DUANE
Duane's take
Now, this here's my telling of what the official marker has to say — and friend, it's a good one. Pull over if you have to, because this story starts with the end of a war and finishes with a tower that's still standing. Let's go back to right after World War II.
The Federal Communications Commission — the FCC — had put a freeze on new radio stations. Just… frozen. No new signals going out.
No new voices on the dial. Then the freeze lifted, and folks all across the country saw their chance. In 1949, down in Atascosa County, a chiropractor, preacher, and rancher named Ben Parker and his wife Mona Parker — both of them veteran broadcasters, mind you — helped form the Atascosa Broadcasting Co.
They were going to put a voice on the air for south Texas. On May 8, 1951, the FCC granted a permit for a station in Pleasanton. The call sign had already been issued — KBOP — inspired by the term 'bop,' associated with what would become rock and roll.
Now sit with that a second. A rancher-preacher-chiropractor in Atascosa County, naming his station after the sound that was about to shake the whole country. That is a man paying attention.
KBOP offered news, music, and entertainment, and it tailored its programming to serve a predominantly rural south Texas listenership. They broadcast daily first from a studio right at the transmitter site on the Parkers' own ranch, northwest of town. Later they moved the studios into Pleasanton proper.
The signal reached out across Atascosa, Wilson, McMullen, and Bexar counties. KBOP gave country music a home. It gave Spanish-language programming a home — largely ignored by other stations at the time, but not by the Parkers.
They hired and mentored a large number of announcers and musicians over the years. Now, I said Mona Parker was a veteran broadcaster, but that doesn't quite cover it. Mona Parker was the first woman in the United States to earn an FCC first class engineering license.
She built the tower and transmitter herself. And here is the part that ought to make you slow down as you drive through this county — that tower, that transmitter Mona Parker built, still operates at its original location to this day. In 1976, the Parkers sold the station.
It later moved to San Antonio with new call letters and new formats. The control board that ran KBOP's on-air programming was eventually displayed in the Longhorn Museum, which the Parkers founded. The station has been off the air for many years now.
But here's the thing about a signal that meant something — you can't fully silence it. The marker puts it plainly, and I can't say it better: the mere mention of those call letters, K-B-O-P, evokes a flood of memories and stories from former listeners. That's not a radio station.
That's a place people lived inside.
What the marker says
Following World War II, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifted its freeze on new radio stations. In 1949, chiropractor, preacher and rancher Ben Parker and his wife, Mona Parker, each veteran broadcasters, helped form the Atascosa Broadcasting Co. to address the situation locally. On May 8, 1951, the FCC granted a permit for a station in Pleasanton, having previously issued the company’s requested call sign, KBOP, inspired by the term “bop” associated with what would become rock & roll. KBOP offered a variety of news, music and entertainment, and tailored its programming to serve a predominately rural south Texas listenership. KBOP first broadcast daily from a studio at the transmitter site on the Parkers’ ranch northwest of town, later from studios in Pleasanton. KBOP primarily served listeners in the surrounding area, including Atascosa, Wilson, McMullen and Bexar counties. It provided an important venue for country music, alternating with Spanish-language programming largely ignored by other stations. The Parkers hired and mentored a large number of announcers and musicians. In 1976, they sold their radio station, which later moved to San Antonio with new call letters and formats. The tower and transmitter built by Mona Parker, the first woman in the U.S. to earn an FCC first class engineering license, still operates at its original location. The control board used for KBOP’s on-air programming was later displayed in the Longhorn Museum founded by the Parkers. Although their station has been off the air for many years, the mere mention of its call letters evokes a flood of memories and stories from former listeners.