The waymark coordinates are located at the shared KLRY-FM tower at the Cedar Hill tower farm, from which WRR broadcasts.
Dallas' WRR-AM signed on at 1280kc (1310 on the modern AM dial) in 1920, as a radio dispatching tool for the Dallas Fire Department, Soon the station veered into public service broadcasting, and on Aug 4, 1921 became the first FCC-licensed radio station in Texas. It broadcasts at 100,000 watts. Source: City of Dallas Cultural affairs website (
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More fun WRR hisotry is online at DFW Radio Archives website here:
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"The wireless operation of the Dallas Police and Fire Departments received a formal license as a "land station" from the Bureau of Navigation on August 4, 1921, and was assigned the call letters "WRR". (To the right, the bureau's monthly bulletin lists WRR's newly licensed status.) In later years, the call letters would be said to stand for “Where Radio Radiates”. According to WRR’s original license, the station operated with a “composite” transmitting system (i.e. “homemade”), and was authorized to operate at a power of up to 100 watts, giving the station an approximate range of 200 nautical miles.
There were often long stretches of time when there were no fire or police calls to broadcast, so to ensure the equipment was indeed working (and perhaps satisfy their own curiosity with the strange new device), the dispatchers started to resort to other means of occupying the airwaves. They would read articles from the Dallas News or Herald, read letters, and tell jokes. Soon they had even brought in a phonograph player to place next to the microphone and send music over the airwaves. A small but growing audience became fascinated by the magically transferred voices and music – these were the very beginnings of radio as we know it in north Texas.
WRR soon began to evolve into a “real” radio station. WRR’s initial license was issued through the Bureau of Navigation and fell into a categorical no-man’s land - while operating as a “broadcast” station, it was licensed as if it were a point-to-point operation. WRR did not receive a true broadcast license from the Commerce Department's Radio Division until March 13, 1922 (by that time it was license #213, even though in reality WRR pre-dates all but a handful of other broadcast stations.)
1922 was the year that radio truly exploded onto the scene, around America and in Dallas and Fort Worth. Whereas there had only been one broadcaster in the area before 1922, four more would soon join the local airwaves. And while the fire and police calls would still emanate as necessary on WRR, the entertainment and music portions of the programming soon found specific hours. This was partly due to the stations new license, and partly due to the fact that WRR now had to share times other stations that were signing on. In 1922 there were only two frequencies on which broadcasters were allowed to operate: the original amateur wavelength of 360 meters (about 833 kHz) used for “general entertainment”, and 485 meters (about 619 kHz) which was to be used only for government reports (weather reports, crop information, etc.) In August 1922, 400 meters (about 750 kHz) was added. WRR, like most stations of the the time, was using rather crude, homemade equipment, so staying on an exact frequency was a rare occurrence. In fact, many operators would simply adjust their frequency up or down if they found they were being interfered with. Radio in 1922 was far from what we know it as today."
From the Handbook of Texas Online: (
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"WRR. Radio station WRR began broadcasting out of Dallas in the fall of 1920. On August 4, 1921, it became the first licensed station in Texas and the second in the United States. WRR initially began as a public service station intended to serve as a communications and dispatch system for the Dallas Fire Department.
The origin of the call letters is unclear, two suggestions being “Where Radio Radiates” and “White Rock Radio,” referring to a broadcasting tower at White Rock Lake. The station was first located on the second floor of the central fire station on Main Street, before moving to the Jefferson Hotel in 1923 and then to the Adolphus Hotel in 1925.
WRR’s early years were devoted to a public service and talk format, and broadcaster John Stone was touted as the Southwest’s first disc jockey in 1920. WRR was also on a timeshare plan with San Antonio’s WOAI station in the late 1920s. The Dallas Fire Department relinquished control of the station to the City of Dallas in 1931, and since 1936 the studios have been located in Fair Park.
The station made significant contributions to the musical history of the area. During the mid-1920s western swing musician Roy Newman worked as a staff guitarist and pianist. During the early 1930s he led his popular band the Wanderers in regular lunchtime broadcasts on the air, and he later fronted Roy Newman and His Boys. WRR’s Noon Hour Varieties show also featured Bill Boyd & His Cowboy Ramblers. Listeners could also tune in to the singing of a very young Kay Starr on WRR during the early 1930s. After winning several talent competitions on the station, the girl had her own fifteen-minute program.
From 1953 to 1967 WRR broadcast Kat’s Karavan, an influential rhythm-and-blues program that promoted local music and also featured black artists for a targeted white audience. Listeners enjoyed popular co-hosts Jim Lowe, Jr., and Bill Carroll; a young John Peel, who went on to become a prominent and cutting-edge deejay in England, had some of his earliest broadcasting experience on Kat’s Karavan.
WRR has boasted a number of firsts in its history. It was the first municipally-owned radio station in the United States. It was the first news/talk station in Dallas, as well as the first to feature traffic reports. It served as the flagship station for the Dallas Texans football team. Among some of WRR’s notable alumni was legendary sports broadcaster Frank Glieber.
WRR received an FM license in 1948; the FM station played classical music. The City of Dallas sold WRR-AM, located at 1310 on the dial, to Bonneville Broadcasting in 1978. The city retained the call letters WRR for its FM classical station, however. WRR-AM became KAAM, and after its sale to Susquehanna Radio Corporation in 1994, the call letters were changed to KTCK, and the station converted to an all-sports format. In 2015 WRR Classical 101.1 FM, still owned by the City of Dallas, remained a classical music station. It was broadcast in an all-digital format and was the oldest same-owner radio station in the United States.
by Laurie E. Jasinski"
A state historic marker at the WRR Studios in Fair Park reads as follows:
"WRR RADIO
A pioneering radio station, WRR Radio grew out of tragic events in early-20th century Dallas. In 1912, a large fire in southern Dallas required all of the city's firefighting units. While they were on the scene, another fire broke out in the northern part of the city. The central fire station's signal lines were destroyed, which prevented a dispatch to the second fire.
To prevent another such tragedy, Henry Garrett, chief of the city's signal department, worked with Western Electric Co. Employees to install a 50-watt radio broadcasting station at the fire department's headquarters. The station's call letters were WRR.
Early listeners interested in the new technology could pick up the station's signal using crystal sets. By 1921, the municipally owned broadcasting station became one of the first in the nation to offer regular entertainment programming. Within four years the station had advertising support, saving the taxpayers money. From 1925 to 1939, WRR was housed in several Dallas hotels, including the Adolphus.
After the 1936 Texas Centennial celebration, the station moved to Fair Park, where it was first housed in the General Exhibits Building. In 1948, the city acquired an FM-band frequency located at 101.1 on the radio dial. Over the years the station experimented with different formats, including talk and news shows, city meeting broadcasts and classical music. The city sold its original AM-band station in 1978. However, the city continued to support the FM-band station, which, more than 80 years after its first broadcasts, continues to provide classical music, news and local programming to Dallas citizens. (2003)"
In 1936 WRR's tower, transmitter, and studios moved to Fair Park in Dallas, located in the Municipal Services building next to the Cotton Bowl. Since 2010, that building is the Administrative Offices for the State Fair of Texas. As part of a land swap, WRR moved into the historic 1936 home of the Science Place, over by the Dallas Horticulture Center, when the Science Place closed for good in 2011.
A 560-foot triangular base lattice tower at the Municipal Services building was used to send the WRR signal out over the Dallas airwaves until the 1980s, when it was classified as a backup tower for WRR. That tall lattice tower was finally dismantled in 2014. See: (
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Although WRR-AM was sold in 1978, its frequency is still head in Dallas today (2017) as KTCK-AM, the Ticket. If you want to talk sports or listen to others talk about sports all day all the time, this is the place. See: (
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WRR-FM still broadcasts under its historic call letter, and is still owned by the City of Dallas. (
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WRR rents antenna space on the KLTY-FM tower at the Cedar Hill tower farm along W Belt Line Rd. WRR's 100,000 watt signal can be heard clearly all over the D/FW Metroplex, and for up to 100 miles away.