Ben Oldag

Click Here to listen to Ben on Environment Care Radio

Benjamin Franklin Oldag (Ben) was born march 15, 1931 in Sealy, Texas, the son of Ernest and Hattie Reznicek Oldag. He was the youngest of seven siblings… six boys and one girl.
At the age of about three, the family moved to Hungerford, and a couple of years later to the Randon community near Rosenberg. The family again moved to the east Bernard area.
Being a tenant farm family, they would move a couple of more times, but always in the east Bernard area. Each move was upgrading of farm acreage to take care of the family. They settled in the east Bernard area where the homestead still remains.
Ben, being the youngest, and I must say, the most mischievous, is always a delight and he has always been and still is very inquisitive, and this has certainly been to his advantage. To his family and all who know him. Learning quicker than others his age, he skipped grades more than once in grammar school. At the age of fourteen, he attended a catholic military high school in Galveston. After a year or so he decided this wasn’t for him and came back to east Bernard High. (He said it was about this time he discovered girls and decided he would not make a very good priest.) His classmates have numerous humorous stories to tell of his escapades, always in fun. He undoubtedly inherited his fun and mischief from his father. He not only inherited the mischief, but also his love for music. Ben was a band member with various bands starting at the early age of fifteen. His instrument was the stand up bass. He now plays the organ, piano, accordian and guitar. His first band group was with the Texas rhythm boys (Lee Leissner’s group). This group performed live on KFRD in Rosenberg. The station manager liked Ben’s performance, especially his voice and offered him his first radio job.
He reported local agricultural news, later adding his polka program. In 1951,he joined the navy and spent almost four years in Japan and was picked to be on armed forces radio in Japan and Korea. In Japan, he served with armed forces radio, informing and entertaining the troops. His title on the air was “the honshu cowboy”. (there are many stories that stem from this particular job)
Note: talk about touring with entertainers for the troops while in the service.
In the fifties when this gentlemen that we are about to tell you about tended the river gauge at the Richmond River Bridge. He would report each day to Ben at KFRD for the morning news. Then in 1985 when Ben moved five blocks down from the barber shop, he started getting his hair cut at the “local barber”. After some time of the barber refusing to take payment for a haircut, Ben questioned him as to why he would take no payment. It was then the barber told him of the time he spent in the armed forces and his only touch with home was that familiar voice, the same one he had listened to when he was home in Richmond, Texas. He related how much this voice and broadcast meant to him while so far away from home and how wonderful it was to hear an old familiar voice.
Ben returned to the states in 1954 to help his dad and brothers on the family farm. He also took up his old job at KFRD, still doing farm reporting, and of course playing his favorite music whenever he could… this would be polkas and waltzes and then a program “moments to remember”… the thirties thru the fifties music.
He moved on to KTRH in Houston and worked agricultural programming with Dewey Compton in 1966. After some years, he went to work for the Texas Department of Agriculture. Upon the untimely death of Dewey Compton, Ben was called back to KTRH to replace Dewey Compton. He asked for the assistance of Bill Zak, recognizing that bill and he would make for a good show duo.

Ben does a program on the Farm Bureau Network , reporting on agriculture or agriculturally related subjects that is broadcast on a network of more than 70 radio stations in texas. This is a service to the farmer, no one is reimbursed for doing these programs.

Ben serves as master of ceremonies at many public functions, 100 club, rotary, aarp, gardening seminars, cattle conventions. He speaks to groups of children, all ages, in their classroom or out on special projects. He is a child full of knowledge when he is with these children.

Ben does numerous charity organization programs: working with the mission churches in rosenberg and richmond as their auctioneer at their fund raising bazaars is a yearly function.