Jim Lowe (1926–2000) was known to WRR listeners in the 1950s as the Cool Fool. Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Miller, and other performers have given Lowe credit for introducing them to R&B with his Kat’s Karavan show.
The station today is something of a radio unicorn, in that it is a commercial classical station (there are only a handful in the country), and it is owned by the city of Dallas (no other city owns a radio station). The radio station began as dispatch for police and fire before finding its way onto the AM dial. It was just the second to be licensed in the country. A century later, you can hear it in a 100 mile radius.
Also of note: WRR is the second-oldest licensed station in the country. Next year, it turns 100. To mark the occasion, NorthPark Center this month is hosting an exhibition of old WRR photos, “Texas’ First Radio Station: WRR Radio Centennial Celebration,” on view between the Louis Vuitton and Burberry stores. It runs from August 5 to September 16.
