Highlights | ||
Bought Four Terrestrial Radio Stations
Pioneered Broadcasting High School Sports on the Internet Created The Lasting Value Broadcasting Network Former Board Director -- Texas Association of Broadcasters Made the Cover of Radio World Magazine Made the Cover of Texas Magazine The Only Radio Station to Broadcast the Obama/Clinton Debate Live Created KCLW Country TV National Association of Broadcasters Fellow Knight International Fellow |
Read About the Awards Ceremony |
Named Texas Broadcaster of the Year Owns America's Oldest Country/Western Music Station Created the Lone Star Sports Network Legislative Leader -- Texas Association of Broadcasters Board Made the Cover of the Austin American-Statesman Made the Cover of Texas Monthly Magazine The World's First Radio Station to Break the Space Shuttle Crash News Created The Bluegrass Channel RIAS Berlin Fellow Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Fellow |
Lasting Value Radio, Inc. Lasting Value Broadcasting Group |
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Lasting Value Mission Statement January 2000 |
Jasper TX |
Jasper TX |
Hamilton TX |
Austin TX |
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Read Article |
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"The Broadcaster of the Year in the Lone Star State Advocates Localism With a Global Perspective." -- Radio World Magazine |
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60 Years of Western Music |
Read Proclamation |
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"America's #1 Western Music Station" -- Gene Autry Western Assoc. |
Radio Station of the Year - Academy of Western Artists | Meredith Beal Day in Hamilton TX | |
Space Shuttle Columbia Crashes in Jasper |
ABC World News Tonight Visits Meredith @ KCLW
Hamilton, TX -- The Houston Chronicle did a four-page, full color feature story that was the cover story in the Texas Magazine section of the Sunday paper. The writer was doing a story comparing big city radio to small town radio. I asked her why she did the story when you can't hear the station in Houston unless you listen online. She said she was looking in a directory for a radio station in a city with a population less than 20,000. Her finger stopped at KCLW. They spent several days in Hamilton at the station, at listeners' homes and various businesses in town capturing the flavor of small town America.
The story was to explore what's going to happen to small town America with the big boys swallowing stations across the country. What aired on the Sunday evening ABC World News Tonight broadcast however, turned out to be a story about a quaint little radio station 45 minutes from President Bush's ranch and barely mentioned the upcoming FCC hearing (during which I testified). After the broadcast, which brought a great deal of attention to the city of Hamilton, businessmen in the community approached the mayor and suggested that the City do something to show their appreciation for all the attention. That led to them proclaiming August 14, 2007 Meredith Beal Day in the City of Hamilton TX.
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Space Shuttle Columbia Disintegrates Above Texas
The Space Shuttle Columbia was returning from its 28th mission when, 16 minutes to touchdown, the shuttle incinerated and broke apart while re-entering the atmosphere over Texas killing all seven crew members on board. The disaster occurred minutes before Columbia was scheduled to land at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center
The largest-ever organized ground search took place. Thousands of volunteers descended upon Texas to participate in the effort to gather the Shuttle’s remains. I was planning to go home that day but I wound up staying another week witnessing an incredible phenomena as people came together to search the forests for debris and remains. Because there was sparse cell coverage Verizon donated cell towers. Walmart donated over 100,000 batteries. There were only two hotels in town so families opened their homes and farms, churches opened their doors and fed thousands of people as folks put their lives on hold to help.
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Ted Kopple talks with Meredith before the broadcast Jasper, TX -- NIGHTLINE COMES TO JASPER Ted Koppel anchored a live town hall meeting on race in America from Jasper, TX. The town meeting, broadcast on both ABC and PBS was held with the citizens of Jasper, many of whom were interviewed for the PBS "Point of View" documentary "Two Towns of Jasper," which examines the disconnect between whites and blacks, highlighted by the brutal murder in Jasper of James Byrd, Jr. by white supremacists in 1998, one of the most hideous racial crimes of our times.
When James Byrd, Jr. was chained to a pick-up truck and dragged to death by three white men, the town of Jasper was forever altered. The murder shocked the nation and news outlets around the world reported on the violent hate crime. Meredith Interviews Father Ron on "Deep East Texas Today" |
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FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn |
Radio Legend George Marti |
Radio Legend Hal Jackson |
Kelsey Grammer |
Steve Croft |
How I Wound Up Buying Radio StationsMeredith's Broadcasting Story |
I have always been interested in gadgets. As a boy I was fascinated with science and spent many, many hours with my chemistry set and electronics kits. In those days there were stores like Olson’s (formerly Tandy and now Radio Shack), Heath Kit, Estes Rockets, Allied and others where you could buy parts or kits to build all kinds of things – radios, rockets, lasers, walkie-talkies, parabolic microphones and all sorts of stuff. In these days young folks are intrigued by web design, media creation and the like. In those days it was amateur radio also called ham radio. Amateur radio operators also discovered that long-distance communication was possible on shortwave bands. Many amateurs began as I did with a fascination with radio communication and then combined other personal interests to make pursuit of the hobby rewarding. I built a transmitter and was able to talk with people in Australia, Hawaii, Canada, South America and other parts of the United States. When I was 16 I got a First Class Radio License. When I was in my early 20s, I discovered that my neighbor’s grandmother owned a radio station in northern California. He and I visited one day and I was fascinated and began hanging out there from time to time when I could. |
The Lasting Value Team |
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KCLW Team |
KCLW GM Kyle Phillips KWYX GM Shelley Davis |
KTXJ/KWYX Team |
The Lone Star Sports Network Meredith Beal Pioneers Broadcasting High School Sports on the Internet A Lasting Value Network |
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Simultaneous weekly broadcasting of 10 games from a total of 25 cities | |||||||
Hamilton Bulldogs |
Connally Cougars |
Pflugerville Panthers |
Lago Vista Vikings |
Manor Mustangs |
Hico Tigers |
Gatesville Hornets |
Westwood Warriors |
Carl Ross & Ricah Lynn Host Lone Star Sports' Saturday Wrap Up |
Lone Star Sports Network Studios in Austin, TX |
Sportscasters |
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Carl Ross & Justin Simmons Vikings |
Jan Stevens & Charles Akins Cougars |
Steve Howard & Guy Dean Hornets |
Chad Treadway & Steve Almquist Bulldogs |
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Bill Culhane & Trent Calavan Panthers |
Ricah Lynn & Carl Ross Alamo Dome State Playoffs |
George Cagle Mustangs |
Peter Watkins & James Lyle Warriors |
Lone Star Sports Internet TV Production | ||||
Lone Star also broadcasted Pop Warner Football |
Meredith Beal Ricky Green/Ronald Beal Carl Settles George Cagle Andrew Cook/John Luke Damien Minter/Alana Peters Marcus Cherry Michael Waters Marques Little/Maria Lopez Lasting Value Broadcasting Lasting Value Radio |
Executive Producer Producers Broadcast Director Technical Director Broadcast Technicians Camera Operators Audio Engineer Sound Technician Production Associates StreamWorks Syndication |
The Round Rock Colts |
The KCLW Band |
How many radio stations have an in-house band made up of station employees? The only one I know of was mine -- KCLW, America's Number 1 Western Music Station. Perhaps it was because the station had been playing vintage Western music longer than any other station in the world or maybe there were a large number of music enthusiasts in the community. Whatever the reason, it happens that all of the deejays but one was a professional musician or performer.
The morning show deejay was a drummer in a rock band, the noon deejay was a guitar player, the General Manager sang in a Country/Western band, the afternoon show host was a 70-year-old seasoned performer who played multiple instruments, released dozens of albums in his career and when he wasn't at the station he spent his time at his music instrument store giving music lessons on steel guitar, dolbro, banjo, fiddle, violin and who knows how many more instruments. And, of course I play a number of instruments. A series of wild fires hit the central Texas area and really depleted the resources of many fire departments around the state. Most of the departments were comprised of volunteer firefighters and had small budgets. By mid-year many had exhausted their funds. One day a fire broke out and threatened the home of Kyle Phillips, our morning show host. Volunteer fire departments from two counties helped save his home. He wanted to do something to show his appreciation so we agreed to have the radio station host a fundraiser. That was the birth of KCLW's FireFest -- a family festival and celebration appreciating first responders during which we raised money for 14 volunteer fire departments. It became a great gathering of law enforcement, fire & emergency service personnel and community residents from all of the counties. We decided to form the KCLW BAND for the event. We did a couple of Country standards and then performed two of each member's songs. I played bass and then when I moved to harmonica for a harmonica version of "Wichita Lineman," Carroll Parham moved from dolbro to bass guitar. We had a BALL and surprised the community who didn't realize we had that level of musicianship. This great community event was a factor in my selection as Texas Broadcaster of the Year the following year in 2007. |
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Historic Live Broadcast Events |
Exclusive Interview Herb Jeffries 1st Black Cowboy on the Silver Screen |
Exclusive Interview Texas Lt. Governor Ben Barnes |
Exclusive Interview Kinky Friedman |
Herb Jeffries Producer * Actor Lead Singer in Duke Ellington's Band 1st Black Singing Cowboy
I was watching a television documentary on Black cowboys narrated by Mario van Peebles. The program examined the history of Black presence in western movies. There were several snippets where they interviewed Herb Jeffries. Jeffries produced and starred in several all-Black-cast-and-crew western movies during the 1930s. At the time Gene Autrey had risen to fame as a singing cowboy in movies and later on television. Autrey was followed by Roy Rogers and a string of others. Jeffries was urged by Louis Armstrong to move to Chicago. His break came in 1933 at the Chicago World's Fair singing with the Earl Hines Orchestra at the age of 19. His first recordings were with Hines in 1934 and by 1940 was singing and recording with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. His 1940 recording of "Flamingo" with Ellington, sold more than 14 million copies! His name had been Herbert Jeffrey but the credits on the record mistakenly called him Jeffries, so he renamed himself to match the typo.
Back at the ranch ... so to speak ... that is, when I got back to Hamilton, TX and was at the station, I was talking with the afternoon deejay, Carroll Parham, who is an elder musician in his 70s who does a show on the station playing a range of vintage music covering several genres. You might hear him playing Brook Benton, Nat King Cole or José Feliciano. I asked him if he had heard of Herb Jeffries. He said "Sure, I play him sometimes. As a matter of fact..." and he reached into the back seat of his car where he had several milk crates of vinyl LPs (records in the old days :) and pulled out one of Herb's records. I literally got on my knees and bowed in respect to this white man who was hip to someone I knew very little about. I told him I invited Herb on the air and we decided that it would be great to do it in his time slot since his audience would be more familiar. Though, Jeffries was a pioneer in the film industry, he finally received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame but for his recording career as lead singer of the famed Duke Ellington Band, not for his film career.
I attended the ceremony at 6672 Hollywood Boulevard where his star is located. I was pleasantly and proudly surprised by the presence of a group of current African-American actors who are also real cowboys -- that is -- rodeo type cowboys. Glynn Turman, Reginald Dorsey, Oba Babatunde, James Pickens and several others came out to honor the original icon of the Black TV cowboy. Herb was also celebrating his 90th birthday. Amazingly, he even performed at the party. |
Former Texas Lt. Governor Ben Barnes in an exclusive interview with KCLW following the release of his new book "Barn Burning Barn Building"
Barnes won a seat in the Texas Legislature in 1960 at the unheard-of age of 22 and four years later became the youngest Speaker of the House since the Civil War. In 1968, he helped Congressman George Herbert Walker Bush get his son into the National Guard—a controversy that would rage during the 2004 presidential election. Shout Out From Iraq Live Call-in Program from the War Zone
1st Calvary Logo |
Colorful Country recording artist Kinky Friedman made a bid for the Texas Governor's job in 2006 Kinky Friedman, born Richard Samet Friedman, is an American Texas Country/Western singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician and former columnist for Texas Monthly who styles himself in the mold of popular American satirists Will Rogers and Mark Twain. He was one of two independent candidates in the 2006 election for the office of Governor of Texas. Receiving 12.6% of the vote, Friedman placed fourth in the six-person race.
Kinky supports the full legalization and cultivation of marijuana and hemp products, declaring that the end of the prohibition is a health, education funding, prison reduction, border security and state's rights issue.
A Few of the Other Candidates
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Historic Live Broadcast Event Live Statewide Interactive Black History Month Webcast |
Lasting Value Broadcasting Group & MediaXperiment's AdYouth partner to deliver a live, interactive webcast from The George H.W. Bush Library at Texas A&M University to a local audience of 500 with 3,000 more students participating in a Q&A session from schools around Texas via the state's school video network. This is the first event of its kind allowing students in seven locations around the state to ask questions via live video connection to the presenters in Austin. Several AdYouth program participants |
Life of A Buffalo Soldier -- Texas Parks & Wildlife Presentation |
being mentored by professionals from Lasting Value were selected to conduct the broadcast under supervision of Lasting Value & Texas A&M experts. "This is a demonstration of how technology can be used to expand delivery of educational experiences effectively to a broad audience," says Lasting Value CEO Meredith Beal. MediaXperiment Founder Carl Settles noted that this kind of hands-on experience is indespensible in preparing young people for careers in the media. |
Innovative Programming | ||||||
Shout Out From Iraq |
What Do You Think? |
The Trading Post |
Values & Visions |
AWEsome News |
Deep East Texas Today |
Dallas Cowboys Report |
Texas Rangers Baseball |
Get A Job |
Classic Country Today |
Cowboy Corner |
Bluegrass Bash |
Bobby Womack/Magnificent Montague |
News Analyst Roland Martin |
Roger Ebert |
Marcellus Alexander (EVP of TV @ NAB) |
George Christensen, Radio One, Gambia |
“I bought my first radio station in 2000 and seven years later I received the highest honor in the field of broadcasting in the State of Texas
– Texas Broadcaster of the Year. Texas has the most television and radio stations in the United States and out of all of them I was selected.” |