WA Radio: Longtime Hosts Paul, Shirley Bragg Leaving KONP

The Braggs

Paul and Shirley Bragg are leaving KONP 1450 AM / 101.7 TransFM, but don't call it a retirement.

The Peninsula Daily News reports the couple, who have between them 116 combined years in the commercial broadcast radio industry, are leaving only live radio.

This Sunday will be the final live broadcast of their 11-year radio show, “Memories in Music,” which airs from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. each Sunday.

When they sign off, Paul Bragg, 82, and Shirley Bragg, 79, will leave live radio for the first time since Paul began broadcasting in 1955. However, they plan to continue working, perhaps on a pre-recorded radio show. The show features popular music from the 1940s through the '60s, with some tunes from the '70s.

The Braggs have hosted “Memories in Music” at KONP since August 2003.

Paul has been in broadcasting since his first radio job in 1955 in Bozeman, Mont., where he met Shirley, a singer and state government office employee,

Shirley joined him to become the other half of their broadcasting team in 1957, when the couple married and moved to Livingston, Mont. Their first home was in the radio station building where Paul worked.

Paul later became manager of KSOP 104.3 FM, the first Country FM station in Salt Lake City.

“In '68, we drove through on vacation and met George Buck, who owned KONP,” Shirley said.

The pressures of KSOP were wearing on the couple, and they had two young children to raise.

In 1969, the family made the move to Port Angeles, to work for KONP.

Paul and Shirley said they have outlived most of the musical artists with whom they developed relationships during their years as radio broadcasters and coordinators for concerts at KSOP.

Johnny Cash, Roy Clark, Marty Robbins, Red Foley and Minnie Pearl were among the stars the couple met and, in some cases, with whom they became friends.