| Bill
Cherry's Galveston Memories |
|
|
By
the time the Federal Communications Act was established in 1938, radio
broadcasting was already a big business in Galveston.
The Moody family was broadcasting over its station in the Buccaneer
hotel, and George Roy Clough was operating his first station, KFLX
out of make shift studios in the living room of his home on Avenue
P.
After a while, the Moodys gave up their station, but Clough continued
to build his. |
|
|
George
Roy Clough
Photo courtesy Galveston Rosenberg Library |
| |
When the FCC
was finally established, he changed the call letters from KFLX to
KLUF. Pronouncing that acronym made you say his last name. Clough.
Local dance bands had regular programs on his station. And school
choirs and orchestras would frequently perform.
In fact the reason Gulf Coast TV legend Utah Carl Beach first moved
to Galveston
from Las Vegas was to have a radio show on KLUF.
And Raymond Haak, the owner of Haaks Vineyard and Winery in Santa
Fe's mother had a show there, too. She called it "Boots Darr
and Her Guitar."
Soon Clough
needed more space than his living room could provide, so he moved
the studios downtown to the Marine Building, and his transmitter
was set up in a building near the antenna on 61st and Broadway.
But the main reason George Roy Clough went into the radio business
was to have a public forum for his strong political views. Trying
to figure out how to infuse them into people's homes by radio wave
was his challenge.
He came up
with the idea of an announcer like Win McMullen who would introduce
a political topic that Clough thought was timely and important,
and then listeners could call by phone, be put on the air and then
they'd debate the subject with the announcer.
And most authorities feel this was the invention of call-in radio,
the format that has made Rush Limbaugh, Larry King and Michael Savage
rich.
George Roy Clough had one more distinction. He was elected mayor
of Galveston
in the mid-'50s. Within moments of his election, he challenged Texas
Attorney General Will Wilson. Clough said he wouldn't let Wilson
clear out the Island's illegal but very profitable ventures - soft
vices like gambling, prostitution and other vice.
Within a couple of years, the inventor of call-in radio, George
Roy Clough, had lost the challenge he had made to the attorney general.
And while we wish it weren't true, Galveston
has never been the same since.
Bill
Cherry's Galveston Memories August 15
, 2007 column
© William S. Cherry. All rights reserved
Bill
Cherry, a Dallas Realtor and free lance writer was a longtime
columnist for "The Galveston County Daily News." His book, Bill
Cherry's Galveston Memories, has sold thousands, and is still
available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com and other bookstores.
|
|
|
HOME
