Soon, though, a different sound filled the airwaves-progressive radio, with fifteen-minute songs and mumbling announcers who followed a heretofore unknown code of cool broadcasting.

There I got to peek behind the illusory curtain and observe hyperactive young adults shout and whisper into microphones while they madly pushed and pulled tape cartridges and cued 45’s. In 1964, while in junior high in Fort Worth, I used to visit KFJZ-AM, the local Top 40 radio station. Once upon a time this curious animal was known simply as a disc jockey. Welcome to the wild, whacked-out world of morning drive-time radio, home to a weird breed of entertainer who rises before the sun so he can amuse us as we struggle to start our days. Hey! Getting up in the morning can be fun, fun, fun!

No matter where you tune, excited and effusive announcers-accompanied by a barrage of crowd noises and other sounds-are raving on about the events of the day, poking jabs at yesterday’s news, playing music, exchanging sexual innuendos, cheering on the home team, taking calls, cracking one-liners, hard-selling and soft-pedaling products, and all the time practically begging you not to touch that dial so they can give you hundreds and thousands of bucks in cash and prizes. But, hey! Forget all that, because laughs, good cheer, and sunshine are pouring out of your radio at the speed of sound.

Hey! It’s 7:56 in the morning, you’re late for work, the freeway has turned into a parking lot, the car is overheating, and your personal life is a mess. Read more here about our archive digitization project. We have left it as it was originally published, without updating, to maintain a clear historical record. This story is from Texas Monthly ’s archives.

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