PART THREE:
KBOX COUNTRY

The entrance of KBOX into the world of country music programming was historic, not only because it left behind loyal Top 40 music listeners, but also the change made 1480 the first DFW area station to program country full-time.  Group One Broadcasting of Texas acquired KBOX from Balaban in early 1967 and took control of the station on August 1 of that year, eight months after Balaban changed the format.  Group One paid $2 million for the station.  KPCN-730 AM was the first country station in the area, starting in 1962, but broadcasted during the daytime only.  Dallas broadcasting pro and webmaster of the History of KLIF website, Steve Eberhart, explains:  "KCUL-1540 in Fort Worth also was putting up Dallas County numbers in addition to doing well in Tarrant County...KBOX figured, with a better daytime signal, they should do well.  And, although KPCN basically signed off when KBOX went country, and KBOX did okay as a country station, they never regained their early 1960s stature."  KBOX, although severely limited in nighttime coverage, quickly took the reins as the country music leader in Dallas.  In its first ratings book, the station moved from 4th place/10.0 share in late 1966 to 3rd place with a 12.1 share!  While KLIF benefited from KBOX's former Top 40 fans, KBOX found a format niche, and applied many of the same Top 40 approaches to their country programming efforts.  The new listeners loved it, as KBOX enjoyed six years of solid, Top 5 ratings, posting a high of 14.4 in the fall, 1967 book, and maintaining its peak of 3rd place amongst all Dallas stations for most of 1967-72.  Competition soon came in the form of WBAP-AM in country-formatted KBOX's 4th year:  WBAP ended its timeshare agreement with WFAA in May, 1970, and immediately flipped from a news and entertainment station to a "Country Gold" format.  KBOX's limited signal was no match for the 50,000-watt, clear channel blowtorch at 820 kHz...and KBOX's ratings started to slowly trickle down as a result.

By 1973, the Arbitrons for Dallas and Fort Worth were combined into one book, to reflect the overlap and merging of the two cities that was nicknamed the "Metroplex" that same year.  KBOX and most other stations lost ground when the merge occurred, and the station did not even show up in the Top 10 during the first half of 1973.  WBAP-AM became the clear country winner at that point, as KBOX could barely reach into the newly-added Fort Worth market.  KBOX posted only one more Top 5 finish ever, in the spring of 1974.

Perhaps the most popular offering of the country-formatted KBOX was the "Peck and Penny" morning show.  Allan Peck, KBOX personality from 1968-1980, and currently an on-air personality for KHYI-95.3 FM "The Range," was half of the successful morning duo.  He explains how the teaming of him and Penny Reeves in the spring of 1974 occurred:  "I was brought to Dallas in 1968, a year after the format switch.  Later, the morning personality went on indefinite leave, so I was moved into that shift until management could locate a replacement.  During that search, Penny & I gradually developed back and forth with traffic/school lunch menus/odd events in the news, etc.  Ratings began to build rather quickly.  We were the first and only man/woman broadcast team in the USA and in a country format.  Women to that point were treated as second bananas, always.  At some time, unknown to us, management's replacement search ceased.  They never made Peck & Penny anything but temporary...that was to us, anyhow.  The station had over 325 billboards showing with our picture, television commercials for Peck & Penny, newspaper ads, magazine ads, but we were never officially the morning show on KBOX!"

Penny Reeves described her role to the Dallas Times Herald in 1974:  "I originally started out giving the traffic reports...on Allan's show.  We would talk to each other on the air and the first thing you know, we were talking a little more each day.  Then we started getting a favorable response from the listeners."

Allan, in the same 1974 article, explained the nature of the show:  "We banter back and forth and keep it very light.  I think that's mainly what people want at that time of the day.  They don't want to start the day with something heavy."  The team's success exceeded Peck's expectations:  "The response from listeners has surpassed everything we thought it would be.  Most people just call to talk.  We've found that we've got some witty listeners."

1976 was a pivotal year for KBOX.  Group One made application for a nighttime power increase from 500 watts to 1,000 watts in 1976, and approval was granted that year.  (There was a subsequent increase to 1,900 watts nighttime a few years later.)  With this increase in power came a new six-tower array at the McCree site.  The station also had the towers painted gray to blend with the skyline in the mostly-residential neighborhood, and removed the tower lights as the FCC height requirement had been laxed.

The spring of 1976 brought the first "KBOX Country Fair" to Fair Park in Dallas.  This became an annual event, consisting of a weekend of live concerts in the Cotton Bowl, an exhibitor hall in the park's Embarcadero Building, as well as food and socializing with fellow KBOX fans.  Webmaster Mike Shannon attended the inaugural event:  "My father's employer, Shook Tire Company, had an exhibitor's booth in the Embarcadero that first year, and the atmosphere was much the same as you might find during State Fair time...vendors such as arts and crafts dealers, miracle eyeglass cleaners, juicers, timeshare properties, custom cowboy belts and hats, etc.  Teco Electronics, one of the few high-end audio retailers at the time, had a booth, and a Chevy dealer provided a new LUV pickup for display.  Peck and Penny were in the building that Saturday afternoon signing autographs in the building's restaurant area.  The old Wax Museum was located in the rear of the Embarcadero then, and was a good place to cool off from the festivities.  The featured act for the concert that day was The Light Crust Doughboys.  I was helping to man the booth for my father, so I didn't attend the Cotton Bowl activities."  The Country Fair in later years brought higher-profile acts to the festivities, including Barbara Mandrell in 1980; others over the years included Merle Haggard, Ronnie Milsap, Buck Owens, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Ray Price, Charley Pride, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.  "Listeners were required to attend remotes at participating advertisers to get a ticket," Allan Peck explains.  "Concert attendance was usually about 70-80,000 each day."

The last major event at KBOX in 1976 was the departure of Penny Reeves from the popular morning team that October.  Peck explains:  "Penny moved with her husband to Austin.  So another first happened:  We announced Penny was leaving Dallas (something almost never done in broadcasting even today,) and conducted a nationwide search for a new partner for Peck.  Several hundred applicants later, a Highland Park girl was chosen, Peggy Sears (Newman.)  Similar name, very different personality, but extremely compatable with Peck."  Sears began on November 15, 1976.

The Dallas Times Herald gave the new team glowing reviews in 1977:  "Peck and Peggy play country western records, lots of them requests, and crack jokes between the hours of 6 and 10 AM.  Allan Peck, an accomplished, professional radio man who recently was named one of the 10 best disc jockeys in the business by Billboard Magazine, was there first, with another young woman, Penny Reeves, who is now on radio in Austin.  The female half of Peck and Peggy...is so wholesome, bright, cheerful and enthusiastic, you have to wonder whether she made herself up.  Why, even the girls like her."

Peck and Peggy continued the popular morning banter until the early 1980s, when a better opportunity came along for Allan Peck.  "(Teaming with) Peggy worked until the end of 1980.  Erosion of AM radio, KBOX's marginal signal, and time all came together then when an offer to help start a new FM station was made...but only to Peck," Allan explains.  "They wanted use of an established name; however, more music left little room for extensive personality.  KIX-106 (initially KDDC, then KIXK,) a suburban move-in from Denton, was officially the end of a decade of the most creative and enjoyable time of a now 45-year career in broadcast."  Peggy continued her career with KVIL and other local stations, and was most recently heard as newscaster for Ron Chapman's popular morning show at KLUV.  Her contract with Infinity was not renewed in early 2003, and longtime local radio and TV personality, Nancy Jay, stepped in.  While Allan continues to enjoy success as part of KHYI "The Range," his son, Allan Peck II, has kept up the family's radio legacy as a personality on local airwaves at KRBV, KTYS and KDMX.

Of course, many others contributed to the success of KBOX's country format as well.  Chester "Chet" Maxwell began working for KBOX-AM and FM in December, 1969, as the sales manager.  By 1971, he was promoted to general manager, and stayed with the stations through call letter and format changes until Group One sold them in 1986.  Jack Weston (Bullard) was program director and on-air personality for most of the 1970s and into the 1980s.  The late Irene Runnels, who began with KBOX in 1958, moved up the ladder to station manager in the late 1960s before departing for KRLD.  The late Joe Long was another holdover from the Top 40 KBOX, and served many years as news director.  Bob Bostian was the sales manager and later vice-president in the late 1960s and early 1970s who was later wooed to KDNT-Denton to bring the "KBOX sound" to their AM station.  Dave O'Brien succeeded Joe Long as news director through the end of the 1970s.  "Tiger" Tom Allen was the operations director and an on-air personality, and is currently with KASE and KVET in Austin.  Ken Knox (McClure) was a holdover from the original KBOX and KGKO, and continued with both the AM and FM frequencies until his death in August, 1988.  The late Rick Fulgham was a monotone, staccato-speaking newscaster in the McLendon-esque vein of the old KBOX and KLIF, and anchored newscasts for KBOX in the 1970s and 80s.  Len Mohnkern was also a newscaster from 1971 to 1982, and anchored the final newscast for the station in November, 1982.  Ken Loomis and Russ Campbell spent several years at the station in the late 1970s and early 1980s; both are now radio/TV professors at The University of North Texas.  Jason Walker, later with KLUV and KLDD, and now with USA Radio Networks, was a newscaster at KBOX in the early 1980s.  And Mac Daniels, longtime jock at KSCS, honed his broadcasting skills at KBOX also in the early 1980s.

From 1974-79, KBOX's ratings slowly trailed off from a consistent 6th place finish to 10th by spring, 1979, which was its final finish in the Top 10.  By early 1980, with strong competition from FM and, specifically, FM country stations, KBOX posted a respectable 4.0, but could only achieve 14th place with it.

AM's demise as the preferred radio band came in the late 1970s, as KBOX and many formerly successful AM stations began to quickly trail off to poor ratings with no chance for recovery.  While WBAP-AM remained a fierce competitor, the emergence of Susquehanna's KPLX-FM as a country station in January, 1980, nudged KBOX's fate.  While LIN Broadcasting's KSCS-FM had been airing country on FM since 1970, the amount of promotion and competitive programming KPLX brought to the airwaves was unparalleled.  KPLX published the following research:  "KBOX, the other country AM station...had signal problems and could cover Dallas only.  72% of its audience was over 45 (years old.)"  KPLX was quick to jump on the "urban cowboy" craze, brought about by the 1980 movie of the same name.  KBOX's older audience did not embrace the newer artists, nor much of the country-rock crossover hits or progressive country formats of a few years earlier.  While KBOX posted a decent rating in the January/February 1980 trends, compared to KPLX's initial 1.6 (and fellow AM country outlet WBAP's whopping 11.2 just a few months earlier,) the tables were soon turned.  KSCS eventually took to the "urban cowboy" trend as well, and KBOX's days were soon numbered.

November 14, 1982 was a historic day in KBOX’s tenure.  At the end of that day, the KBOX call letters were abandoned by Group One.  KBOX became KMEZ and switched from its country format to a simulcast of the easy listening format of sister station KMEZ-FM.  Newsman Len Mohnkern, 11-year veteran of the station, delivered KBOX’s final newscast at the end of the station’s last broadcast day, and announced the new call letters at midnight.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Rick Fulgham died March 3, 1988 at age 47.  He spent many years as a newscaster in Houston and in Dallas at KIXK.

Danny McDuff left KBOX to become a jock in San Jose, CA.  He soon returned to Dallas, worked as a disc jockey at country nightclub Belle Starr, and left in early 1980 to become part of the newly-formatted country station KPLX.  "I took an aircheck into their studios in Arlington...to my surprise, there were studios and empty offices and no employees.  Susquehanna had just turned the station from easy listening and had blown out all the other staff.  I got on part-time doing afternoon drive.  Later, they hired Hal Jay as PD.  Hal called me in and I was told afternoon drive would be mine permanently.  I stayed there about three years and then, for some reason, hit the wall and was ready to get out of radio after 25 years.  I got PM drive and music director for my time there, and loved every second of it until the end."  Danny is currently finance director at a Nissan/Pontiac/Mitsubishi dealership in Tyler, TX, and lives on Lake Athens.  Danny says, "I miss radio now and then, but not enough to want to get back in that little room for four hours a day!"

Ken Knox (McClure) worked many years in Dallas radio.  He was with KBOX successor KMEZ right up to his death on August 20, 1988 at age 63.

Allan Peck is still very active in radio and is an on-air personality for KHYI-The Range in Plano, TX.  His son, Allan Peck II, carries on the family broadcast legacy as well, handling voiceover work for several TV productions in Hollywood.

Jack Weston (Bullard) later became a vice president of RCA Records in Nashville.  He is now retired in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas.

Ron Rice worked for KCUL/KBUY in the late 1960s, then to KAYC in Beaumont thereafter.  He joined KBOX in the early 1970s, and left in 1973 for a sales position at KRLD.  Ron was tragically killed in an automobile accident in Dallas just a few months later on August 16, 1973.

Roger Dimick left KBOX in 1970 for Beaumont to finish school and continue working in radio.  Currently, he is an accounting instructor at the Lamar Institute of Technology, and most recently co-hosted a rock-n-roll trivia show on KLVI-Beaumont with friend Jack Pieper.

Bobby Dark built a successful self-storage business in Dallas, and currently works for American Airlines.  Bobby says, "I now have two great little girls and am living the 'good life,' still in the Metroplex."

Jim Rose, KBOX/KTLC employee from 1971-72 and longtime DFW radio fixture, publishes "Jim Rose Remembers Radio," a bi-weekly blog about Texas radio, which got ongoing participation from some of the titans of local broadcasting.  He died on December 10, 2017, the result of a fall.

Chet Maxwell stayed through the switch to KMEZ, and left the company when Group One's successor DKM bought it out in 1986.  Chet was living in San Antonio at the time of his death on Valentine's Day, 2017.  He was 86 years old.

Len Mohnkern continued his long radio career as an owner of KPYK-1570 AM in Terrell until his passing on November 18, 2006.  He was 79.

The late Peggy Sears went on to further success at KVIL, and was most recently heard as Ron Chapman's newscaster on his KLUV morning show.  Her contract with the station was not renewed early in 2003, and longtime DFW personality Nancy Jay stepped in her place.  In 2007, Sears was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.

Ken Loomis and Russ Campbell are currently radio/TV professors at The University of North Texas.  Ken continued with KMEZ for several years as program director after the demise of KBOX.  Once KMEZ was sold in 1986, Loomis returned to school to get his Ph.D.  Chet Maxwell said, "If I had kids who wanted to be broadcasters, I would send them to Ken to learn.  He knows radio 'hands on.'"

Jason Walker worked at KLUV and KLDD, and spent nearly 20 years as a news anchor at USA Radio Network in Dallas.

Bob Bostian transferred from KBOX in 1972 to Group One's Denver radio affiliate.  After a few months, Bostian left in 1973 for KDNT in Denton, and fought a losing battle with two other co-managers who all had different ideas for the station's direction.  In a fairly recent email, Bostian's daughter Robin reported that Bob is retired and doing fine these days in Florida.

Gail Lightfoot most recently did traffic for Clear Channel's Total Traffic.  She was part of Kidd Kraddick's morning team at KHKS in Dallas, and, in 2002, was part of the failed KCAF-"Cafe 990" women's talk station.  She retired from broadcasting in 2021.

Tim Kase was later a traffic reporter and newscaster for Clear Channel's Total Traffic Network.

Doug Helton was most recently a reporter and anchor for KRLD and the Texas State Network.

Joe Long passed away unexpectedly on August 19, 1971, the result of colon problems.  Chet Maxwell wrote, "One of, if not 'the' best newsmen/directors that ever worked in Texas...Joe was irreplaceable."

Dave Manders was in sales for KBOX in 1968-1972, and concurrently a Dallas Cowboys football player.  He is the father of country singer Mark David Manders.

Dave Malone handled overnights from 1968-70, starting off in mid-mornings in 1968 before taking over the all-night show.  He was a longtime Army Public Affairs officer who just retired from Sodexho USA, and currently lives in Palestine, TX.

Larry E. Whiteside continued for several years at KMEZ after KBOX ended.  "He and his family decided to 'live a dream' and move to the Colorado mountains," according to Chet Maxwell.  "Larry has been news director at a station in Durango ever since."

Dave O'Brien, aka Loren Wilhelm, manages Garland Concrete Company at last check.

Bill Morris, known as Terry Wood on the air in the early 1970s, but mainly worked in sales at KBOX from 1968-1986, opened his own direct-mail advertising company thereafter.  Morris passed away October 20, 2009 at the age of 62.  A large box of photographs and memorabilia that Morris collected over his years at KBOX and KMEZ was recently donated to this website by Debbie Vanek.  Thank you!