May 2, 1922 - Happy 90th Birthday To WBAP

[dismuke]

Wow - I just learned through a blog that I recently discovered (and which is currently my favorite blog) that 90 years ago today WBAP began broadcasting.

Here is the blog article:

http://hometownbyhandlebar.com/?p=1430

To mark the occasion, I will throw in a little WBAP artifact that I ran across a few years ago: a couple of recordings by "The Sunflower Girl Of WBAP" made in June 1927.

The "Sunflower Girl" was Bessie Coldiron who began performing on WBAP in 1925 and appeared regularly throughout most of the rest of the 1920s. Apparently she was back on the station for a couple of months in 1938 and again in 1940. Coldiron was originally from Kansas thus "The Sunflower Girl" billing.

These recordings were made in Chicago - not in Fort Worth. And, previously, she cut four sides in New York City for the Vocalion label in 1926, again, under the name "The Sunflower Girl of WBAP." At the time, WBAP was only 10,000 watts but, because there were fewer stations, its signal still traveled a long way at night and radio columns in newspapers as far away as Illinois regularly reported on WBAP programing. "The Sunflower Girl" would have been familiar to radio enthusiasts throughout much of the country at the time.

Anyhow, here are the two recordings. Clicking on the link should open your computer's default mp3 player and stream the selections.

"You Went Away Too Long"
The Sunflower Girl Of WBAP
June 17, 1927
Columbia 1107 D mx 144347
Audio link:
http://www.dismuke.org/how_content/...t Away Too Far.mp3&dir_id=0&file=filename.pls

"I Hold The World In The Palm Of My Hand"
The Sunflower Girl Of WBAP
June 18, 1927
Columbia 1107 D mx 144352
Audio link: http://www.dismuke.org/how_content/...alm Of My Hand.mp3&dir_id=0&file=filename.pls

I was going to include an image of the record's label in the posting but apparently the ability to include images has been disabled on this board. But you can see the image at: http://www.radiodismuke.com/columbia1107D.jpg

The station has a wonderful and fascinating history. Being around for 90 years is quite an achievement for any human endeavor. Happy birthday!

 

[chrisdanger]

I want to wish WBAP a happy 90th birthday. Like many 90 year olds, its set in its ways and has a hard time adapting to change in a changing world. Heres hoping we see many many more from this station, that its "caretakers" w/ cumulus realize that this station has a legacy and, in many ways, needs to return to its roots...

 

[Gopher]

Agreed.

It's been my morning wake up since the late 60's at least.

Unfortunately it's current owners seem hell bent on running it into the ground.

Hope it survives to see 100. ;D

 

[longtimelistener]

"We Bring A Program" Amon Carter said he'd spend $300 on this "experiment" at the time.

 

[unclepudd]

Since I feel Mike Shannon is well versed and respected I would be interesting in his thoughts of just when WBAP became WBAP, WFAA origins and when 570 was moved to DFW as an alternate to time on 820 when both stations were sharing 820. I have heard different stories as to what happened when. I do recall one of the old timers saying they once used involved i.d.'s such as WFAA 570 Fort Worth, a broadcast service of the Dallas Morning News with transmitter in Arlington.

One story from Mr. Ted Dealy was that, a press luncheon when he was taking a ribbing for "Dealy's folly" his Fort Worth counterpart, Amon Carter, ask him what he paid for the 'contraption' to which Mr. Dealy replied $3000. Carter then handed him $1500 and said "now they can laugh at both of us". This story was circa 1968 when Mr. Dealy was still alive.

I have seen paperwork stating WBAP was originally KGKO(?) 570 in Wichita Falls before being moved to Arlington in circa 1939.

 

[arnoldevns]

Not exactly. As I read the wikipedia entry on WBAP (so take it with a grain of salt) WBAP shared 800khz with WFAA at the time and Amon Carter bought KGKO so WBAP could essentially be on all the time. So from May 1938 to late April 1947, WBAP shared 570 with KGKO and shared the 800 (or 820) frequency with WFAA. Then in 1947 it sold half of KGKO to WFAA and began sharing both 820 and 570 with WFAA.
That lasted until 1970 when WBAP finally settled on 820 and WFAA settled on 570.
Here's WBAP's frequency history according to the wikipedia entry:

833khz May 2, 1922 - August 1922
750khz Shared with WFAA August 1922 - May 22, 1923
630khz May 23, 1923 - April 14, 1927
600khz shared with WOAI April 15, 1927 - Novemeber 10, 1928
800khz November 11, 1928 - May 31, 1929
800khz shared with WFAA June 1, 1929 - May 1938
570khz shared with KGKO & 800khz shared with WFAA May 1938 - March 28, 1941
570khz shared with KGKO & 820khz shared with WFAA March 29, 1941 - April 26, 1947
570khz & 820khz shared with WFAA April 27, 1947 - April 30, 1970
820khz May 1, 1970 - present

 

[dismuke]

My understanding is that Amon Carter had sole ownership of KGKO from 1938 to 1940 and all of the programing on it was his. He agreed to sell half interest in KGKO to Belo/WFAA in 1940 which is when the two companies began the arrangement of sharing KGKO 570 in addition to sharing the 800 frequency. WBAP/WFAA moved from 800 to 820 in 1941.

 

[dismuke]

"We Bring A Program" Amon Carter said he'd spend $300 on this "experiment" at the time.

Well, if there's such a thing as ghosts and if Amon Carter somehow learns that someone has moved his radio station to <gasp!> Dallas.....well, if some Cumulus executive suddenly starts seeing objects start moving on their own and furniture come violently flying at him, well, that's what has happened.

 

[w9wi]

I see information that WFAA shared 1040 with KRLD briefly in 1928-1929. (during that period, WBAP was sharing 800 with KTHS in Arkansas, the station that's now KAAY) I would not rule out the possibility that information is a typo.

Note that KGKO was in Wichita Falls until around 1940.

 

[dismuke]

I see information that WFAA shared 1040 with KRLD briefly in 1928-1929. (during that period, WBAP was sharing 800 with KTHS in Arkansas, the station that's now KAAY) I would not rule out the possibility that information is a typo.

Note that KGKO was in Wichita Falls until around 1940.

There is a lengthy article on the history of WBAP/WFAA and KGKO at: http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth35102/m1/29/ At the top of the page are arrows that you can use to flip the pages forward as the article continues to cover the history of both stations up to more recent years. For those interested in local radio history, it is a fascinating read.

Not sure if that is the same source of the information you have in mind and suspect a typo in. According to the article, WBAP shared 800 with KTHS Hot Springs and WFAA shared 1040 with KRLD. WFAA, being the Dallas Morning News station did not like having to share the frequency with KRLD, the station of their arch rival Dallas Times-Herald. WBAP did not like having to share a frequency with a station that was so distant. Thus WFAA and WBAP agreed to share the 800 frequency and both stations paid close to $10,000 to KTHS for agreeing to take over WFAA's slot on 1040.

Also, according to the article, Carter purchased KGKO Wichita Falls in 1935 and has its city of license moved to Fort Worth in 1938. I have read elsewhere that the delay moving to Fort Worth was because of objections raised by people in Wichita Falls over their city losing the station.

 

[unclepudd]

You guys are awesome and obviously have radio, or the love of it, in your blood. Thanks for the info...

Mr. Dealy was getting and having health problems the last time I spoke with him but his love for 820 was strong and he considered it his 'baby'. In fact, the split would have been different if he had lived. He passed in late '68 and the split finally happened at 11:59:30 p.m. April 30, 1969 (I was there). For years the fight was over who would get 820. After Mr. Dealy's death the question became who would get 570 while the other was be stuck with 820. There is an almost confusing deal involving NBC (channel 5 and 820) and ABC (channel 8 and 570) which included channel 11 (Farmer Stockman at the time). The deal was finalized for $3.5 million. I remember the day the Belo boys returned from Ft. Worth with the check. The Belo boys though they had pulled off an upset however time dealt a different hand. The Carter boys repaid the $3.5 million in record time while 570 (The Big 57) never really cracked the market.

One of the driving factors to split was the change in ratings. No longer were Dallas and Fort Worth rated separately and 570 fit the bill with excellent coverage thru out the ADI. At the same time Nixon and his puppet head of the FCC, Newton Minnow, were hell bent on busting up 'conglomerates' (Newspaper owner AM/FM/TV). They finally got channel 4 (KRLD) and channel 5 (WBAP) while channel 8 managed to hang on for a few years before scumming to pressure. One thought in the media was that King Richard (Nixon) didn't want one man/company to wield the power of a conglomerate.

There are many stories about these two stations including the transmitter move to Northlake after the split which resulted in BOTH stations transmitting on the middle 570 tower.

Thanks again for your information. I too have a love for radio...