Conroe’s queen of the radio airwaves Mary McCoy knew what she wanted to do from a young age and she never looked back.
McCoy, 87, has been on the radio in Conroe for 74 years in April, and holds the Guinness Book of Records title of the “World’s Longest Career as a Radio Presenter/DJ (Female)” as of 2023.
In 2024, she was added to the national Radio Hall of Fame. She’s also a member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.
Now she’s an inductee to the Country Radio Hall Of Fame for on-air personalities along with Houston’s Rowdy Yates and Big D and Bubba from Nashville.
“It was my dream to be on the radio and make records,” McCoy said. “I never let anyone get in the way of that dream.”
Almost 74 years later, she has often said it has been a journey and she can live the rest of her life on the memories she made and the people she’s met in her radio career.
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Mary’s legacy
McCoy was born in Carthage, Texas, on Dec. 7, 1937, to Tom and Artimese McCoy. Her family moved to Conroe in 1949, where she soon developed a deep love for music, radio and people. At age 12, Mary began working at Conroe’s first radio station, KMCO, under the management of Jimmy Dorrell.
An aspiring singer, she traveled with the Louisiana Hayride music tour in the 1950s which featured a young Elvis Presley. “I was impressed by how respectful he was and the way he talked about his mama,” she said.
On March 15, McCoy received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Isaac Conroe Founder’s Day celebration. She told those gathered about a time when she and Presley were about to grab a bite to eat on the tour. Before they could get to the restaurant, a group of girls approached them and McCoy told him to go on with them.
That tour brought Presley to Conroe in August 1955.
Today, she still has many fond memories of “The King,” and has an Elvis-themed room in her home. She is on Conroe’s “Legends” wall on Metcalf Street and in December a bust statue of her was dedicated at Founder’s Plaza on her birthday.
Music and radio
She released her first record, “Deep Elem Blues,” in 1960 and signed with the Jin label. She also performed at the Huntsville Prison Rodeo with Roy Acuff in 1965.
In the 1960s, when Conroe’s Owen family was trying to establish an FM radio station in the city, Rigby Owen Jr. tried to hire McCoy away from KMCO. She would have none of it and couldn’t bring herself to leave.
“They were a family to me at KMCO,” she said. So Owen bought KMCO just so McCoy would come work for him.
Over the years, the KMCO station became KIKR and in 1992 was changed to KVST and McCoy has had a seat in the DJ booth through all the sales and mergers.
She continues to host her popular daily radio show live on KVST K-Star Country 99.7 FM in Conroe from 10 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday. Since 1998, she has co-hosted the “Larry and Mary Show” alongside Larry Galla and has no plans to stop anytime soon.
She told those gathered March 15 that “retirement” was not in her vocabulary.
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What’s next
The inductees for the Country Radio Hall Of Fame were announced in February.
“This year’s honorees, comprising three On-Air Personality inductees and three Radio inductees, represent the pinnacle of dedication and impact in country radio,” according to the announcement from the Country Radio Hall Of Fame.
The induction and dinner will take place in July in Nashville. On Saturday, she’ll sing at the Greater Conroe Arts Festival with Judi Lanza at 10 a.m. at Founder’s Plaza in downtown Conroe.
“I have never known anyone who loves their work as much as she does,” said her daughter, Kim Stout, announcing the honor on her Facebook page. “When I look back over the years, she has never looked at it as work, but more like her second love. She puts her heart in every minute she’s on the radio, sick or not. I admire her for that.”
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