Bubba Reding

Bubba Reding was born in San Antonio in 1942. He was an extraordinary sales executive … a born salesman … selling anything he could get his little hands on as soon as he was old enough to roam around his neighborhood.

Bubba always said that he got his start in radio by shoveling elephant manure. His uncle sponsored a radio promotion for his furniture company and had an elephant walk on mattresses to prove their resilience. He hired a teenage Bubba to clean up after the elephant … and Bubba’s love of radio was born!

After graduation from high school, Bubba earned his first class radio engineer's license and went to work for a station on the border. Then his big city break came when he was hired by KONO as a disc jockey. He was billed as the “Mad Lad” due to his youthful resemblance to Alfred E. Newman of Mad Magazine.

Later, Bubba went to work as a salesman at KBER, San Antonio's only Country station, and that's where Bubba was able to marry his two loves, radio and salesmanship. When Tom Turner bought KBUC and gave it a Country format as competition to KBER, he also hired KBER’s top salesman, Bubba, top DJ, Eddie Daniels, and GM, Harrell Banks which was the talk of the town at the time.

Bubba was a real asset to the new KBUC because of his first phone license, his experience as a DJ, his love of Country music, his sales contacts in the market, and his natural salesmanship. He was sales manager at KBUC for many years. Later, he fulfilled a lifelong dream of owning his own station when he purchased KBOP in Pleasanton.

Bubba passed away in 2001.

 

SAN ANTONIO RADIO HALL OF FAME

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