dave stone - Inducted 1999

"Pappy" Dave Stone (born Dave Pinkston, November 11, 1913 Post, TX) established the nation's first fulltime Country music station.. Stone began in radio in 1946 at KSEL, Lubbock TX as a bookkeeper and traffic manager and became a Country DJ a year later as host of the Western Roundup show. He put KDAV, Lubbock, TX on the air in September 1953 and programmed it with only Country music, a revolutionary idea in a time when most stations' programming were block programmed with various types of programming. KDAV gave Buddy Holly his first radio exposure on its "Sunday Party", a live local show. Stone later introduced Holly’s music to Eddie Crandall, a talent scout for Decca Records - and the rest is history. The KDAV connection to musical history also includes Waylon Jennings and Roger Miller, who were both disc jockeys on KDAV before going on to artistic success. In 1955, Stone booked Elvis Presley and paid a reputed $75 for one of his first headlining appearances. Stone later established KPEP/San Angelo TX and KZIP/Amarillo, TX also fulltime Country music stations. In 1959 he established KPIK/Colorado Springs, CO the first fulltime Country station in the market and remained on the air there until until his retirement in 1999. Pappy Dave Stone was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame in 1999. Stone died on February 18, 2004.