Last week I was shocked to learn that a radio station that has always kept the Orange County community informed would be ceasing operations.
KOGT at 1600 AM, which first aired in 1948 and has been owned by Gary Stelly for the past 30 years, has been a pillar of the community and deserves all of our gratitude and respect for the service it has provided throughout the years.
I’m not originally from Southeast Texas. My parents moved to Bridge City from Hudson when I was in middle school. As the small town became my new hometown, I remember learning about KOGT.
Memories flood back of me checking the website on the weekends to see if they captured photos of my classmates and I as we walked on the field in our Bridge City High School Strutter uniforms or when my friends made a tough tackle during Friday night football games.
I also remember being able to count on KOGT for important updates, including showing us the destruction and impact of tropical storms, hurricanes and tornadoes. The site was also sometimes how I learned about tragedy, including when names we knew had been lost.
While recalling those moments, I went back to visit the KOGT website. I chuckled as I browsed through the photo gallery and saw the albums that are still there and the new ones that have been added since.
You can find so much local treasure there, from Christmas Parade smiles to the Hurricane Ike history — even senior pictures and prom images from my BCHS 2007 senior class, which thankfully I and my braces were not included in.
According to the Thanks for the Memories article posted on the radio station’s website, KOGT is one of Orange’s oldest, continually-operated businesses.
The KOGT article said Stelley made his announcement on Tuesday during the morning show and “cited a number of factors, including changing media.”
Stelly was one of the first media operators in the region to start a website with kogt.com, but he still prioritized the radio. The station saw different owners over the years, including promoter Ed Lovelace in the 1960s into the 1970s, the article said.
Stelly has run KOGT since he purchased it in 1992 and has kept a concentration on local news, sports and personalities, the article said.
As a BCHS graduate and a journalist, I just want to also say, “Thank you” for being there to capture the history, the memories and the moments that mattered the most to us.
meagan.ellsworth@beaumontenterprise.com
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