Art&Seek presents This Week in Texas Music History. Every week, we’ll spotlight a different moment and the musician who made it. This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll recalls how a country radio station helped launch the career of a rock and roll legend.

You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Sunday at precisely 6:04 p.m. on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you. And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KXT’s The Paul Slavens Show, heard Sunday night’s at 8.

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On Sept. 19, 1953, one of the first full-time country music radio stations in the nation, KDAV, went on the air in Lubbock. The station quickly became known for its dynamic on-air personalities, including future country stars Arlie Duff, Roger Miller and Waylon Jennings. In 1955, a young Elvis Presley recorded his first version of “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” at KDAV. In fact, this was one of Elvis’s earliest recording sessions outside of Memphis. However, KDAV’s greatest claim to fame may be that it was the first station to broadcast a local high school singer named Buddy Holly.

KDAV went off the air for several years but returned in 1998, playing classic hits by Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley and others whose early careers had benefitted so much from this one radio station.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll remember the night a famous folk singer electrified Austin.