Old Studios

[dfaulkner]

I remember visiting the KJIM-AM studios in Fort Worth in the late '70s, I think they were off Belknap and I-35 W (or maybe 121 and I-35 W, it's hard to remember back that far )

I guess the KJIM building was the same one that KFJZ was in during it's 870 days. I remember working in that building, near downtown Ft. Worth, Tower was in backyard of the studio. Don't remember the street name at the moment. There are pictures of it as the KFJZ building in one of Scott Fybush's DFW tower site tours on his website. (My sucess rate at posting links is pretty low, I'll leave that for others.)

The caption on Scott Fybush's site says "The old KJIM (now KFJZ 870) studios on E. Fourth Street." Part of the tower is in the picture, just behind the studios.

 

[OHTBGH]

Old KWJS-FM Studios. (World of Jimmy Swaggart) at corner of S. Cooper St and Pioneer Pkwy in Arlington. Was my first gig as an intern and was in High School then as well. Had to do the Mal Couch morning show. Knock on the back door about 6am. Open and 2 Dozen donuts from Sunshine made donuts would "miraculiously" appear on the door step. Had a room with three black UPI(?) teletypes constantly going on as well. Was also the old KAMC-FM 92.5 studios I believe as well.

It later became a dentist office and is now a law firm.

Also went out to the old KTLR-FM studios in Terrell about two months ago with my co host Jesse Storm, Stopped off for lunch at Pop's Honey Fried Chicken and got a "tour" of the building. little ol lady now has an antique shop there. swapping old stories and seeing where everything once was after they knocked the walls out. I was offered to go upstairs and check out my old office but that building is so old I didn't want to risk it.

Was at the KFJZ studios in 1985 when my mentor Paul Thomas Hughes was working the music of your life format with Howard Greenblatt. They were putting the annual Spanky McFarland Golf Tournament together back then as well.

-BGH

 

[longtimelistener]

The first KNUS/99 studios after McLendon sold KLIF. Above the old Capri Theatre on Elm Street. You could still smoke in the studios in those days but we could go out on the marquee balcony to "smoke" after dark---plus we got into all the movies free!

 

[grantchester]

My favorite was KRMH, on Mt. Buda, with a view of the capitol, hawks feasting on March Hares, the rock and roll ponies, and the excellent sound of the quadrophonic system (the STL was an 8 foot wire!). That, plus the fact that you had five minutes warning before anyone arrived...

 

[Megapsycle]

And for those who appreciated the old K B O X hedge in front of the studio, you can check out a nice photo of it on historicaerials.com. Type in 9900 McCree Road, Dallas 75238 and choose the year 1979.

Very cool link! Thanks! I've spent a half-hour looking over the old neighborhood. When I was 3 in 1954 we moved a house on Longmont Dr., maybe a half-mile east of the KBOX location.

 

[Sgt. Hans G. Schultz]

And for those who appreciated the old K B O X hedge in front of the studio, you can check out a nice photo of it on historicaerials.com. Type in 9900 McCree Road, Dallas 75238 and choose the year 1979.

Very cool link! Thanks! I've spent a half-hour looking over the old neighborhood. When I was 3 in 1954 we moved a house on Longmont Dr., maybe a half-mile east of the KBOX location.

More than 1/2 hour myself. If you go farther east to Jupiter & NW Hwy then click on the 1958 photo, you can see White Rock Airport. Then go back west to downtown and look just south of the Trinity for Dallas' (really Oak Cliff) first downtown stadium, Burnett Field, Home of the Dallas Eagles.

 

[Megapsycle]

More than 1/2 hour myself. If you go farther east to Jupiter & NW Hwy then click on the 1958 photo, you can see White Rock Airport. Then go back west to downtown and look just south of the Trinity for Dallas' (really Oak Cliff) first downtown stadium, Burnett Field, Home of the Dallas Eagles.
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Yep turned into more like an hour and a half! Interesting reminiscing and looking for the way things were, like a country neighborhood on Emily Road where LBJ and 75 intersect now, you can see it clearly in the 1958 photos. Used to have friends that had a house on Emily Road. I remember laying out in their huge lot looking at the black sky and all the stars you could see then, and on the way home I would see the 4 KBOX towers off in the distance in the night getting closer as we'd approach.

 

[unclepudd]

While reading these posts these studios kept coming to mind. You're showing your age if you remember the WFAA studios on Jackson St (13th floor) atop the old Santa Fe Building. I only saw them several years after the move to Young and Record Streets in 1960. I learned from the (real) old timers that there was originally NO elevator to the studios and that the only way in was a walkway over Jackson St. from the 12th floor of the building across the street. You might remember the lettering on the walkway which could be seen from the street was 'The Garment Center'. I was told that the only way to get the musical instruments to the studios for the live 'Early Birds' show was across this walkway and the real challenge was during an ice or snow storm since it was uncovered with a steep uphill angle. These studios were also built around the stage and auditorium.

 

[unclepudd]

I was thinking the White Rock Airport was on John West Road just west of Buckner which was later the location of the Wintergarden Ballroom and the one at Jupiter and Northwest was the Garland Airport. It had to be done away with due to construction of LBJ Freeway.

What makes me remember it this way was the line in the radio commercials "Bug Mayes Astrocycle at the end of the Garland Airport runway". This was a motor cycle shop owned by Gordon McLendon but operated by his nephew Bug Mayes. The building was later home to Dealers Choice auto repairs.

If anyone recalls the real story behind 'Bug Mayes Astrocycle' then you are as old as me. It was a classic Gordon story.

 

[Sgt. Hans G. Schultz]

I was thinking the White Rock Airport was on John West Road just west of Buckner which was later the location of the Wintergarden Ballroom and the one at Jupiter and Northwest was the Garland Airport. It had to be done away with due to construction of LBJ Freeway.

What makes me remember it this way was the line in the radio commercials "Bug Mayes Astrocycle at the end of the Garland Airport runway". This was a motor cycle shop owned by Gordon McLendon but operated by his nephew Bug Mayes. The building was later home to Dealers Choice auto repairs.

If anyone recalls the real story behind 'Bug Mayes Astrocycle' then you are as old as me. It was a classic Gordon story.

You are correcto mundo UP. http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/TX/Airfields_TX_Dallas_E.htm

 

[jd]

[size=10pt]You are correcto mundo UP.

Good link. Then there's this one: http://www.oscarmail.net/dfwfreeways/images/oldRoadMaps/1960_humble_dfw_merged_360p_large.jpg

Let it load then click to zoom in.

 

[unclepudd]

GREAT information! It brings back a lot of memories, THANX!!!

 

[OHTBGH]

hadn't looked lately but if you stand in front of WFAA and look at the top of the Santa Fe building you could see WFAA in Black letters on the penthouse.

Do they even use the Sante Fe building anymore?

-BGH

 

[unclepudd]

hadn't looked lately but if you stand in front of WFAA and look at the top of the Santa Fe building you could see WFAA in Black letters on the penthouse.

Do they even use the Sante Fe building anymore?

-BGH

I'm not sure. I do remember at one time the lettering on the add-on buildings built on top still had the call letters. From the air it made an impression on me since they hadn't been used since 1960.. I recall it looking like wooden buildings were simply built on top of the building. There has got to be pictures somewhere since I remember seeing them at one time.

Years before the Santa Fe studios the old timers described the 570 studios were in the mezzanine of the Adolphus while the 820 studios were in the Lobby of the Baker Hotel. At frequency switch time a piano player would fill time until the announcer could race across Commerce Street to the other studio.