KERB (AM)
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KERB (600 AM) was an American
radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to serve the
community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
of
Kermit, Texas Kermit is a city in and the county seat of Winkler County, Texas, Winkler County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,708 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The city was named after Kermit Roosevelt following a visit by his fathe ...
. Launched in June 1950, the station employed many West Texas musical figures before they were famous, including future
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...
inductee
Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as ...
. The station's
broadcast license A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary ...
was last held by La Radio Cristiana Network, Inc. Owner Paulino Bernal surrendered the license for KERB and five other stations to the Federal Communications Commission on Nov. 7, 2013.


Programming

KERB, like most rural American radio stations in the 1950s, had launched with an eclectic mix of music styles but became a solid
country & western Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, old ...
outlet through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Most recently, KERB broadcast a
Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...
religious radio Religious broadcasting, sometimes referred to as faith-based broadcasts, is the dissemination of television and/or radio content that intentionally has religious ideas, religious experience, or religious practice as its core focus. In some coun ...
format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...
to the greater
Odessa, Texas Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small section of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 114,428 at the 2020 census, mak ...
, area. The station shared some programming with former
sister stations In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
KAYG, KDFM,
KIBL KIBL (1490 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Beeville, Texas Beeville is a city in Bee County, Texas, United States, with a population of 12,863 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Bee County an ...
,
KLDS KLDS (1260 AM, "Radio Voz AM") is a radio station licensed to serve Falfurrias, Texas, United States. The station is owned by Bill Doerner, Valerie Smith, and Larry Roberts, through licensee Sportsradiocc LLC. KLDS broadcasts a Spanish-languag ...
, and KERB-FM as part of the La Radio Cristiana Network.


History


Early days

In 1949, the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) issued a
construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
to the Kermit Broadcasting Company for a new
AM radio AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transm ...
station to broadcast with 1,000
watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
s of power, daytime only, on a frequency of 600
kilohertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one h ...
. The station was assigned the
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
"KERB" by the FCC. The station signed on in June 1950 with George H. Cook as company president, Victor King as
general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
, James Boultinghouse as program director, and James Radcliffe as
chief engineer A chief engineer, commonly referred to as "ChEng" or "Chief", is the most senior engine officer of an engine department on a ship, typically a merchant ship, and holds overall leadership and the responsibility of that department..Chief engineer's ...
. A new company called Radio Station KERB, Inc., purchased the radio station on November 23, 1955. H.V. Brinson served as both company president and the station's general manager until he sold the station. KERB Broadcasting, Inc., acquired the radio station on October 1, 1968. Floyd Shelton was company president and Ken Welch was general manager under the new ownership. In the 1970s, Jean Welch became the station's office manager and program director while Doug Welch served as chief engineer. In 1979, the Welch family purchased KERB Broadcasting, Inc., and Ken Welch added company president to his duties.


1980s and 1990s

To expand to 24-hour operation, KERB was joined in 1987 by a new FM
sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
, licensed as "
KERB-FM KERB-FM (106.3 FM) was a radio station broadcasting a Spanish religious format in Kermit, Texas. The station was last owned by La Radio Cristiana Network, Inc. History In 1984, Hispanic Broadcasting Company obtained the construction permit for ...
", not bound by the AM station's "
daytimer A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-coun ...
" restriction. (A "daytimer" is licensed to operate only from local sunrise to local sunset to protect other radio stations from
skywave In radio communication, skywave or skip refers to the propagation of radio waves reflected or refracted back toward Earth from the ionosphere, an electrically charged layer of the upper atmosphere. Since it is not limited by the curvature of ...
interference.) In March 1988, owners M.F. and Jean Welch agreed to transfer control of KERB Broadcasting, Inc., to Marlin D. Kuykendall. The FCC approved the transfer on April 12, 1988, and the move was consummated on May 1, 1988. Less than two years later, the station faced financial difficulties and in January 1991 the KERB and KERB-FM broadcast licenses were involuntarily transferred from KERB Broadcasting, Inc., to Ron White acting as receiver. The FCC approved the move on February 15, 1991. In June 1991, the station applied for
special temporary authority Special Temporary Authority (STA) in U.S. broadcast law is a type of broadcast license which temporarily allows a broadcast station to operate outside of its normal technical or legal parameters. In the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) stat ...
to remain
dark Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lum ...
while a new operator for KERB could be found. The FCC granted this authority on November 4, 1991, with a scheduled expiration date of March 4, 1992. In September 1991, receiver Ron White found a buyer for both stations and applied to transfer the broadcast licenses to Mesa Entertainment, Inc., which owned KOZA(AM), in Odessa, Texas. The FCC approved the deal on November 4, 1991, and after extended complications the transaction was consummated on March 15, 1996. In March 1997, Mesa Entertainment, Inc., made a deal to sell KERB and KERB-FM to La Radio Cristiana Network, Inc. The FCC approved the sale on May 20, 1997, and formal consummation of the transaction occurred on September 15, 1997.


Station alumni

*
Rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...
pioneer
Charline Arthur Charline Arthur (also Charlene Arthur, née Charline Highsmith; September 2, 1929 – November 27, 1987) was an American singer of boogie-woogie, blues, and early rockabilly. In 1950, Arthur began work as a singer and a disc jockey at the Texas rad ...
worked as a singer and a
disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
at KERB from 1950 until 1953 when she was "discovered" by
Colonel Tom Parker Thomas Andrew Parker (born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk; June 26, 1909 January 21, 1997),
. Parker signed her to a recording contract with
RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
. She would later star on the ''
Big D Jamboree ''Big D Jamboree'' was a radio program broadcast by KRLD-AM in Dallas, Texas. The show consisted of appearances by famous country musicians, and sketch comedy and jokes. It was also carried by KRLD-TV during the 1950s. History ''Big D Jamboree ...
'', perform throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and be inducted into the
Rockabilly Hall of Fame The Rockabilly Hall of Fame is an organization and website launched on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relating to the artists and personalities involved in rockabilly. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennesse ...
. *American singer-songwriter
Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as ...
began performing on KERB in 1951. He formed a band, The Wink Westerners, with several friends from high school. In 1953, the band began their own weekly radio show on KERB. Orbison would later be signed to
Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...
, become a music legend whose career spanned four decades, and be inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...
in 1987.


References


External links

{{Religious Radio Stations in Texas
ERB Erb, ERB or ErB may refer to: People * Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950), American author * Erb of Gwent (–), king of Gwent and Glywysing Surname * Abraham Erb (1772–1830), American-born Canadian settler * Albrecht Erb (1628–1714), Austr ...
ERB Erb, ERB or ErB may refer to: People * Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950), American author * Erb of Gwent (–), king of Gwent and Glywysing Surname * Abraham Erb (1772–1830), American-born Canadian settler * Albrecht Erb (1628–1714), Austr ...
Radio stations established in 1950 Winkler County, Texas 1950 establishments in Texas Defunct radio stations in the United States Radio stations disestablished in 2013 Defunct religious radio stations in the United States 2013 disestablishments in Texas
ERB Erb, ERB or ErB may refer to: People * Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950), American author * Erb of Gwent (–), king of Gwent and Glywysing Surname * Abraham Erb (1772–1830), American-born Canadian settler * Albrecht Erb (1628–1714), Austr ...