I have been in radio all my life. I never remember a time the radio was not on in my home. I grew up in Post, Texas as the daughter of a radio family. My parents, Jim, and Mona Boles ran the station. My dad was the manager, he sold advertising, had a morning show, did commercials and whatever else needed to be done. My mom, in between being a mom and having five kids, helped as a DJ, writing, and producing commercials, and headed up the KSSL annual toy drive at Christmas taking in toy donations for needy children in the area. My mom was also the Easter Bunny (in a suit my grandmother made) every year at the annual Easter egg hunt at the city park.
I am the second of five kids. Donna is the oldest. She is 13 months older than me. When we were little, we got a Fisher Price turntable from Santa Clause. My dad would bring home the old and extra forty-five vinyl records and give them to us to listen to. We loved playing them on our turntable. As time went on, Donna and I decided to have our own radio show in our room. We got our records out, wrote commercials for imaginary businesses, made a microphone out of our hairbrush, and did a radio show in our room. It was a lot of fun but after a while, we decided we were ready to have a real radio show. When I was twelve and Donna was thirteen, we approached our dad about it. He said Donna could go first and the next year I could have my chance. So, when I was thirteen, my dad put me in what was called the control room, where the live shows took place. He said, there are the turntables, there is the cart machine where you play the commercials, here is the log with the list of commercials to play, a there is your microphone, see you later. And he left!! I was petrified. I wish I had the aircheck from my first time on the air. My voice was quivering, and I sounded ridiculous. I called my sister, and I told her she better get down there and help me. Thank goodness she did. That was the beginning of my radio career.
My parents sold the radio station the year I graduated from high school in 1988. My dad found out the radio station in Portales, NM was off the air. It is called “dark.” He made an offer and they accepted. They got it for a great price. Donna, myself, my uncle Jon (who was also in radio), some friends and my parents all pitched in. My dad’s favorite call letters were KSEL (from Lubbock originally), so he applied for them with the FCC and got them. The license was approved, and the station was back on the air as KSEL…” The Station That is All Heart.” It was so much fun getting that station going, being part of the community and learning the business even more. About a year or two into this, my parents got the station in Post back. They had financed it and the new owners were not able to make it work. I volunteered to go down there and get it back on track. It was a nightmare, but I learned a lot during that time. I had never done sales before and I did not want to, but it was a necessity, but I got better with time.
My parents were able to sell the radio station a few years later to a company out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the meantime, after 5 years of owning KSEL, my parents decided to sell, and my dad had made the decision to retire from radio station ownership. Fast forward years later, I had worked for KRBL in Lubbock as well as KLBK/KAMC TV in Lubbock in sales and decided I wanted to own a radio station. I found out that 107.3 was for sale and my dad and I partnered to purchase it back in 2011. The station at that time was owned by KLove, which is nonprofit. They were based in California. There were no studios. No music library. No employees. No clients. No nothing. We built it from the ground up. We filed for the call letters KSSL because we wanted people to think of the old KSEL since those call letters were not available anymore. We got them. My dad owned a lot that was originally his parent’s lot in Slaton, Texas. Since the old KPOS studios were no longer available in Post, we decided to move a building in and put it in Slaton on that family-owned lot. KPOS was originally 1370 AM with 107.3 FM added years later, but the owners from Tulsa decided they did not want the AM, so they had the FCC do away with it. I think it was wrong to do that and I wish the AM were still around. KSSL has received numerous Radio Station of the Year awards including the Artists Music Guild, Academy of Western Artists, and the Country Music Association of Texas. KSSL continues to serve the community with a classic country format (Playing the Greatest Country Music Ever Recorded) and believes in giving back. We are faith based so Sunday mornings are dedicated to God with appropriate programming. KSSL believes in the independent artists, and we love playing them. We play one spotlight artist each hour. KSSL believes in our youth, and we interview the kids before stock shows, we air high school sports and do senior salutes in May.
I have had a deep love of music from a very early age. I attribute a lot of that to the fact that I have always been around music through the radio station. When I was a little girl, I used to play those records my dad would bring home, I would stand in front of the mirror with my hairbrush as my mic and I would sing and try to sound like them. I remember a song called “Left Over Love” by Brenda Lee. It was on the B side of one of her hits, but for some reason, that is the song I wanted to sing along to. Several years ago, I attended an event, and several Classic Country Artists were there. I have a picture of me sitting right in between Tanya Tucker and Jeannie Seely with Brenda Lee a couple seats from us. I walked up to her and told her she is a big reason I sing. I told her the story of me singing that song when I was little. She thanked me for telling that story and started belting out “Left Over Love.” I thought that was a very cool moment. My dad loved to sing to us when we would go on trips. He would teach us songs and then have us sing a verse each. It was fun and I learned a lot of songs. He always said to give credit to the songwriter because without the songwriter, there is no song. Jimmy Webb was one of his favorite songwriters. He wrote a lot of songs for Glen Campbell.
When I was thirteen and I would listen to the songs I would play on my radio show that I had after school, I think I would soak in all the lyrics like a sponge. I would just sit and stare at the pictures of the artists on the albums. I remember staring at pictures of Charly McClain and Crystal Gayle hoping I would be pretty as them and sing as good as they did when I grew up. I wanted to be a country music singer. I finally sang in public for the first time in church when I was fourteen from the prodding of a friend. She said I should because I had a good voice. I was so shy I thought I might die. But from then on, I sang at church, festivals, and things like that. I remember when I was fifteen, the KCBD news crew came from Lubbock, and I was singing at an event they were holding at the school. I was going to Spur High School at the time. They ended their newscast that night with me singing God Bless The USA. I thought that was so cool!
I got married when I was twenty-one. My focus was on being a mother after I had kids, so I continued to sing in church and at the local opry’s, but I did not pursue anything professionally. After my kids graduated and got married, I decided to start doing my music more. I had a friend of mine that lived down the road from us help me with my first album back in 2003. I did my second album 10 years later. My third album was recognized with the Academy of Western Artists. The album is called “Please Blue Moon.” That is a song that Bill Mack gave to me. He and I became friends and after hearing my singing, he really thought my voice would be good for this song. He wrote it back in the 1960’s and gave it to me. The song is incredibly special to me, and it made top 5 Pure Country Song of the Year with the AWA as well.
I have received the AWA Pure Country Female Vocalist of the Year, the CMA of Texas Artist of the Year and most recently, my latest album “You Are Engraved on The Palms of My Hands” received the CMA of Texas Gospel Album of the Year. I have opened for such names as TG Sheppard, his wife, Kelly Lang, Deana Carter, Gene Watson, Johnny Lee, Bill Anderson, Don Williams, Shenandoah, and others. I have sung on stage duets with Linda Davis, David Frizzell and Johnny Lee. I have a great staff at KSSL, wonderful listeners, loyal clients, and lots of support. I am very blessed, and I give all the credit to God because without Him, I am nothing. I am in the process of attempting to write a book. I believe in continually trying to learn, so I read a lot. I listen to a lot of podcasts. I read my Bible and study it every day. I keep a gratitude journal that keeps me grounded and reminds me of my blessings so that I can better focus on the positive when life gets tough. I believe in being a giver. I have been given a lot of opportunities, a great life, a wonderful family, lots of friends and I am just thankful for every day.
