Mary McCoy, 85, hung out with Elvis, performed in a prison alongside rodeo bulls and fought off unwanted attention from advertisers on her Texas radio show
has confirmed McCoy as the longest-serving female radio disc jockey. She passed Maruja Venegas Salinas of Peru, who died in 2015 during her 70th year as a host.
McCoy was born on a farm in east Texas. Her family soon climbed into their Ford Model A and moved about 200 miles south-west to Conroe. There, about 40 miles north of Houston, life was lived without frills. McCoy said she did, so they recorded a show. McCoy recalls crying when she heard herself on the air. She “thought it was the worst thing I’d ever heard – I thought I’d never go back and my career had ended”. But the manager called back and said KMCO had picked up a sponsor for her program, which would go out on Saturdays.
One of her favorites came in 1965, when she performed as a last-minute substitute at a prison rodeo. After she and Roy Acuff sang, organizers let loose some bulls. It was part of the show but it scared her. McCoy tried to climb out of the rodeo ring but couldn’t because the dress she performed in was too tight. She asked some clowns to help her up. She remembers them hugging and even trying to kiss her, smudging her with their face paint.
McCoy was too strong to let anyone on the sidelines get in her way. And weightier matters didn’t get in her way either. The mother of four and grandmother of eight has buried two husbands but worked on through it all.
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