FIRST OFF . . .

A Texas jury will determine if a Houston radio station must make good on its offer to pay $25,000 to listeners if disc jockeys failed to play three songs in a row without commercials. The Texas Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a lower court to hold a jury trial to decide a 1981 suit filed by George and Barbara Gunter. The couple sued station KIKK after a disc jockey promised to play three songs in a row without commercials or to pay $25,000 to the first listener who telephoned the station when it didn’t. The Gunters were the first to call the station after a disc jockey accidentally played a portion of an automobile commercial. Joe Holzer, a station lawyer, said the brief message did not constitute a commercial interruption because a song continued to play in the background.