KLOL-FM gets its due in new documentary

Remember the glory days of album-oriented rock radio and the heyday of Houston’s KLOL-FM?

Well, Houstonians soon will be able to kick out the jams again with “Runaway Radio,” the long-awaited documentary about the station and the impact that it made from 1970 to 2004. The film is being released on various video-on-demand platforms — including iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, YouTube and cable/satellite systems — on Feb. 27 and will be screened theatrically at 7 p.m. March 2 at the Alamo Drafthouse LaCenterra in Katy.

It is the first film from Mike McGuff, whose eponymous local media blog covers goings-on in the Houston radio and television industries. In the works for several years, “Runaway Radio” debuted at the Sound Unseen festival in Minneapolis last November and then played the Austin version of Sound Unseen in December.

“When I started this documentary, we were in a recession, followed by a global pandemic when we finished it,” McGuff said in a release Tuesday afternoon. “Based on those who have seen the movie at film festivals, it will be worth the wait!”

“The KLOL documentary shows the rest of the world why this station is still talked about to this day,” said KLOL’s first program director, Pat Fant, in the same release. “It will be the last word on a Houston media legend. We didn’t just play the music, we were a part of it. Our promotions became spectacles. Our on-air personalities were the host presenters of the nonstop performance that was KLOL.”

The film, distributed by Dark Star Pictures, includes such musicians as ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill, Lyle Lovett, Melissa Etheridge, Doug Pinnick (King’s X), Carmine Appice and Sammy Hagar offering recollections about the station. And then there are the KLOL personalities, including Jim Pruett, Dayna Steele, Dennis “Crash” Collins, Outlaw Dave, Brian Shannon, Lanny Griffith, Colonel St. James, Keith Myles, David Sadof, Levi Booker, Jennifer Reyna and many more.

Tickets for the Alamo Drafthouse screening are on sale at drafthouse.com/houston.

Houston Chronicle file Dave Andrews, aka Outlaw Dave, former DJ at KLOL-FM, is one of the on-air personalities featured in documentary “Runaway Radio.”

Courtesy Mike McGuff Mike McGuff is the blogger and director behind “Runaway Radio,.”

Mike McGuff/Dark Star Pictures Dayna Steele was a former KLOL on-air personality.

Mike McGuff/Dark Star Pictures Lyle Lovett is featured in the documentary “Runaway Radio.”