A pioneering Arkansas broadcaster died Friday at age 90, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
Stephen Owen Stephens was most famous for "Steve's Show," a popular television dance program that aired on KTHV, Channel 11, for seven years, ending in 1964.
To teenagers of that era, Stephens was "Hi Ho Steve-O " -- Arkansas' version of Dick Clark.
Stephens helped launch the careers of Conway Twitty, Charlie Rich, Johnny Cash, Brenda Lee, Sonny Burgess, Fabian and many others who appeared on his show, according to the encyclopedia entry.
Stephens even landed a recording contract himself, cutting several songs during that period, including "Honey Bee," "Pizza Pete," "How It Used to Be" and "Weird Session."
He was born as Rufus James Stephens on April 22, 1930, the son of Owen and Allie Mae Stephens, owners of a restaurant service station in Newport.
The younger Stephens attended Castle Heights Military Academy and graduated from Newport High School in 1948.
He joined the Marine Corps and received three battle stars for service in Korea.
When the Korean War ended in 1954, he returned to Newport to join his father, who by that time was operating a furniture store. The younger Stephens also got a part-time job as an announcer for radio station KNBY in Newport, where he became known as "The Voice of the White River Valley."
Stephens married Ellen Beede of Newport, and they had two sons. The couple divorced after about 30 years of marriage.
In 1957, Stephens landed a job with KTHV in Little Rock as a booth announcer. One day, he was unexpectedly handed a piece of paper to read: "Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt your regular programming for a special message from the governor of Arkansas." Gov. Orval Faubus was rushed into the studio and seated behind a hastily placed desk. There, Faubus announced that he was calling out the National Guard amid the crisis at Little Rock's Central High School.
Shortly after starting work at KTHV, Stephens was asked to host a television "dance party" show. That was six months before the national debut of "American Bandstand" on ABC.
"We started going down there [to the KTHV station] and dancing," Sandy Hubbard told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 2005. "Six months later, we saw this show on national television doing the same thing."
Stephens' first show aired on a Saturday afternoon in March 1957 and was initially called "Your Party."
"By May, the program had become so popular that it was expanded to six days a week and was renamed "Steve's Show," according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. "At the suggestion of Jack Bomar, the television station manager, he changed his name to Stephen Owen Stephens for legal purposes."
Ticket reservations for the filming of "Steve's Show" were required because busloads of teenagers from all over Arkansas were descending on Little Rock to dance on the show. The set's walls were covered with pennants from high schools across Arkansas.
"'Steve's Show' couples taught us to dance," Brenda Miles wrote in a 2019 column for the Camden News. "They introduced a new step called 'the Arkansas push' which was performed to fast songs like 'Mr. Lee' by The Bobbettes, Roy Hamilton's 'Don't Let Go' and Chuck Berry's 'Rock and Roll Music.'"
Regular dancers on the show were dubbed "Steverenos."
"This cast of personalities were changing our mundane lives," Miles wrote. "Small-town viewers became privy to 'big school' life in the city with opportunities never presented before. We became faithful followers, and we learned from these urban kids. We felt we knew them personally. We began to send them fan-mail!"
"It was a real good experience for everyone, being on the show," Hubbard told the Democrat-Gazette in 2001. "Back then, if you were a good dancer, it meant you were more popular, and we danced all the time -- six days a week on 'Steve's Show,' then Saturday night at the Rosedale Optimist Club and Sunday afternoon at Lake Nixon."
"Teenagers selected Stephens as the Top Television Personality of Arkansas from 1957 to 1961," according to the encyclopedia entry.
From 1958-65, Stephens also served as the senior weatherman for KTHV during the evening newscasts. He was the first forecaster in the state to use radar, and on Christmas Eve in 1958, he became the first weatherman in the nation to use radar to spot Santa Claus flying into the state, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
Stephens also created and produced a television program called "Eye on Arkansas," where he interviewed performers appearing at The Vapors nightclub in Hot Springs, including Roy Rogers, Patti Page, Mickey Rooney, the cast of "The Beverly Hillbillies" and Ronald Reagan, among others.
In 1965, Stephens went to work for U.S. Sen. John McClellan as a special assistant in charge of media relations in McClellan's Washington, D.C., office.
Three years later, Stephens returned to Little Rock to start his own public relations and advertising company. In 1986, he was approached by financier Jack Stephens (no relation) to become assistant to the chairman of the board and director of communications for Stephens Inc.
Stephen Stephens remained with Stephens Inc. until his retirement in 1998.
After retirement, Stephens continued to do voice work for local and national radio and television commercials, and he hosted the "Biography Arkansas" segment for KUAR-FM radio.
Stephens served as a national trustee for the March of Dimes for more than a decade and was named an honorary life trustee of the organization in 1998.
He was the founding chairman of the Greater Little Rock Motion Picture and Television Commission and was involved in numerous other charitable and civic endeavors.
Craig O'Neill of KTHV did a show in 2017 celebrating the 60th anniversary of the beginning of "Steve's Show."
Steve Stephens of Little Rock was married to Ellen Beede for about 30 years. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the number of years they were married.