WBAP 820AM turns 97 years old today! In a tweet, The History of Texas commemorated the day the station first signed on the air:
1922 – North Texas’ @WBAP247NEWS signed on the air for the first time. pic.twitter.com/NxGqcDGnoY
— ✯ The History of Texas ✯ (@TheHistoryofTX) May 2, 2019
The history of WBAP Radio always starts with Amon G. Carter …but, Carter had to be talked into spending the money to experiment with this new concept called “radio”. He approved Harold Hough’s spending of “up to $300” to get a radio station on the air. Carter further stated “when that $300 is gone, we’re out of the radio business.”
Hough, the circulation manager of Carter’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram signed the station on the air May 2, 1922. Hough was also WBAP’s chief engineer, chief a
nnouncer and program director. The station started with 10 watts of power, which amounted to the 1920’s version of electronic string and coffee-can communication.
Music was a major part of WBAP’s programming from the beginning. Live, in-studio broadcasts were scheduled which featured musicians on WBAP such as The Light Crust Doughboys, The Sunshine Boys, Bewley’s Chuck Wagon Gang and many more.
News has been a major WBAP commitment from the early years, and WBAP has been home to some of the best newsmen in America including regionally and nationally known journalists such as Porter Randall, Hal Thompson, Frank Mills, Jim Byron, Neil Hackett, Bob Scheiffer, Ted Gouldy and Joe Holstead.
See the full history of WBAP Radio here.