PRINT THIS PAGE | E-MAIL THIS PAGE

Monday, December 15, 1997

Long-running radio show entertains East Texas town

By CATHY FRYE / Beaumont Enterprise

SAN AUGUSTINE, Texas - For 31 years, Sam Malone's rumbling, raspy voice has been the first many residents hear in the morning.

His 15-minute radio show, a conversational relating of the city's news, is pretty much a breakfast staple in this small East Texas town.

"Heard it on Sam Malone," the locals tell one another when relaying the latest bit of information, be it a lively church revival or the amusing - or sometimes not-so-funny - antics of city and school officials.

Malone, 76, is quick to admit his show is often composed of less-than-thrilling tidbits. San Augustine, a town of about 2,500, about 100 miles north of Beaumont, isn't exactly brimming with stories of national impact, he says, grinning.

"Most of my stuff is low-grade news: revival meetings, reunions and homecomings."

But the longtime, crusty newsman, who has worked at and owned several newspapers across the state, still frequently manages to draw the ire of some listeners, particularly those he happens to be reporting about.

Take, for example, the school board member who punched Malone after the results of an election came in.

The woman, convinced Malone's reporting was to blame for her loss, became incensed when he took her picture as she left the building.

"I'm going to do something I've wanted to do for a long time," she informed Malone.

"And then she threw a roundhouse right at me," he recalls. "Lord, she was really put out with me."

Malone's show, which airs on KCOT-FM 92.5 and KDET-AM, begins at 8:30 a.m. weekdays and 8:15 a.m. Saturdays. It features several live advertisers, who banter with Malone as he discusses the day's events.

His distinctive voice is heard not only by residents of San Augustine County, but by those living in neighboring Shelby, Nacogdoches, Sabine and Jasper counties.

"Hello everybody, everywhere," is the standard greeting. What follows is a hodgepodge of local news, football results and obits - whatever Malone can cram into 15 minutes.

His health isn't the best. And it's not as easy to get around these days, Malone says wryly, describing his artificial knees and an on-going battle with arthritis.

But he has a job to do.

"People keep giving me information and if they didn't give it to me, they wouldn't have anyone to give it to. And if I didn't publicize it, who would?"

---

It's 8 a.m. when Malone pulls up to the Center-based station's tiny San Augustine office.

His trousers, held up by a pair of suspenders, bag slightly on the right side, due to the wad of newspaper clippings and obituaries he has shoved into his back pocket.

Below his bolo tie is a hefty stack of photocopies and several pages of notes.

Minutes later, Jimmy Boyd, a manager at Nelsyn's Furniture, arrives, clutching a mug of coffee.

Boyd is one of several advertisers who chooses to do his spots live .

"Sam's a dedicated man in our community," Boyd says, watching Malone ready the equipment. "He's Johnny-on-the-spot.

"Sam once did his show out of the hospital," he recalls. "If he's in San Antonio, he does his show. If he's in Dallas, he does his show. And even if he's in a hospital bed, he does his show."

In the three decades he's been on the air, Malone has missed only 11 broadcasts.

But his devotion doesn't necessarily make it easier to get out of bed each morning, Malone is quick to say.

"I don't relish getting up at 6 a.m. But it keeps me out of trouble," he jokes.

After forcing himself to get out of bed each morning, Malone eats a bowl of grits and pores over the day's obits "to see if I'm still alive." It's then he compiles the news for that morning's broadcast.

"You get in a routine," Malone says. "Of course, there are lots and lots of mornings where you have a small hangover and you'd like to sleep in."

The newsman speaks into a telephone receiver during his show, enabling both stations to broadcast it.

At 8:30 a.m., he picks up the phone. "All right, here we go," he says to Boyd.

The pair discuss Thanksgiving turkeys (and the best seasoning injection to use) and then segue into an accounting of an upcoming election. By the show's end, Malone is speaking more quickly in an effort to get everything in.

"Well, that's going to crank us up," he concludes. "I'm Sam Malone."

"And I'm Jimmy Boyd," the advertiser chimes in.

"That's my time. Thank you for yours."

---

Malone hit the air for the first time in 1930.

"My dad was a Baptist preacher and he preached on a radio station, gave a daily devotional," he says. "And then I'd come on and sing a hymn or a couple of verses of a hymn, with or without accompaniment. I did that for one summer."

Malone, who was born in Abilene, has spent more than 50 years in newspapers.

He was working for an East Texas paper when John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas. Malone, who was in the city to cover the president's speech, found himself hurriedly reporting on the national tragedy before rushing off to Kilgore in time to cover a football game.

In 1967, he came to San Augustine, where he founded two weekly newspapers.

The sensational story here is rare. The most recent Malone can recall broke in the early 1970s, when the bodies of four boys were dug up from the banks of Sam Rayburn Lake.

But residents here don't seem to mind the lack of excitement. They simply want to know what IS going on.

"We don't hardly get out of the house until we hear Sam Malone, and then we go about our nevermind ," says Lizzie Loggins, a lifelong resident. "He just keeps everybody informed."

Tom McAbee, who moved here in 1970, can recall the days when Malone covered area football games for the station.

"Sam's been around a long time. I guess everyone takes him for granted."

Malone garnered national attention several years ago when his cat, Ventilator, began appearing with him on a daily broadcast Malone did for a local cable station.

As Malone read the news, Ventilator - so named because he was found in an air conditioning vent - was prone to prowling across the desk, or curling his sinewy body around Malone's neck.

The cat became a hit with local residents, prompting several national reports on the feline co-anchor.

Ventilator was killed a few years ago by dogs that found the cat roaming through an alley.

The cable station broadcasts eventually came to an end, but Malone continued to give the news each morning on his radio show.

And even without Ventilator's entertaining antics, residents continued to tune in.

"He just gives all the news of the town," says Robert Brown. "Sam keeps us up to date on what's going on."

As for those who aren't always thrilled by what Malone has to report, well, they come with the territory, Malone says matter-of-factly.

"Sure, I've had folks who have threatened me," he says.

"But that's just watermelon talk. You know - full of juice."

---

Distributed by The Associated PressSend a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address) of This Story to A Friend: