By Robert Calhoun
Quietness prevails. A little studio at KTFS filled with innumerable dials, switches, and when each electronic gizmo is perfectly still, then all of a sudden on cue, a switch is flipped, a record greeting a beard and blue-jeans clad disc jockey. Dave Edwards, a freshman speech major, is doing his own thing, bringing the latest in popular music to the Texarkana area.
The session continues with an interesting interweaving of music, commercials, news, and Dave Edwards’ personality. He puts out the sound that entertains the youth of Texarkana.
Dave, most recently from DeQueen, Ark., and originally from Ft. Worth, enjoys his work. “After I’ve completed my college career and gotten the necessary experience, I’d like to return to Ft. Worth and work for KLIF or some other station in the area.”
Constantly adjusting dials and changing turntables, he announces a new record with a KTFS station-created sound featuring the Iron Butterfly socking it to you with “In-a-gadda-da-vida!”
Avidly interested in all phases of entertainment, Dave manages his own band from DeQueen, The Shades, which recently cut a record at Sound City in Ft. Worth. In addition to his musical duties, he heads the Orange Peel Graphics which is a design firm specializing in graphics and photography. He is currently undergoing negotiations for a contract to design album covers for a major record company.
In listing the future plans for his organization he has noted the formation of a newspaper that will be “truly representative of the people.” Its contents will be made up entirely of written editorials sent in by the readers. It will be the sounding board for all complaints and praises of life.
Dave first began his career as a disc jockey at KDQN in DeQueen, Ark. He has always been interested in this field because of the “glamour” that is a part of it. “When I was a little kid in Ft. Worth, I used to hang around KFJZ in town and KRLD in Dallas just to watch the big jocks (disc jockeys) work.”
Dave finds time to light a cigarette and relax between songs thinking of how he finds the pressures of meeting people and being “in on the know” in this “hep” world a most enjoyable thing. And besides that, it’s his bag, man. “Some people are good in math, others in science; my thing is in speech and English and I enjoy doing it.”
As his programming comes to an end and he signs off, Dave returns home to further his Orange Peel operations, read trade magazines, and listen to more music: just another day in the life of a Texarkana College student.