First air date 1947 Class B Callsign meaning PETroleum City of license Lamesa Branding Real Country | Power 250 watts (unlimited) Facility ID 71649 Frequency 690 kHz Format Country music, Talk radio Slogan Lamesa's HomeTown Radio | |
Broadcast area Lamesa, Texas & Terry, Lynn, Garza, and Borden Counties Owner Dawson County Broadcasting LLC (Don Sitton/David Stewart) Area Lamesa, Lynn, Garza, Santiago del Estero, Texas & Terry | ||
KPET (690 AM) is an independently owned and operated radio station licensed to serve Lamesa, Texas, United States. The station is owned by Dawson County Broadcasting LLC and the broadcast license held by DCB License Sub LLC. The station's 280-foot tower is located at the south edge of the city of Lamesa.
Contents
Programming
KPET's format is Country Music, Play by play sports and Farm News. It operates 24 hours a day on 105.1 FM, 690 AM, and on Northland Cable across the area. In earlier days, the station featured a Top-40 format, and in some years a large dose of country tunes. The hosts for the mornings reports are Don Sitton, Carl Crouch, and Jim Rush.
KPET airs many play-by-play sporting events. The station airs Lamesa High School football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball and football, and Texas Rangers Major League baseball. KPET is an affiliate of the ABC Radio Network and of Texas State Network, a Dallas-based news and information service owned by CBS Radio. KPET(AM) carried Paul Harvey News and Comments, the daily noon report, and "The Rest of the Story". Paul Harvey had aired since the station was new in 1947 until his death in 2009.
In the late fifties and sixties, many of the country artists traveled the area, playing clubs in Lamesa and the areas north and south. "Gentleman" Jim Reeves not only performed in the area, but he also once owned stations in nearby counties.
History
The call letters stand for "PET"roleum, found and pumped in the surrounding oil fields (Texas Permian Basin). The station was authorized by the FCC in 1946, and went on the air around May 10, 1947. The founders were Kermit S. Ashby, R. O. Parker, and R. A. Woodson doing business as Lamesa Broadcasting Company. Mr. Ashby was onetime owner or cofounder of several Texas stations, including KPET, 1400 AM KVOP Plainview, TX, and 1050 AM KCAS Slaton, TX. Studios were located on Radio Road, south of Lamesa and across from the Lamesa Country Club Golf Course. The studios were located on south first street, west of the town square and the tower sat/sits on a high knoll overlooking the city of Lamesa. Directly below the station is Sulphur Draw, which forms the headwaters of the Colorado River, one of the main rivers in Texas. The station has had the same call letters since it signed on in 1947.
The station was later owned by the Parkers and the Bradburys. In 1959, Thomas E. Conner and Bob Bradbury purchased KHEM and KFNE (FM) in Big Spring, Texas. In 1960, they bought KPET. They reorganized as The Cobra Corp. in 1963. Thomas E. Conner purchased the station on October 1, 1968 as The Conner Corporation. An FM station on 100.3 was added in 1966 (founded as KPET-FM, changed to KELE in early 1969, and voluntarily taken off air in 1972 or 1973); the station was sold in 1973 to a company headquartered in Dallas.
It was acquired by the current owners in January 2008. KPET is owned by Dawson County Broadcasting LLC and its license-holding subsidiary DCB License Sub LLC. The station is managed by and partly owned by Don Sitton, who has worked at the station since 1989. Don is a long-time resident of West Texas.
The station founded and later spun off stations now known as KMMX (FM) Tahoka, Texas (Lubbock area) and KTXC (FM) Lamesa (Midland–Odessa area). KPET works with the schools in its home area, including the Lamesa Independent School District, Klondike schools, Odonnell School District, Sands schools, and Borden County schools. It has broadcast programs of the churches of Lamesa for more than 60 years.