Suvarna Garge (Editor)

KVET (AM)

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City
  
Austin, Texas

Frequency
  
1300 kHz

Branding
  
AM 1300 The Zone

First air date
  
October 13, 1946

KVET (AM)

Broadcast area
  
Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area

Slogan
  
"Austin's Sports Talk Leader"

KVET (1300 AM), branded as "AM 1300 The Zone", is an Austin, Texas, radio station operating a Sports format. It is licensed to Austin, Texas, and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications until September 2014). KVET is directional with 5,000 watts to the northwest over the Texas Hill Country during the daytime and 1,000 watts to the south over central Austin at night from a transmitter site just a few miles north of downtown. It shares studios with four other sister stations in the Penn Field complex in the South Congress district (or "SoCo") of south central Austin within walking distance of St. Edward's University.

Contents

History

Shortly after the end of World War II, a group of young men pooled their resources to start a radio station in Austin, Texas. All of them were veterans of the conflict, hence K-VET AM 1300 signed on October 1, 1946. These men included future Texas Governor John Connally, future United States Representative Jake Pickle, future United States Ambassador to Australia Edward Clark, Jesse Kellam, and Willard Deason.

As was common in the 1940s and 1950s, KVET offered "full service" radio, block programming of music, news, talk, cooking shows, even soap operas. KVET also included programming for Austin's minority community, which was uncommon at the time. Spanish language news and music on "Noche De Fiesta"; music and news for the African-American community on The Elmer Akins Gospel Train.

In the 1950s, even more diversity was added to the lineup when Lavada Durst introduced Austin to R&B and "Jive Talk" on KVET's nighttime Dr. Hepcat Show.

Noche de Fiesta and Dr. Hepcat Show were phased out in the 1960s, but The Elmer Akins Gospel Train is on the air on KVET to this day.

During most of the 1960s, KVET featured the popular music of the day, plus a strong emphasis on news and sports block programming. The music of Frank Sinatra, Perry Como and Dinah Shore, plus Paul Harvey commentary, the Joe Pyne show, and Houston Astros baseball were all part of the mix.

KVET switched formats on April 14, 1969 to country music, and the Country Giant was born. Jim Robinson, who at the time was public information officer for the Texas DPS and also a night DJ for KVET, played the last record of the old format on KVET under the air name Jay Williams, and at midnight when the format change occurred, played the first country record using the air name Jim Gary. Popular celebrity DJs including Arleigh Duff, Penny Reeves, Jim WW Travis, The Snipe Warden, Jerry Gee and Sammy Allred quickly took KVET to the top of the local ratings during the 1970s.

Despite increased competition, KVET continued to prosper in the 1980s by featuring a traditional mix of country music, news and sports, including Houston Oilers and Dallas Cowboys football.

In 1990, KVET began to also broadcast on 98.1 FM. With the new signal came the creation of the Sammy Allred and Bob Cole Morning Call-In Show. Through the 1990s, KVET has evolved to a sports and talk station, the flagship station of the Longhorn Radio Network. KVET-FM continues to attract audiences with a blend of country music and personality.

Current shows and on-air staff

  • The Bottom Line with Sean Adams and Chip Brown
  • The Rich Eisen Show (Syndicated)
  • Jay Mohr (Syndicated)
  • The Sports Buffet with Craig Way and Rod Babers (The Voice of Longhorn Sports and former UT and NFL Football Player respectively )
  • Longhorn Blitz Podcast with Matt Butler and Rod Babers
  • Bill O'Brien Show (Houston Texans Coaches show)
  • Weekends

  • Ken Milam (Central Texas Fishing guide and Outdoor expert) The Great Outdoors (Saturday) and The Sunday Sportsman
  • Between The Lines with Kramer and Brandon (Sunday)
  • Current producers

  • Michael Rivera
  • Tomas Calica
  • Former on-air staff

    This is a very incomplete list. Over the course of 70 years many have left their mark on the station.

  • Jim Apfelbaum (Author and Golf Etiquette Expert) That's Golf (longest running golf show in Austin) Moved on to Pennsylvania.
  • Lydia Alba Anderson (The Midnight Angel)
  • Tom Allen
  • Bucky Godbolt (Now KTXX)
  • Brad Kellner (Now KTXX)
  • Trent Giesen (Former Producer Sports Buffet, now at KVET-FM)
  • Ahmad Brooks (The Wake Up Call) now The Longhorn Network/ESPNU
  • Jon Madani (Program Director) now at ESPN
  • Eric Blumberg
  • Sammy Allred
  • David Anderson
  • Major Applewhite
  • Bama Brown (now at KVET-FM)
  • Glenn Brown
  • Elmer Akins (ran gospel train, one of the longest running radio programs of all time)
  • Fred Cantu ("Concerned Citizen")
  • Mike Carta (Program Director)
  • Jim Collier (1966)
  • John Connally
  • Bob Cole (Now KOKE-FM)
  • Kevin Dunn
  • Arleigh Duff
  • Ronald "Trey/Boner/Viper" Elling
  • Tom Ellis ('Daddy Tom' on 'High Time' afternoon teen show 1956-58) He went on to a super News career in San Antonio, Boston, and New York.
  • Rusty Gabbard (Wrote Ray Price 'Hit' "I'll Be There")
  • Mike Gamble
  • DeRoy Glass
  • John Gary (Henry Williams)
  • Steve Gary
  • Jerry Gee (Jerry Garvin KVET-AM Program Director 1969–1973)
  • Billy Goodnight
  • Pete Grady (R.J. Mott)
  • T.J. Greaney
  • Jerry K Green (Twice. 1956–58 while attending U. T. - again 1975–78 as DJ/Program Director)
  • De Hansen
  • Chad Hastings (Now KTXX)
  • Gregg Henson
  • Dr. Hepcat (Lavada Durst, DJ of the Rosewood Ramble late evening show in the 1950s) "In the cool of the evening, wishing you a very warm Good night"
  • Lalo Campos "Noche De Fiesta" which broke down the walls for Hispanic programming in Austin in 1947, he would go on to start KTXN (Now KOKE-AM)
  • Erin Hogan (Now KTXX)
  • Marc Hoenig
  • Olin Murrell
  • Dave Marcum
  • Phil Miller
  • Brian "BJ" Jones
  • Davy Jones (DJ in the old studio, pre C&W), a.k.a. David B. Jones (newsman ca. 1968–1972)
  • Mark Jones
  • Chuck Licata (Owner of K-MAC Sports Broadcasting, www.kmacsports.com; Owner of LibertyHillSports.com)
  • Hugh Lewis
  • Chuck Meyer (Program Director)
  • Bob Pickett (now at 98.1 KVET-FM)
  • Jake Pickle
  • Trey Poston (Program Director)
  • Penny Reeves
  • Stan "Taylor Thompson" Robak
  • Bill Schoening voice of the San Antonio Spurs
  • Tweed Scott (Assistant Prog. Dir 1984-1989)(Retired from KVET-FM & the business July 31, 2001)
  • Barbara Jo Skorude
  • Dave Smith
  • Jim W.W. Travis (The Snipe Warden)
  • Jeff Ward (Now an afternoon host on KLBJ-AM)
  • Janice Williams
  • A.J. Hoffman (now a sportstalk host at 97.5 ESPN Radio in Houston)
  • Cedric Golden (Sports columnist with the Austin American Statesman)
  • Network affiliations

  • Fox Sports Radio
  • Learfield Sports Flagship station for Texas State University
  • Houston Astros
  • Houston Texans
  • Compass Media Networks
  • Westwood One
  • Texas State Network
  • Former Network Affiliations

  • Longhorn Radio Network
  • Austin Aztex
  • Austin Wranglers (defunct)
  • ESPN Radio (Mike and Mike, Colin Cowherd)
  • NBC Sports Radio
  • Station management

  • Program Director - Brian Gann
  • References

    KVET (AM) Wikipedia