Published: August 19, 2008 02:23 pm         

He's continuing aural history

Willie Nelson. Wolfman Jack. Sam Donaldson. And now a Gainesville resident.

For Joe Leonard Jr., an upcoming induction to the Texas Radio Hall of Fame is yet another continuation of what has become his lifelong career.

Leonard, the founder and former general manager of KGAF-AM, 1580, was nominated by Steve Eberhart, the current owner of the station, and others for a spot in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.

Leonard’s induction ceremony is set for Oct. 26 at Billy Bob’s Texas in downtown Fort Worth.

Leonard was named Pioneer Radio Broadcaster of the Year award in 2004 by the Texas Association of Broadcasters — a trophy which stately sits on the mantle of his South Lindsay Street home. He is a past president of that association.

“Broadcasting has pretty much been with me my entire life, though I’m not active much anymore,” the 60-year broadcast veteran said in an interview Friday.

Leonard owned KGAF-AM, 1580, for 20 years, until he sold the station to Erle White, of White’s Auto Stores. In that time, his station mostly interviewed local personalities and focussed on news from nearby places to keep the station competitive with larger stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, in addition to the music. But two big names stand out.

In 1954, prior to Elvis Presley’s signing of a large contract with RCA records, the prince of Rock ‘N’ Roll in waiting did an interview with KGAF staff. Leonard said he had a couple of hour-long meetings with Presley.

Leonard recalled an interview with Frank “Bring ‘Em Back Alive” Buck, for whom Gainesville’s Frank Buck Zoo is named. As it happens, Buck grew up next door to Leonard’s father — a connection which paid off.

Leonard’s father, the senior Joe T. Leonard, purchased the Gainesville Weekly Register in 1890 and started the Daily Register in its current location at 306 E. California St.

Though Leonard’s family connections to media go back to early Gainesville, his fascination with broadcasting came about in World War II, as he managed a radio communications unit.

“I had a real super assignment in signal intelligence,” Leonard said. “My job was to eavesdrop on the enemy.”

Leonard recalled his days as a manager of a group of linguistics and code-breaking experts which monitored German radio communications 24/7.

“We monitored night and day for any activity along the front,” he said. “Doing that kind of work set me off into the idea that I could make a business out of radio.”

And he did. After Armistice, Leonard sought a license for what later became KGAF. In October 1947 the license was his and the station took to the airwaves in and around Cooke County.

The Register, he said, was not interested in expanding into a radio station, though Leonard pitched the idea to the newspaper, first.

Being the owner of a station brought him many opportunities to sign on some well-known acts to his recording label, Big L Records. Some notable names include a young Kenneth Copeland before he became a televangelist, Rockabilly pioneer Frank “Andy” Starr, and many others.

His work in pioneering a genre which at one time rivaled Rock ’n’ Roll earned him a place in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, and a place in the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (which gives out the Grammy Awards).

Leonard recently took a poke at authoring books, with “Bah-Bah Black Sheep: The Story of Haney Liddell,” about a bandit from Love County, Okla. He also took a foray back into record producing with his compilation album “Big L: Golden Anniversary/Collector’s Edition,” featuring his act’s greatest hits.

“I was pretty surprised by it,” Leonard said of his upcoming induction to the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. “I honestly didn’t see it coming.”

Reporter Andy Hogue is out of here, and is moving to Austin. He may be reached via his personal e-mail address at andyhogue@ymail.com.