It was the epitome of underground radio in the early days. It was an FM station that was so low powered that they had to run promos on how to construct home antenae that were the right length to receive the signal!! This was done with cool moog synthesizer music in the background. Legend has it that "I've Gotta Way With Girls" by the Lavender Hour was one of the first things they played.

It was the foreruner of KLOL (101.1 FM). KFMK referred to itself as "Mother Radio". The earliest bumper stickers for KLOL had "Mother's Family" on them and a fun runaway radio figure. So they were related in some way.

The station was not bombed off of the air (like KPFT Pacifica radio), but it was shut down at least partly due to pressure from the Houston police. There is a newspaper article about the demise of KFMK that talked about the police being especially upset when the station broadcast to stay away from a hippie gathering spot in real time as the bust was in progress!

KFMK was in operation from about 1967- 1969. KLOL signed on in 1970 and KRBE switched to the underground format in 1970 as well.

KPFT radio staff '70
Photo courtesy Bill Narum collection.

Watch the KPFT 9 minute film documentary about the 1970 bombing. Rare movie concerning the dynamiting of the KPFT transmitter in 1970. Unseen in over 30 years!

The movie runs just under 9 minutes long. The download is about 5.3 MB. It's an .mp4 file. Download a free Quicktime player here.
Thanks to the Houston Radio Report

KPFT 90.1 FM in Houston - The Sound of Texas - went on the air in March 1970 as the fourth station in the Pacifica radio family.

Two months later, however, the KPFT transmitter station was bombed and was off the air until repairs were made. A few months after returning to the air - on October 6, 1970 - the transmitter was bombed again. And two weeks later, KPFT was back on the air - again! After months of inactivity by federal and local authorities, Pacifica began a media campaign that resulted in the arrest of a Ku Klux Klansman in connection with the bombing. He was convicted and imprisoned in 1971. In 1981, the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan admitted that his greatest feat "was engineering the bombing of a left-wing radio station." By this time, the statute of limitations had expired and the original bomber had already served his time in prison.

Here is the 10/6/70 press release from KPFT concerning the second bombing attack:

October 6, 1970
2:30 P.M.

PRESS RELEASE

Some time before sunrise this morning someone dynamited the transmitter of KPFT, Pacifica Radio in Houston. This is the second time in less than six months that criminals have tried to silence the station by bombing our transmitter, a transmitter which can be built and operated only with the permission of the Federal Government. The act itself is criminal. It is a modern method of cutting out a man's tongue.

KPFT is a grass roots enterprise, community supported and paid for by its listeners. It is educational non-commercial and its microphones are open to all points of view.

People in Houston should know of the 20 year history of the Pacifica foundation, whose successful stations in New York, California - and affiliates on college campuses - have won plaudits from professional journalists, its listeners, and such national organizations as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Pacifica Foundation is a nonprofit corporation chartered in 1946. It is a fully tax-exempt public charity. As a noncommercial broadcaster, it limits its work to the ownership and operation of radio stations and to related projects. Pacifica is non-political and has no social program or goals. It never editorializes about political questions or other matters. The Foundation's four stations exchange programs, but are independently programmed. Like all stations, they are prohibited from programming anything that could be characterized as obscene, libelous, or seditious.

KPFT will be back on the air broadcasting with your help - broadcasting complete wire copy, broadcasting music and voices which are so hard to hear in Houston. All of us who are working to put the station back on the air - the Advisory Board of Directors, the paid staff and, most of all, the unpaid volunteers, listeners, and supporters of the station - are more determined than ever that Houston have an open microphone. It looks like it needs it.

We feel our loss is Houston's loss and solicit the aid of all concerned citizens. We will be back on the air, but only with your help. This bombing can be fatal to Pacifica in Houston. We earnestly appeal for your financial contributions.

For more info visit the KPFT website.

KLOL radio staff '69 "Mother's Family"

Mother's Midnight Media Mix

Houston's forerunner to Saturday Night Live which ran a simulcast on KLOL fm stereo and UHF in the late 60's. Dr. John and Bruiser Barton were on the first show which ran for 6 episodes. It was an off-shoot of KLOL Mother's Family and sponsored by Budget Tapes Records.

KLOL original logo designed by Bill Narum
Photos courtesy Bill Narum collection.