MY RADIO DAZE- KLOL FM /101.1 IN HOUSTON

The KLOL 101.1 control room at the Rice Hotel in Houston was a like a scene from a good movie. It had the requisite rock posters, and a hanging indian sheet that you had to push aside to get into the control room. It was right behind the reception area in a room that was about ten by eight feet. I believe it used to be a janitorial closet. It had the requisite double studio doors, two turntables, a good sound system, and all the LPs you could handle. The station was on a growth cycle and starting to get ratings in the Houston/Galveston market.

Some of the people who were full time on the air at one time or another while I was there were: Tony Raven, Pat Fant (Dr. Wax), Jim Hilty (me), Jackie McCauley, Ed Beauchamp, Steve Nagle, Cy Statum, Jay Teakle, Leonard "Leggs" Liss, Ken Noble, and Ken Terry. Emil "For Real" Guillermo, who was a Harvard student did a brief stint as an intern on part of the all night show for a while. He went on to co-anchor PBS's national "Morning Edition," and was later a regular columnist for the Big Honolulu newspaper. Frank Jauber and Chapman Mott were also there. Chapman did "Skythoughts," an astrological feature that I never fully understood any of. It was way to far over me. Steve Nagle became a personal injury lawyer in Austin. I became a lawyer too in Michigan. Ed Beauchamp passed away in 1984 or 1985 while living in Dallas. If you ever lifted a Foster's from Australia, you can thank his grandfather for that experience. He started the brewery there.

You could hear Bob Wright, the KLOL news Director, who came to us from KENR,and Brian Hill, who were subsequently our news hounds and news department.

Jerry Lee, from Eden Texas, took over the reins as station manager after his predecessor, Rick Rawlinson, left for KRLY to compete with us. Rick died shortly after leaving KLOL. Jerry Lee left KLOL after his 10 year retirement vesting, and went to San Diego's KFMB to be General Manager there.

If you were one of the 101 staff or know anything about the whereabouts or anything about the other staff members mentioned, please leave a comment.

This station had a real direction, which KNUS in its most progressive mode, did not. All of the air staff had confidence in themselves and confidence in the growing future of the radio station. By this time, the progressive, album oriented rock format had caught the name in the trades as AOR. Our tower was eventually placed on top of a fifty story building, and at 100,000 watts, we covered the South Texas area well.

Our radio logo mascot was a run away unplugged cathedral radio with feet and arms in motion. It was on t- shirts that cost a dollar and one cent and on what had to be hundreds of thousands of free logo bumper stickers. We got plenty of good phone calls from our listeners. Lots of people grew up with KLOL in its good rock and roll days.