During my radio show this morning, a caller reminded me of when I used to broadcast alongside East Texas Radio Legend Dub Murray. Dub had been in East Texas radio since the 1950s. He got his start in radio under Tom Perryman, who had gotten his start from Jim Reeves at KGRI in Henderson, TX. Dub went on to do radio in Little Rock, Washington D.C. and Nashville, Tennessee. While in Nashville, Dub became a songwriter for Acuff-Rose music and hung out with several country stars (He even dated a few).
For whatever reason, Dub returned to East Texas, working for KEES radio, then owning KLUE before working for KBNB (CNN 1060) and then KWRD-AM 1470 in Henderson, TX. It was at KWRD where I worked with Dub, who hosted the "Supertradio" program, which not only welcomed callers to sell their surplus items, but also featured a classic country artist every day.
One artist we featured included Johnny Horton, who, through some of my callers today, I was informed is from Rusk, TX, where my radio station is located. The day became a day of callers telling their stories of going to school with Johnny Horton at Gallatin High School, living next to his parents on Henderson Street, and how much they enjoyed his songs.
Horton is best known for his song "The Battle of New Orleans." Other hits include "Sink the Bismarc" and "North to Alaska."
All were fixtures in my playlist when I worked at KWRD.
Horton died in a car accident in Milano, Texas in 1960. Dub Murray died of natural causes in late 2002. Todays show kind of made me miss those days at KWRD, the old style hometown radio format, and the people I was blessed to work with.
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