click to expand...

Well, this one sounds pretty reasonable. Who wouldn't want a flying saucer house by the beach?
 
Hey Dudes, I wanna thank everybody for responding to my question regarding KUFO.
Thanks especially to Josh Holsted, AKA Rowdy Yates of KILT, and to Col James, and yupper buddies the pictures of KUFO are pretty much what I remember of 30 years ago, although it was no secret I was known to be in a fog at times, I'm greatfull to y'all and now at least I know I wasn't imagining thing's.

Footnote: Most all of my radio broadcast experience was in my hometown of Miami-Ft.Lauderdale, with stops in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Houston, and a whole bunch of other little-iddy-biddy stations in between, and for the sake of blowing smoke up anybody's, (you know what's) some of the nicest and humblest people that I've ever met and worked with were from Texas, and that's no lie, because all of your responses were as respectful as anyone could ask for, it's nice to see nice people in here.


Thanks again Y'all,

Chuck L.
Saint Cloud/Kissimmee, Florida
 
Edith Baker, of the Baker family that founded KRBE.
 
Stormychuck said:
Hey Dudes, I wanna thank everybody for responding to my question regarding KUFO.
Click to expand...

No problem, thanks for bringing it up. I forgot to mention that I once worked with a guy who had been a jpck at KUFO. He said he had lived way out on the island, past where the seawall ends, and would often ride his jet-ski to work. Who was I to doubt him?
 
Well I am confused. Obviously the building picture on Vasthead was on the seawall at the Flagship but that's not what I though was being asked about. I once saw a structure sitting on the sidewalk at the Flagship that looked like this:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...a=X&ei=53gmTI3dCMP38Aak-IDZBA&ved=0CCUQ9QEwAg

Now those are portholes; the windows in the structure on Vasthead are not portholes. I understood this was the KUFO air studio; maybe the other was the rest of the station? Or maybe I was under the influence of some substance that altered my perception.

I don't have much on KUFO. A station went on the air on that frequency in Feb 1968, original calls and owner I don't know. Bought by Beacon Bdctng in 1974 which is probably when the KUFO calls were adopted. I have mentions of it as an album rock station for a couple of years, then Country Gold in 1977. In 1981, a new PD, Jim Burnt, is requesting applications from high energy 'Q' type top forty jocks for a projected air shift.

After the calls were dropped, they were picked up by an album rock station in Odessa for a while in the 80s.
 
hrhwebmaster said:
I don't have much on KUFO. A station went on the air on that frequency in Feb 1968, original calls and owner I don't know.
Click to expand...

Bruce, I have a history of 106.5 that I compiled from various sources. Maybe you could look it it over then solicit input on your site for areas that might be unclear. Admittedly, there are some gaps in the time line since the station was silent for a while in the early 80's. PM me if you'd like a copy. I can tell you that 106.5 signed on KGBC-FM with easy listening music and the call letters were later changed to KESY-FM to reflect that.

Now, if I could just remember the name of that dude who rode the jet-ski to work he might be able to help. (Or...maybe not, come to think of it.)
 
Thanks JD. I've pm'd you.

I thought it was originally KGBC-FM but couldn't find that in my notes. I don't think it was operating when I saw that flying saucer thingie.
 
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