On this Day in Texas History ~
On September 25, 1922, WOAI-San Antonio, the first radio station in South Texas, aired its first broadcast. Did you know the call sign was randomly assigned from a sequential list? Although currently the Mississippi River is used as the dividing line between western “K” and eastern “W” call letters, prior to January 1923 stations licensed earlier were allowed to keep their original call signs. WOAI-1200 Radio and WOAI-TV are currently the westernmost stations with “W” call signs.
The “50,000 Watt Blowtorch” of South Texas is a fulltime clear channel that covers much of Texas during the day, and signal reaches most of the nation at nighttime. But these call letters have special meaning for me!
Radio was a big part of my life growing up, not only my rock and roll stations, but in the car on long trips or just around town Daddy always had the radio on (but not on rock and roll!). On most Saturday afternoons he turned on the hi-fi and cranked out some tunes, either radio or from his extensive collection of reel-to-reel tapes or albums.
WOAI is part of those sweet memories. I remember Daddy talking about listening to WOAI in the cockpit on long night flights – who knows where on earth they were! He also reminisced about listening to it on the drives home from Ole Miss away games – far from Texas in the late 1940’s-early 1950’s. I’m sure he never realized what a part San Antonio would play in his life on those drives home with his buddies.
Daddy loved radio and knew all the stations everywhere and often where their transmitters were, too. We moved back to SA in 1969 for the final time and at that time I-35 was much smaller and you could still see the giant concrete anchors that supported the WOAI tower. A 1956 crash of a B-29 bomber destroyed the tower which the Air Force rebuilt in just one month.
For many years the station played Big Band music and then easy listening music. I think they went to a C&W format for a while before going to just news. Daddy never forgave them for giving up his beloved Big Band format.
Happy 101st Birthday, WOAI Radio 1200!
Small Simple Things of Life 
Thank you for the lesson in radio history! Your post was heartwarming to read. There are certain things in our lives which may be “just this or that” to most folks but which carry a great connection for us. BTW, my dad was a ham radio operator – K0CRU, and I never knew what the “K” meant!
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I loved this post, Beth! It was a highlight when we could manage to get music from one of those “cool” stations like KLIF in Dallas and Dad listened to the Bill Mack show on WBAP. I don’t recall what station it was, but my favorite thing on the night drives home from Arlington during my graduate school years was a Latino station out of San Antonio!
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