HomeMy WebLinkAboutRadio Days FINAL
JUNE 15, 2011 SPECIAL EDITION RADIO DAYS An Exploring History Lunch Lecture Supplement Heritage Programs Parks and Recreation Department City of College Station, Texas Homemade
Galena crystal radio set. W. A. Tolson at the Station 5XB transmitter, 1919. Cushing Archives. Memories of Radio Station WTAW in the 1930's James L. Boone, Jr., AMC ’44 I am not a historian
nor am I skilled in historical research. I have made no attempt to review archives, newspapers, etc. to produce an accurate account of radio as it was in its infancy. However, I have
been around for 88 years, and I have some very clear personal, first-hand memories of the early years of Radio Station WTAW when it was owned and operated by the Agricultural and Mechanical
College of Texas. With the hope that there might be some younger people who are interested in what radio at Texas A&M was like in the early days, I am writing what I remember. During
the 1930's, I lived in Beasley, Texas. Beasley is a small town in Fort Bend County on U. S. S. Highway 59 between Rosenberg and Wharton about 40 miles southwest of Houston and 100 miles
south of College Station. During my high school years (1936-1940) I became very interested in the technology of radio broadcasting, as well as in how radio programs were produced in
the studio. In those days there was no television. Roads were poor, so we did not travel much, especially in the winter. The nearest movie theater was eight miles away. We were fairly
well isolated from the rest of the world, except for newspapers and the radio--and radio was "king." 1/8
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here. Continue sletter text here. Continue newsletter text here. Continue newsletter text here. Continue newsletter text here. Rural homes had battery-powered radios by the late 1920's
and early 1930's, and most homes in the cities had radios that used "city power." Folks who were strapped for cash could always build their own "crystal set" for two or three dol-lars.
All one had to do was buy a twenty-five cent galena crystal from a local drug store or mail or-der radio supply house, wrap a coil of wire around an oatmeal box or broomstick, and run
a long antenna wire between the house and the barn. You would need headphones, but these could be bought for about two dollars. If there were several broadcast station in the vicinity,
you might want to add a tuning capacitor, but it was possible to tune stations by moving the needle around on the crystal or varying the number of turns in the coil. The crystal radio
receiver did not need a power source, so it was not necessary to buy batteries. Once built, it did not cost a pen-ny to operate. Many of us listened to the crystal radio in bed at night,
and went to sleep with the headphones on, with nary a worry about power consumption. In these days of cell phones, satellite commu-nications, and tiny, powerful transistorized radio
receivers, it is hard to imagine what a thrill it was in the 1930's to "pull in" distant radio stations on a crystal set or on a home-built one-tube radio receiver. My crystal set picked
up signals from Houston, and I built a one-tube radio receiver on which I could listen to radio programs from San Antonio, Fort Worth, Shreveport, Denver, St. Louis and other distant
cities. This doesn’t sound like much these days, but it was a big thrill in 1938 and was good for bragging rights when hanging out and telling one’s buddies about the distant radio stations
that we could "pull in." Af-ter 10:00 p.m. the radio stations broadcast live dance music from hotel ballrooms, featuring the popular dance orchestras of the day. I listened to the big
bands playing in the Rice Hotel Empire Room (Houston), the Roosevelt Hotel Blue Room (New Orleans), and the famous hotels in New York and Chicago. I fell asleep many a night listening
to Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman–and yes, even Lawrence Welk! This was live music–not recorded programming--and the band leaders frequently made comments between numbers,
although the stations and net-works usually provided professionally-trained announcers to MC the programs. One of the distant radio stations that I listened to was WTAW, a non-commercial
radio broad-cast station located on the campus of the Agricul-tural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University). When "signing" the station on or off the air the announcers
would say that the studios were located in the YMCA Build-ing, and the transmitter was located in the Elec-trical Engineering Building (now Bolton Hall). The transmitter antenna was
a wire that was strung between two steel towers mounted on top of Bolton Hall and Leggett Hall. WTAW was not a full-time radio station. They were on the air for about an hour early in
the morning (around 6:00 a.m.) on weekdays with a program for farmers. It consisted of price reports, agriculture news and advice from agri-cultural extension specialists at A&M. Then
the station shut down until 11:30 a.m., when it re-turned to the air again for about thirty minutes, with more programs for farmers. I believe this program (and possibly the early morning
pro-gram, as well) was also aired simultaneously over the Texas Quality Network (WFAA–Dallas, Three-tube radio. From the collection of James L Boone, Jr. 2/8
WBAP–Fort Worth, WOAI–San Antonio, and KPRC–Houston). Then, from 4:00 p.m. until 5:00pm WTAW was back on the air for an hour with "The Aggie Clambake," a program of rec-orded music featuring
Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Harry James and other popular dance bands of the day. This program was fairly popu-lar among high school students, and we would run home after school to
tune it in on our radios. My parents attended A&M during the sum-mers, so I hung out at the YMCA quite a bit. The WTAW studio was a large room on the second floor of the YMCA Building,
The studio was furnished with a grand piano, some chairs, and a small table. There was a floor microphone in the room, and a microphone was also mounted on the table. The studio was
adjacent to a large room that served as a "sitting room" for the college, as the Memorial Student Center had not yet been built. The wall between the studio and the "sitting room" had
a large glass window in it so that visi-tors could view the programs in progress. The control room, where the engineer sat, was a small, glassed-in space about 4 feet by 8 feet in the
northeast corner of the studio. The control room had a double door that opened onto the sit-ting room that served as a visitors’ area. Visitors could stand in the open double doors behind
the engineer and watch him at work. The engineer and the performers could see each other through the glass. The engineer could hear the performers through a small monitor speaker that
was mounted on the control panel. The control panel had two turntables for playing records, one mounted on each side of the engineer. The records were 78 rpm recordings that were avail-able
in music stores. The engineer had a micro-phone mounted on the control panel, so he could function as both engineer and disk jockey if the regular announcer was not present. Sometimes,
if the last program was a remote broadcast from elsewhere on campus, the engineer would make the "sign-off" announcement just prior to taking the station off the air. The studio could
be used to produce live mus-ical programs involving instrumental or choral groups. The agricultural programs, which fea-tured "round table" discussions involving pro-fessors and researchers
from the School of Agri-culture, were usually produced in this studio, al-so. There was room for about 35 or 40 people in the studio. For recorded music programs like the Aggie Clambake,
the announcer sat at the table in the middle of the studio with his script and spoke into the table microphone. He introduced each record before it was played and sometimes make comments
at the end of the selection. The an-nouncer provided the engineer with a cue sheet Biscuit speaker. From the collection of James L Boone, Jr. WTAW studios at the YMCA on the Texas A&M
campus. From the Cushing Archives. 3/8
that enabled the engineer to place the appropriate record on the turntable, ready to play when the announcer completed his introduction. In those days, radio announcers took great pride
in the innovative and creative ways in which they "segued" into a musical selection, and the engineer who embarrassed an announcer by playing the wrong record was in for a tongue lashing,
especially if the announcer happened to be the station manager. WTAW regularly produced programs from remote locations on campus. Wires were extended to many locations such as the Animal
Husbandry Pavilion, Sbisa Dining Hall, Guion Hall (a large auditorium), Deware Field House, Kyle Field, and other sites suitable for originating radio programs. There was a relay rack
in the control room where these wires converged, and the engineer could connect the remote location to his amplifiers and transmitter by means of plugs and cords similar to the telephone
switch boards of the day. There was also a terminal on the relay rack that connected WTAW through a telephone line to WBAP–Fort Worth or WFAA–Dallas, which were a part of the Texas Quality
Network. Thus, radio programs originating at remote locations on the A&M campus could be fed into the Texas Quality Network, which consisted of broadcast stations in Dallas, Fort Worth,
San Antonio and Houston. The noontime farm market reports originating in College Station were heard throughout the State of Texas. I have a 78 rpm recording of the “Aggie War Hymn,”
the “Spirit of Aggieland,” and “I'd Rather Be A Texas Aggie.” I was told that this recording was produced in the WTAW studio in the YMCA Building. I heard that the signals were sent
over the telephone wires from the studio to the recording equipment in Dallas. During the early 1930's the station manager and announcer was Professor E. P. Humbert. I think his academic
assignment was in agronomy or some area of plant science. As far as I know, he had no professional training in radio, but had great interest in the value of radio as a means of communicating
with farmers, so he ran the station for several years. In the latter part of the 1930's and early 1940's John Rosser was the station manager and staff announcer. Mr. Rosser seemed to
be a professional announcer who took great pride in his announcing style. I recall watching him do the Aggie Clambake DJ program, as well as moderating the animal shows from the Animal
Husbandry Pavilion and the panel discussions in the studio. In 1947 WTAW provided my first opportunity to listen to FM radio broadcasts. The station installed a small FM transmitter
that simulcast under the call sign KAMT. FM radio was just getting its start. I was living in Bryan at the time, and bought an FM receiver so that I could listen in. The early days of
radio were exciting, and I was fortunate to have lived during that time. Atwater Kent Model 20. From the collection of James L Boone, Jr. James L Boone, Jr. as a junior at A&M in 1943.
Ed. Note: Jim is a frequent contributor to the Heritage Programs archives. He is greatly appreciated! 4/8
strive continually to stay abreast of campus happenings. We owe much in this area to many different people. The friends we’ve made in various offices around Aggieland and our own personal
friends have made this job easier for us. The editors and staff of “The Battalion” have been very cooperative, sometimes at the expense of scooping themselves on a major campus story
because they felt the students had the right to the news as soon as possible. This brings us to the comment I mentioned earlier in this article. Most of the comment either pokes fun
at situations, or persons around the A&M campus, or congratulates someone on a job well done. The usual aim is plain old fun with no intention of hurting or ridiculing anyone maliciously.
Occasionally, however, Tom and I come across issues we feel seriously affect the students or A&M in general. When these instances arise we base our comment on our faith that when people
know something is wrong they will take corrective action. After serious consideration we sometimes make suggestions, or at the very least, we urge investigation to determine if there
is really something amiss, and if so, what can be done to set it right again. From what I’ve told you so far a person Gooseneck speaker. From the collection of James L Boone, Jr. The
Aggie Hour Jerry Cooper, A&M ’63 From Texas A&M Review, Spring 1966, the magazine of the Colleges of Liberal Arts, Sciences and Geosciences. The familiar strains of “The Magnificent
Seven” as played by Neil Wolfe bursts from the monitor above our heads letting Tom Morgan and me know that another “Aggie Hour” has passed into history. The theme is still playing as
our thoughts turn to next week’s show. What will we use? These are only a few of the items that must be considered before “The Aggie Hour” becomes a reality once more. All of these considerations
are based on one major question that keeps us searching and striving continually. What can we do to make “The Aggie Hour” a better program? Every “Aggie Hour” has three areas. First
there is music. How do you pick music that will be enjoyed by thousands of individuals? Everyone obviously has different tastes. This is why the music on “The Aggie Hour” varies from
song to song, from program to program. Another area is advertising. Tom and I sell all the advertising that is heard on “The Aggie Hour.” A gracious commission arrangement with Mike
Mistovich, owner of KORA radio, allows us to make some of our school expense. The third area is that of news and comment. Since the aims of “The Aggie Hour” are Entertainment and information,
Tom and I Jerry Cooper, left, and Tom Morgan at the mike. 5/8
could get the idea that KORA‟s “Aggie Hour” is all work and no play. If you‟ve tuned in to 1240 kc on Tuesday or Thursday at 10:10 p.m., you know that nothing could be further from the
truth. “The Aggie Hour” has been introduced by such bizarre openings as the sound of a creaking door and a haunting voice inviting you to join us for an “hour of horror” or the William
Tell Overture with a takeoff on the Lone Ranger shows of the past. We try to vary our introductions form time to time to gived the listener what we feel he has the right to expect. That
is: something different in every show. Even when we don‟t plan it something different usually happens. Take for instance the night I went completely through the an ad for a movie playing
at the Palace Theater. Not only did I get mixed up and say the show was on at the Campus Theater. I mentioned the Campus four times in the process. There was Tom tapping me on the arm
and pointing out my mistake. The station‟s program engineer was standing in his booth waving his arms frantically trying to get my attention. Did I let those guys distract me? Not on
your life! I completed that ad without a flaw, except for the fact that I was telling everyone to go to the wrong theater. Oh well! Early in the school year one of the KORA announcers
introduced Tom and me as “the poor man‟s “Tim and Bob” referring to a radio team well known in Houston. This was actually a mild slam against us considering what some people have expressed
concerning “The Aggie Hour.” Most of the comments we get, however, are intended to poke good-natured fun at us. At least that‟s the way we take them. I hope some of those people weren‟t
serious! When Tom or I get curious about the size of our listenership we simply do what we‟ve discovered never fails to arouse comment. We make a mistake. Now we don‟t always try to
make mistakes. Often times they just happen. Tom somehow feels that he should help me make mistakes so he is forever writing notes and holding them in front of me while I‟m doing a story
or an ad. The notes usually contain material intended to make me laugh or otherwise lose my place in the copy. His results have been almost negative so far, but keep listening I feel
my time is drawing short and that slip will come soon. Actually it‟s Tom who has trouble keeping a straight face and a calm tone of voice. At times he even cracks up over his own mistakes
and I have to start talking to keep listeners from wondering if the station has gone off the air. Once when Tom and I were having one of our frequent spats he said something about me
that I didn‟t like. So I started to say, “I‟m tired of people that keep cutting me down.” However, all I got out was, “I‟m tired of people . . . .” When Tom interrupted me I simply forgot
to finish my sentence. The telephone started blinking! The lady on the phone was from Bryan. She said that she and some of her friends “listen to each „Aggie Hour‟ program and we don‟t
like it when you say you are tired of people.” Well that caught me by surprise and showed me just how easy it is to offend people. You can bet I watch myself much closer now. One of
our biggest surprises on the show Zenith Shortwave radio. Collection of the Boykin family. 6/8
came the Thursday night before Valentine’s Day. It was just five minutes until show time when two girls came in the front door of KORA’s studios with the prettiest Valentine’s Day cake
I had ever laid eyes on. A two layer cake with white coconut icing, it was topped with two bright red hearts and the inscription “To My Valentine.” Those girls will never know just how
much of a surprise that cake was or how much we appreciated it. That cake tasted pretty great, too. On March 10 I celebrated one year’s association with “The Aggie Hour.” Looking back
it seems much longer than a year since that first evening when Bob Bell and I stepped into the booth in the KORA studios to take a stab at our version of a show that had lain dormant
for over two years. After two and a half months running a Thursday only version of “The Aggie Hour,” summer came and with it came Bob’s graduation. He took off for a brief jaunt in Spain
and I was left to look for a partner for school’s start in September. Several friends indicated a willingness to work on the program and as registration drew near I chose Tom Morgan.
Tom had never worked in radio before, but he got used to talking into the microphone easier than I did when I started.We have had a lot of fun working together on the show through this
school year and I hope that those listening have enjoyed it, too. The year’s not quite over so we’ll still be around. Same time, same place each Tuesday and Thursday night. Join us sometime
and hear something different from anything you’ve ever heard before. That I can promise you. KTAM ad in a Texas A&M University football pro-gram, 1976. From the Project HOLD archives.
HOLD.cstx.gov. Do you have early radio stories or photographs to share? Send them to Anne Boykin at aboy-kin@cstx.gov. We will upload them onto our Project HOLD, historic on-line library
database website at HOLD.cstx.gov. Anne Boykin, Heritage Programs Coordinator POB 9960, 1300 George Bush Drive, Room 107 aboykin@cstx.gov College Station, Texas 77840 979.764.3491 Ed.
Note: Jerry Cooper is a frequent contributor to the Project HOLD archives and the Heritage Programs. Many thanks, Jerry! 7/8
Early Play-by-Play Radio Broadcast of a College Football Game State Historic Marker, 2005 In 1920, David J. Finn and other Texas A&M elec-trical engineering students attempted to broadcast
the football game at Oklahoma A&M via ham radio. When the plan failed they used a telephone backup, relaying game updates to fans gathered in the Texas A&M stock judging pavilion. The
following year, students at campus wireless station 5XB planned to transmit live play-by-play accounts of the confe-rence championship against the University of Texas. William A. Tolson
and other students overcame technical difficulties to make the broadcast possible. They ran lines from the Kyle Field press box to a transmitter at Bolton Hall and borrowed equipment
from the Corps of Cadets Signal Corps. They in-stalled three redundant systems: two connected to the power plant and a battery backup. Harry M. Saunders and the coaching staff devised
abbrevia-tions to describe the action and improve transmis-sion speed. "TB A 45Y," for example, signified "Texas ball on the Aggie 45 yard line." On game day, November 24, 1921, the
broadcast was flawless with Saunders at the telegraph key. At station 5XU in Austin, Franklin K. Matejka relayed messages to Longhorn fans seconds after each play. Amateur radio operators
across Texas also followed the ac-tion. The game ended in a scoreless tie, but A&M became conference champion. The following year, 5XB became WTAW, and several of the students went on
to distinguished careers in engineering, broadcast technology and related fields. By days, the experiment missed being the first such achieve-ment in the U.S., but it is believed to
be the first in Texas. Ingenuity and innovation resulted in a pio-neering broadcasting accomplishment. TIGERLAND TURNTABLE State historic marker west side of Kyle Field. Tigerland Turntable
DJs Lois Becker, Anne Boykin and Helen Holcomb. 1967 Tigerland. TIGERLAND TURNTABLE Anne Boykin, CHS ’67 On Wednesday afternoons I stopped in at the A&M Consolidated High School library
to pick pick up the shoebox overflowing with song dedications. The other DJs and I sorted them out, tossed out the inap-propriate ones, and made the play list for the two-hour evening
show. Once at the KORA 1240 studio, we pulled the records and put them in order for the real DJ. A couple of records had been banned by our parents: “Louie Louie” and “Let’s Spend the
Night Together.” “Abigail Beecher, my history teacher” was most often dedicated to Mrs. Harriet Sperry, our own history teacher. Many of the popu-lar Rolling Stones’ songs were dedicated
to Wally Williams who did the best Mick Jagger impersona-tion I have ever seen. The studio was a gathering place for the high school kids on Wednesday nights. As I was leaving the studio
one night, Mike Mistovich asked me if I wanted a job at the station as a full time DJ. I respectfully declined since I was headed to A&M and a career in Math or Biology. Who knew? 8/8