This Week in Texas Music History: KDAV
This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll learn how a country radio station helped launch the career of a rock and roll legend.
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On September 19, 1953, one of the first full-time country music radio stations in the nation, KDAV, went on the air in Lubbock. The station quickly became known for its dynamic on-air personalities, including future country stars Arlie Duff, Roger Miller, and Waylon Jennings. In 1955, a young Elvis Presley recorded his first version of “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” at KDAV. In fact, this was one of Elvis’s earliest recording sessions outside of Memphis. However, KDAV’s greatest claim to fame may be that it was the first station to broadcast a local high school singer named Buddy Holly.
KDAV went off the air for several years but returned in 1998, playing classic hits by Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, and others whose early careers had benefitted so much from this one radio station.
Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll remember the night a famous folk singer electrified Austin.
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