KONO-AM RADIO
KONO (860 AM) is a sports radio station in San Antonio, Texas. Owned by Cox Radio, its studios are located in Northwest San Antonio near the South Texas Medical Center complex. KONO is the fourth oldest radio station in San Antonio, Texas. KONO began as a hobby in the early days of radio broadcasting by Eugene Roth in a room over his garage in downtown San Antonio. Later, Eugene Roth’s son, Jack Roth, inherited the station from his father. In the sixties, KONO (the Big 86) was one of the leading “top-40” stations in San Antonio for several years. (More from Wikipedia)
After Homer started getting some better gigs, they pressed a 45 in mid-1968, with a Willie Nelson song “I Never Cared for You” backed with an original composition called “Dandelion Wine”. In a happy coincidence, Galen Niles’ father knew one of the morning DJ’s in San Antonio, on radio station KONO; goaded by copious donations of prime beef from the supermarket that he managed, “I Never Cared for You” started getting extensive radio play and peaked at #2 on the station’s playlist.
(September 2011)
* * *
After numerous gigs in the dance circuit in and around San Antonio, Homer decided to put out one of their best received songs, Willie Nelson’s “I Never Cared for You” as their first single, backed with a Homer original called “Dandelion Wine” (written by Frank Coy). Galen Niles’ dad knew Howard Edwards, the morning DJ at KONO, and he got their single on the radio in San Antonio. Later, another local station, KTSA began playing the song as well, and they sold about 5,000 copies before they were even approached by a manager, never mind a record company. Galen Niles revealed in a 2002 interview given on lysergia.com: “The record peaked at number 2 in San Antonio on KONO’s Top 40.”
(April 2014)
