FMX Rockcard, Lubbock's Forgotten Radio Loyalty Card

If you are of a certain age, then you know about the FMX Rockcard, and you may still have yours.

The FMX Rockcard came along about the same time I did on FMX, maybe a year or two later. What I do know is all of the original cards featured the classic FMX scratch logo. Listeners received black cards with white script, while staff members had white cards with black script — and even our names printed on them.

From there, we moved into the more wavy-looking ’80s FMX logo era, skipped past the License To Rock logo period, and then saw the cards briefly return during the FMX Purple Spot years.

What The FMX Rockcard Actually Did

So now you know the history, but what exactly did the Rockcard do?

Its main purpose was to identify the holder as a fan of the station and provide discounts at participating retailers when presented. Many businesses even displayed giant decals on their storefronts advertising that they accepted the FMX Rockcard.

That may not seem like a huge deal now, but at the time it was actually pretty unique. We were basically offering one of the first local “loyalty card” programs before loyalty cards became a normal thing everywhere.

The Other Uses For The Rockcard

Then there were the unofficial uses, which landed somewhere between “barely legal” and “totally illegal.”

Yes, the Rockcard worked better than a credit card for opening certain doors. Yes, some people used it to clean up their, uh…herbs. And yes, apparently it could also come in handy if you had something in powdered form that needed to be crushed up or separated into lines.

Not exactly part of the official FMX promotional material, but definitely part of the legend.

Why There Will Never Be Another One

There will probably never be another FMX Rockcard because it just doesn’t make sense anymore. There are too many loyalty programs out there now, and businesses have shifted to email addresses, apps, and phone-number systems instead of physical cards.

Still, if you have an old FMX Rockcard tucked away somewhere, hold onto it. At this point it’s more than a discount card — it’s a little piece of Lubbock rock-and-roll history.