HISTORICAL AUDIO
Jon Peters Record Setting Game
When, KWHI went on the air in 1947, much of the programing was live. Later, the use of magnetic tape allowed programs to be recorded. Sadly, like many other radio stations, most of these old tapes were erased and recorded over. Only a few recordings exist from KWHI’s past, many by accident. Sometimes though, everyone knew a recording marked a milestone and needed to be saved. That is the case with this recording. It was found in a cabinet, labeled Brenham Cubs 10 A&M 0 SAVE! Turns out it was the game where Jon Peters set a new record for most consecutive wins by a pitcher. Let’s listen as Randy Reets and the late David Grace provide the play by play and Keith Kane does the post-game interview:
Andy Smith's Final Cattle Country Program
This is a portion of the last edition on Andy Smith’s Cattle Country program. For 21 years, from 1973 until 1994, Andy Smith produced a daily 15 minute radio program from his ranch near Giddings. The program informed ranchers and the public about the cattle industry. His stories about Jake, Emmy and Zeke not only entertained, but gave insight to the life of a cattle rancher.
1980 Country Store Program
This is a portion of a Country Store program from 1980. In the early days of KWHI, the Country Store was called the Trading Post, and listeners could only submit written items, there were no live phone calls. The Trading Post likely had its roots in the classified ads from the newspaper, as KWHI’s owner, Tom Whitehead Sr. ran the Banner Press until 1962. The Country Store Program began in the mid-1970s and allowed listeners to call in their items live. Today’s recording is unique in that the callers also were asked their opinion about broadcasting High School sports events. At the time, the Brenham School Board was considering banning KWHI from doing live broadcasts of Brenham Cub games in an attempt to increase the attendance.
1972 Cub Baseball Wrap-up and Old Commercials
Over the years, hundreds of Brenham High School Baseball games have been broadcast on KWHI. In the past though, only the post-game wrap-up of the game was recorded for use in later sportscasts. Normally, these tapes were simply recorded over, but today’s recording somehow survived. It’s a wrap-up of a Brenham Cub baseball game against Navasota from 1972. What makes this recording more interesting are the two commercials that follow the wrap-up. Let’s listen as sports announcer Lou Spurger recaps the game:
2005 Brenham La Marque Football Game
Brenham Cub football games have been broadcast live each fall since KWHI FM began in 1964. Before that time, KWHI AM had to sign off each day at sunset due to FCC regulations. Adding the FM signal allowed us to broadcast evening sports. While KWHI has broadcast many exciting games over the years, few can match the Cubs comeback over La Marque in the State quarter-finals in 2005. With 5 minutes remaining in the game, the Cubs were down 31 to 20. Lead by quarterback Jerrett Lee, the Cubs battled back to lead 34 to 31 with over a minute left. But now La Marque had the ball and was moving downfield, it was up to the Cub defense to stop them. Let’s listen to the final minute of the game as called by Ed Pothul and Jerry Merten:
1963 Salt Grass Trail Ride Interviews
These are interviews recorded during the 1963 Salt Grass Trail Ride. The trail ride began in 1952 to promote the Houston Livestock Show. For many years, the Salt Grass Trail Ride began in Brenham and would kick off with a parade through downtown of the horseback riders and wagons. KWHI founder Tom Whitehead Sr. was a big supporter of the trail ride and would often travel with the group and record reports at their evening stops. Let’s listen as Tom Whitehead Sr. and announcer Ken Teufel interview some of the riders:
1976 Interview With Bill Jaster About French President Visit
Today we listen to an interview from May of 1976. KWHI announcer Bill Jaster had the honor of being at the McCullum Ranch near Brenham when the French President, Valery Giscard d’Estaing visited. Let’s listen as KWHI General Manager Tom Whitehead Jr. interviews Bill Jaster:
County Agent Bill Thane's Last Program
KWHI has always been a big supporter of agriculture and 4H programs. As part of that commitment, KWHI has given air time to the local county agent. One county agent who made the most of the air time was Bill Thane. Between 1969 and 1991, Bill produced 2621 radio programs for KWHI. Today, we will listen to his last program from 1991:
1977 Bellville Locker Room Program
In years past, KWHI not only covered Brenham High School football, but also that of neighboring towns. Often, reports were phoned in after the games and recorded for playback on the air. Today’s recording is from 1977. The Bellville Brahmas had just won their playoff game against the defending state champion team from Rockdale. Let’s listen as sports announcer Jim Austin interviews Bellville head coach Doyle Parker outside the locker-room at Memorial Stadium:
1971 Spectator Program
This is a portion of a Spectator program from June of 1971. KWHI founder Tom Whitehead Sr. began his Spectator column in the Brenham Banner Press while he was publisher of the newspaper. After he sold the Banner in 1962, Whitehead continued his daily commentary on KWHI. In this recording, Whitehead goes over the channel lineup for the new TV Cable of Brenham service, another company that he founded. He also shares his views on a vote taken in the US Senate on withdrawing from the war in Vietnam:
Local Music
Here are three songs from local musicians and writers. It was not uncommon in years past that a local artist would bring by a recording of a song to see if we would play it on the air. The first song was written by Mrs. Otto Jaster and is titled “I Love to Cuddle You”
This selection was recorded by Leon Schwartz and The Country Boys and is titled “End of the Road”
This final selection was written by KWHI founder Tom S. Whitehead Sr. after his trip to Hawaii. It’s titled “An Orchid on My Pillow”
1982 Local Newscast
This is a portion of a newscast from 1982. Local news has always been a big part of what KWHI does. We even made the station slogan “Where the News Comes First”. KWHI founder Tom Whitehead Sr. was very passionate about local news, having spent much of his early life as a newspaper reporter and editor. That passion continued with his son, Tom Whitehead Jr. and now with his grandson, current KWHI General Manager Tom D. Whitehead. Let’s listen as announcer Joe Jackson reads the news in 1982:
News Auditions
In our search for memorable audio, we came across two cassettes. They both had multiple names written on the labels, some recognizable, some not. Turns out they were audition recordings from applicants for the news director position. General Manager Tom Whitehead Jr. would have applicants interview him and write a news story from the interview and then read the story along with some wire news stories. He recorded the auditions back to back on two cassettes. Listen to these news auditions and see if you recognize these voices from KWHI’s past:
In case you missed them; that was Tracy Smith, Chip Howard, Mary Martinez, and Gina McFarland.
1986 Cub Football Playoff Game
Since 1964, KWHI has brought listeners live play by play coverage of Brenham Cub football. In that time we have heard many exciting games, but few match the drama of Brenham’s 1986 second round playoff game against Belton. Let’s listen as Randy Reets describes the final minute of the game from Kyle field:
1992 40th Anniversary Program
This is a special program put together in 1992 by Pat Kelm for the 40th anniversary of the station. It features the voices of many people from the early days of KWHI and won an award for special programing from the Texas Association of Broadcasters. Now, thirty years later, we can relive these moments from KWHIs past.
1967 Second Grade Program
KWHI has always be a big supporter of public education in Brenham. From our sponsorship of the Spelling Bee, to live broadcasts of High School sports, to giving broadcast time to various classes, we have always tried to keep the public informed with what is going on in Brenham schools. Today we will hear a 1967 program on Texas History from Ruth Scurlock’s second grade class at Brenham Elementary School. Listen carefully and you might hear a 7 year old named Tom D. Whitehead on the recording:
Old 78 Records
In the early days of KWHI, much of the music was performed live from a studio at our offices. The music that wasn’t live was played from records, most likely the 78 rpm records used in that era. A small stack of these records have survived the years, tucked away on a shelf at the KWHI studios. The records were well worn, showing how often they had been played, but with modern computer processing, a lot of the tics and pops could be removed. The big problem was locating a turntable that could play 78 rpm records. Here is a sampling of music taken from these old records. The first selection is a county song from Lefty Frizzell called Always Late – With Your Kisses:
The next sample is a polka tune from Frankie Yankovic and his Yanks entitled Dance, Dance, Dance:
Our third selection was recorded by Brazilian Bombshell Carmen Miranda entitled Tico-Tico:
Our final sample from the KWHI 78 records is from Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians with Deep in the Heart of Texas:
Odds and Ends
Here are some odds and ends that were found amongst old KWHI recordings. While most of these are very short, they do provide a look at radio in years past and KWHI. Our first recording was made in the grandstands at the Cub football homecoming game in 1978. See if you recognize some of the names:
The next recording was found on a recording of commercials from the 1980’s. We can hear KWHI announcer Keith Kane utter a comment that is often head at a radio station:
The next recording was made in 1975 by a 14 year old kid named Mark Whitehead who didn’t want to announce the station ID live each hour as he ran the Houston Oilers broadcasts on Sundays:
Our next recording was found at the end of an old tape. It is from 1962 and is from the Randy and the Rockets Show that ran on Saturdays:
Our final recording is from KWHI’s Lonnie Schlottmann. Lonnie was an Engineer for KWHI and was involved in the construction of the station in 1947. He retired in 1985 as Chief Engineer for the station, but most listeners remember him as the calm and deliberate voice of the noon news. Lonnie was an example to everyone at the station as he never seemed to get upset or flustered by anything that happened. That example can be heard in this final recording when, as Lonnie read the news, the clock for unknown reasons fell off the wall and onto the desk in front of him. You can hear Lonnie, in his casual and unflustered way, continue with the news: