Joe M. Leonard, Jr.

 Joe M. Leonard Jr.’s interest in radio began in 1945 as an officer in Signal Intelligence. His 113th Signal Intelligence Company was attached to the Headquarters for the First US Army and was at Omaha Beach during the Normandy Invasion.

After the war, he returned to his hometown of Gainesville where his father owned the Gainesville Weekly Register, Joe built, owned and managed the first commercial radio station, KGAF 1580. In 1958 KGAF 94.5 FM went on the air. To build an FM audience, Joe sold FM radio sets by the hundreds for only $10 each. The only station that it would tune to was KGAF FM.

In 1953 Joe joined the newly organized Texas Association of Broadcasters and served as a member of its board of directors and as TAB president in 1960. In 2004, Joe was named as a Pioneer Broadcaster.

Nationally, Joe served as Secretary Treasurer of the Daytime Broadcasters Association from 1959-1962. In 1960 he also was a director of the National Association of FM Broadcasters which later merged with the National Association of Broadcasters.

Joe Leonard, Jr. also owned and operated his own recording and record company. Back in 1954, a year or two before Elvis became a superstar, he and his band played a concert in Gainesville and spent a couple of hours at KGAF to promote the concert.

For 20 years, Joe brokered radio stations. He’s an inductee of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Nashville Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.