KRLD marks 100 years on Dallas airwaves, starting in an Adolphus Hotel room

NewsRadio 1080 KRLD is marking a century of broadcasting this week. The Dallas station went on the air in October 1926 from a small second-floor room at the Adolphus Hotel downtown, and its call letters came from its first owner, Radio Laboratories of Dallas. Early schedules were modest. Shows ran only a few hours a day, with the station dark on Wednesdays for equipment repairs and battery recharging.

Within a few years the station had found its footing. The Dallas Times Herald bought KRLD in 1927, tying the city's newspaper business to its growing radio industry. KRLD also became an early CBS affiliate, carrying national network programming to listeners across North Texas. It is remembered for pioneering live coverage of high school and college football games and for continuous election returns on the air.

Sports and music have long been part of the station's story. In October 1948, KRLD began airing the Big D Jamboree, a popular country music show broadcast from the Dallas Sportatorium. As professional teams grew across North Texas, the station became a go-to source for local fans.

The station's reach also extended onto television. KRLD-TV Channel 4 first signed on December 3, 1949, and later became KDFW-TV FOX 4. Today, KRLD is one of the most recognizable news and information outlets in the region, and this anniversary week looks back at generations of Dallas history it has covered.

Original reporting by NewsRadio 1080 KRLD (Audacy), with historical details cross-checked against FOX 4's station history and the Texas State Historical Association's KRLD entry.