KZZB (990 AM) is a radio station licensed to Beaumont, Texas. The station airs a Gospel music format and is owned by Martin Broadcasting, Inc. The station’s former call sign was KTRM. J.P. Richardson (AKA The Big Bopper) made his debut at that station in 1949 as an announcer before becoming a Top-40 performer. George Jones worked there when he was first starting out. (More from Wikipedia)
J. P. Richardson, Jr. – “Jiles” or “Jape” to his friends – grew up in Beaumont, Texas in the same government housing project as one of the greatest country musicians, George Jones, who died just this past April. After graduating from high school and a few years in college, J. P. Richardson, Jr. became a disc jockey at a local radio station, KTRM (now KZZB) and was permanently hired in 1949.
While at KTRM in 1953, Schlitz Brewing Company was offering a sponsorship to someone who could come up with a character that they could promote, so J. P. Richardson, Jr. invented “the Big Bopper” (“bop” comes from a form of jazz music called be-bop dating from the 1940’s and has become a slang term meaning all sorts of things). He then used this moniker in his recording career.
(June 2013/1)
