A look back: The 1975 ‘Big Bird’ mystery that haunted South Texas headlines

The radio station was a 5000-watt, directional AM, serving the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. We liked to think we rocked the border from the beaches of South Padre Island to the brush country near Laredo.

It was New Year’s Eve in 1975. 

I was a one-man news department, pulling wire copy, calling around to cop shops, and trying to build sources to get stories of interest and importance to the two dozen communities lining the big river. 

Like every young reporter, I was looking for my first important scoop. I wanted a break early in my career, maybe like when CBS News discovered Dan Rather’s work while he was reporting on Hurricane Carla in Houston.