FilioScotia

The legendary KILT DJ and Program Director Bill Young has passed away. Bill became one of the greatest and most successful radio program directors in the country. When he left radio he founded Bill Young Productions, and made it one of the most successful and respected audio/video production companies in the country. This announcement is posted on his company website, http://www.byp.com/# "It is with great sadness we must inform you of the passing of our founder, leader, and mentor Bill Young. Bill was not only the driving force of our industry – he created it, and most certainly was the voice of it. We will miss Bill’s incredible voice and big heart every day. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a contribution be made to the Alpha-1 Foundation at www.alpha-1foundation.org, or to the charity of your choice. Tributes may be left on the website of the Settegast-Kopf Funeral Home at Sugar Creek." He died early today, so his obit isn't even on the funeral home website yet. But it will be soon.

There won't be a smack down. That takes two. I've said my piece.

***who the hell listens to the Texans over the radio anyway? Homeless people that can't afford TVs?*** Good grief! What an elitist you are. Do you really believe that? Has it ever occurred to you that a good many people - who are NOT homeless - are at work on game day and can't watch on TV? A lot of people listen out on the road - on the flagship station in and around Houston and on other stations around the state on the Texans radio network. And the radio network reaches a lot of places where the TV network isn't available. And as Arche said in the post after yours, a good many people in all those areas who have other things to do can't put it down to watch on TV. For all those people, radio is their only option. I would hazard a guess that the radio audience is about as big as the TV audience, give or take. Radio can be called the "multi-tasking" medium. You can do anything while listening to a game. Well, almost anything.

That was "Beautiful Music KXYZ - 1320 AM. My favorite station in the late 50s and early 60s. It wasn't "elevator music" that fades into the background. KXYZ played beautiful MOR music that made you want to listen to it, with big name singers and lots of lush instrumental arrangements of the popular songs. Mantovani, Andre Kostelanetz, Percy Faith, 101 Strings and others. My favorite memories of KXYZ include its great promos, played mostly at night. Very well written, heavily produced with lush strings and harp music. Such as: "In Houston's downtown area, lifeless mannequins draped in the latest attire stand stiff and silent in the shops, which a few hours ago buzzed with the excitement of bargain-hunting shoppers... now relaxing at home to Beautiful KXYZ Music." "The almost-deserted parking garage is lonely and unfamiliar to a late-staying office worker, whose footsteps echo as he walks to his car and turns on the radio. Somewhere in the distance a siren is heard racing to an emergency somewhere, and the lonely feeling is dispelled by Beautiful KXYZ Music." Some of Houston's finest golden throat announcers worked at KXYZ in those days. People like Pat Brown, who later moved to TV at Channel 39 and worked with Marijane Vandiver for years. My personal favorite was Milt Willis, who later moved into sales at KODA. I also remember Larry Fogle and Jeff Thompson. Maybe Brucesw can come up with some others. (?) Richard Fulghum jocked beautiful music at KXYZ till the mid 60s when he moved into news and sales at KILT AM/FM. I'll never forget what one of the KILT DJs said about Fulghum one night, not long after he made the move. "Dick Fulghum is doing news for us now. He used to work at that other station - you know, the one with the beautiful music. They fired him when they caught him dicing tomatoes on their harp." Those were the truly golden years on Houston AM radio. In the mid 70's, the format changed to pop music & around 1980 it changed over to a Christian station. It now promotes itself as "A Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Station" with religious programming in several languages. .

Am I the only one here who remembers Bill Bennett's Steakhouse in the Sky? On the top floor of the St. Joseph's Professional Building on Pierce? Anybody know why it didn't succeed?

I've always thought the name "Superette" came from the fact that these stores were miniature supermarkets. Unlike convenience stories that only sell basic necessities at inflated prices, Superettes had everything a larger supermarket has but on a smaller scale.

Red Bluff Hospital was its original name when it opened in the early 60s. At some point after the Pendleton murder in 1966 Burkhalter sold it, and the new owners decided to change the name because of the murder and the seemingly never ending tide of negative media stories about Burkhalter and his connection to it. I grew up in Pasadena, and I can tell you that the murder of Dr. Pendleton was the biggest story you can imagine in that part of the county. For years if you wanted to start a conversation about this murder all you had to do was say the words "Red Bluff Hospital" and "Archie Burkhalter". That's why it needed a new name. Even so, Pasadena locals continued calling it Red Bluff Hospital for a long time. Old habits die hard. But, time takes its toll and memories fade. At some point memories of the old name and the scandal went away. I would bet that nobody in Pasadena under the age of 50 knows anything about this.

That was the old Red Bluff Hospital. Dr. Archie Burkhalter and Dr. Robert Pendleton owned it, until Pendleton was murdered there in December of 1966. Burkhalter was charged with hiring the guy who killed Pendleton, but he never went to prison. His first conviction in 1970 was overturned on appeal. The second trial ended in a mistrial, and when he was brought to trial for the third time he was acquitted in 1975. Burkhalter was a real piece of work. In 1979 he was accused of hiring two men to kill his ex-wife's new husband, John Hensley. The murder attempt failed, but it left Hensley blind. Burkhalter was found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison. While free on appeal bond, Burkhalter suffered superficial wounds when he was shot by an unknown gunman while visiting his brother in Pasadena in 1980. I have no idea where Burkhalter is today, or even if he's still alive. A few years after Pendleton's murder, the hospital's name was changed to Pasadena Memorial Hospital. I think the hospital building is still there, but I don't think it's a hospital anymore.

My one and only encounter with the WIBC happened in an "indirect" way ten years ago. In 2004 my brother and I were driving back to Texas from Nebraska, and we decided Wichita Kansas would be a good place to stop and spend the night. To our surprise and dismay, the WIBC had taken over Wichita for its annual national bowling tournament. Thousands of lady bowlers were in town, and every hotel and motel was stuffed full with them. No vacancies anywhere. We finally gave up on Wichita and kept going south till we finally found a motel with ONE VACANCY in the small town of Wellington, about 25 miles south of Wichita. The clerk told us we were lucky to get it because the previous tenants -- two lady bowlers -- had just checked out and it was the only vacancy in that entire town. Yessiree. Bowling is big in Kansas.

I lived in Copperfield just two miles from Hwy 6 and FM 529. There is an Exxon station that's been there since the 80s, but it has never been unmanned.

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That's more like it. I drove past there on my way home to Copperfield every day in the 90s and well into the 2000s, but I don't remember an unmanned Shell gas station. I didn't stop there very often, but I did gas up at that very corner a few times, but I remember it was a Conoco gas station/convenience store. Do you remember the years the Shell outlet was there? It's not hard to figure out why unmanned gas stations didn't work out. They depend too much on the public's honor system, and they ignore the reality of vandalism and theft. They may as well have hung up a sign reading "Nobody is here to stop you. Vandalize Me."

Oops. 17504 Jones Rd. is way way north of 290, just south of Louetta.

Not so fast Tiger. That building is still with us, but it's not the CRS Building anymore. It's now the Houston Animal Emergency Veterinary Hospital on the northbound feeder of the West Loop between Post Oak and Woodway. http://www.animalemergencyhospital.com/ Go to Google Maps and home in on that stretch of the West Loop. Look for the building set way back off the feeder with a big parking lot on the roof, as described in the notice from Houston Today. That's the place. It still looks just like the photo.

Several years ago my wife and I drove over to Fayette County and spent the day touring the famous Painted Churches. These beautiful 19th century Catholic churches were built by Czech and German immigrants who wanted their small country churches to look like their churches back in the old country. Most are in old farming communities along and near I-10 within a ten or 15 mile radius of Schulenburg -- Praha, Dubina, Ammansville, High Hill, Flatonia, Shiner. You can go out and find the churches on your own if you want to, but it's better to do an organized tour through the Schulenburg Chamber.of Commerce. You'll learn the stories of the churches and the people who built them and those who restored and maintained them, and you'll learn a lot about the history of this beautiful part of the state. They really are something to see and I promise they'll take your breath away. Here's the website, with lots of pictures: http://www.klru.org/paintedchurches/

If you're into history, I recommend a drive into northeast Texas to Jefferson, on US 59 about 20 miles north of Marshall. Founded in the 1830s, Jefferson is one of the more historic towns in Texas. It's on a tributary of the Red River, and until the 1870s it was a major inland port city, second only to Galveston in total tonnage. During the Civil War it was one of the Confederate Army's major supply terminals for the war west of the Mississippi. Then in 1873, the Army Corps of Engineers finally removed a giant logjam on the Red River, causing the water level on the tributary to Jefferson to fall so low the steamboats couldn't get there anymore. Jefferson was no longer a port city, but it didn't dry up and turn into a ghost town. Today, Jefferson is a beautiful little city that works hard at keeping its 19th century charm with a historic downtown area, historic hotels dating to the 1840s and dozens of turn-of-the-20th century homes and even some ante-bellum homes now serving as B&B's. It's about a four hour drive from Houston, and I highly recommend it as a weekend getaway. Check it out: http://www.visitjeffersontexas.com/

did the Boomers just finally get too old to be a viable marketing demographic for radio sponsors? You put your finger right on it. That's the down and dirty truth about "Oldies" radio, not just in Houston but everywhere else. Advertisers want the younger audience, people between 15 and 45. They don't want to spend their ad dollars at stations that don't appeal to that demographic. Younger people can be influenced to rush right out and buy the latest trendy stuff. Older people are wiser than that, and they don't fit the description of "impulse buyers". Most of them anyway.

Most Houston neigborhoods that aren't in master planned communities don't have Homeowners Associations, and people in those neighborhoods are free to do pretty much anything they want with their houses. It's common to see people running businesses out of their homes. Garages turned into beauty salons and even car repair shops are common. This is one of the direct results of the fact that Houston has no zoning laws. With zoning neighborhoods could be zoned "Residential Only" and residential businesses wouldn't be allowed. Some neighborhoods have managed to develop Covenants in which homeowners promise to abide by certain standards and guidelines, but they're not legally enforceable. Most of the MPCs with HA's are outside the City of Houston, and they have the power to require residents to get permission to do anything that changes the appearance of their house. I don't know who told you the HA owns the land your house is on, but I'm almost certain that's not true. HA's do have some outrageous foreclosure powers over your property if you ignore the rules or don't keep up your HA dues, and that's caused a lot of outrage and legal battles over the years. The mineral rights are another and more complicated story. In Texas, land sellers can sell the surface rights and mineral rights separately. Take a good look at the fine print on your Deed. I think you'll find the mineral rights are owned by somebody you never heard of. Welcome to Houston.

Since his sex change, Ashley's name has been Leslie Elaine Perez. "She" has led a very public life since then, including several races for seats on Houston City Council, and working with the Harris County Democratic Party. In 1990 she ran for the position of Party Chairman, but got less than 20 percent of the vote. Maybe someone in the Party can point you in the right direction. Former Chair Gerry Birnberg or current Chair Lane Lewis might know.

I was a reporter covering that story when it was happening in the early 70s, and this is the first time I've ever seen any mention of White Oak Bayou or the city park. That park, by the way, is Stude Park. This has to be a rumor somebody started somewhere along the line. In the first place, Dean Corll and friends buried all those bodies in out-of-the-way places where they thought they would never be found. It's why they were able to do what they did and get away with it for so long. It's ridiculous to think they would have risked being caught by doing something as brazen as burying bodies in a place as "public" as a city park next to a freeway. They were crazy, but they weren't stupid. And while we're on the subject, there are those in Houston law enforcement who don't believe all of Corll's victims have been found. They think it's possible that more bodies are still buried somewhere "out there" and probably won't ever be found.

I'm not a hundred percent certain, but I think I remember that jingle was sung to the tune of The Wabash Cannonball.

If you want to see an incredible collection of photos showing the construction and growth of the Houston Freeway system -- check out this e-book. It tells that story better than any source I've ever seen. Pay special attention to Chapter 5 and the story of the Loop 610. http://houstonfreeways.com/

Simpson's burned down? I stand corrected. Now I know of only one - Penny's Diner in Wellington Kansas. For a photo, go to Google Maps, enter Wellington Kansas, go down as close to street level as you can and click on the Street View. Penny's Diner is on the road running west from I-35, at the corner of E. 16th and N. Woodlawn, about a mile from the freeway. I'm betting it's still there because in a town that small it probably has the local Breakfast, Lunch and Casual Dining business all to itself. I can't say I'm very fond of the false Potemkin Village style front the owner put up though.

I've seen these "rail car" style diners around the country, and I've eaten at some of them. Several years ago I had breakfast at one in the small town of Wellington Kansas, on I-35 south of Wichita. All these shiny dining car diners were made by the Jerry O' Mahony Company in New Jersey. Check out this site. It has lots of pictures. http://dinerhunter.com/2009/02/24/jerry-omahony-dining-cars/ Here's the story on the Wikipedia: "The Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company of Elizabeth, New Jersey, whose motto was "In our line, We lead the world", was said to have produced 2,000 diners from 1917 to 1941, and became the largest manufacturer of its period. The roadside diners are long, narrow, primarily metal buildings, prefabricated in a factory and trucked to the location. They resemble and are often confused with actual railroad rolling stock removed from their wheels but these buildings were never railroad cars." These were not franchises. All were locally owned and operated. Sad to say, only a small handful of them are still in use today. I know of two: Simpson's Diner in Houston and Penny's Diner in Wellington Kansas. Anybody know of any others?

I'll go out on a limb and say this "domed" building was a service station, probably owned and operated by the Atlantic Refining Company, a spinoff from Standard Oil, and which later became Atlantic-Richfield. I say this because of something I found when I Googled "Gas stations in the 1920s." "Driven by public concern over unsightly gas stations, oil executives under pressure from the City Beautiful movement began constructing more aesthetically pleasing outlets. The Union Oil Company covered their station roofs in Spanish tile, while the Atlantic Refining Company built a station that was a scaled-down replica of the monument to Lysicrates in Athens, Greece. And when I searched for a photo of the Monument to Lysicrates, this is what turned up. http://www.athensinfoguide.com/wtslysicrates.htm I rest my case.