OPINION

OPINION | REX NELSON: A rich radio state

On Friday nights each fall, I host a high school football scoreboard show that airs on more than 50 radio stations across the state. As I sit in a studio in west Little Rock, I often think back to when the Arkansas Radio Network was at its height.

I was a high school student in Arkadelphia, working at KVRC-AM and switching to ARN news at 55 minutes past the hour. Some of the highlights of my early media career were opportunities to call in short news stories, have ARN engineers record them and then hear myself later on the statewide network.

The network traces its roots back to 1967 and an early morning farm show hosted by Bob Buice, who also did a weekend program called "Uncle Bob's Stories from the Bible." Ted Snider, a brilliant radio executive, took the network to the next level, hiring well-known newscasters such as Les Bolton and Don Corbett to go along with sportscasting legend Jim Elder.

Farm reports remained an important part of the network, with John Philpot and Stewart Doan following Buice. Doan, who died in 2012 at age 52, was the 1998 president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting.

By the 1980s, ARN had almost 70 affiliate stations across the state.

For such a small state, Arkansas has a rich radio history.

I grew up listening to KAAY-AM in Little Rock, the Mighty 1090. The station debuted a Top 40 format in September 1962 and used that format for 23 years. Because its 50,000-watt, clear-channel signal could be heard clearly in Cuba at night, the U.S. government used KAAY to broadcast propaganda to the Cuban people during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.

Clyde Clifford began doing a progressive rock program known as "Beaker Street" on KAAY in late 1966. Since the station reached so many states at night, Clifford soon had a nationwide following.

"It was just kind of a nod toward all of the long-haired, weird music coming in from the West Coast, and it took off like a house on fire," Clifford later said. "The response was amazing."

April 3, 1985, was KAAY's final day as a Top 40 station. The station then changed its format to gospel music and paid religious programming.

According to Ray Poindexter in his book "Arkansas Airwaves," the first Arkansas radio station went on the air Feb. 18, 1922. The man behind the station was Arkansas Power & Light Co. founder Harvey Couch, who had visited KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh the previous year.

"Couch arranged for a radio demonstration in November 1921 to the Pine Bluff Rotary Club," the late Dennis Schick wrote in a history of mass media in Arkansas. "By February 1922, Couch had an antenna and named his new baby WOK for Workers of Kilowatts. There were no commercials. The station was supported by the utility company.

"The station had many firsts in Arkansas: first broadcast sermon, first broadcast sports event, first broadcast music concert and more. The first Arkansas preacher to make good use of radio was Brother Ben Bogard of Little Rock, a fiery Missionary Baptist opponent of 'Darwinism' and evolution. His radio show helped promote Initiated Act 1, which outlawed the teaching of evolution."

WSV, Little Rock's first radio station, went on the air in April 1922.

"That same year, a number of radio stations joined to broadcast sports and speeches," Schick wrote. "That cooperative arrangement was the forerunner of today's networks. On June 26, 1922, the Southwest American newspaper at Fort Smith was granted a license for KGAR. It was the first Arkansas newspaper to start a station. Most early stations were owned by retailers or manufacturers such as Moore Motor Co. in Newark.

"As stations went on the air, there was a need for more than local news, weather and sports. Stations turned to regional sports events, on-site promotional broadcasts and even national sports events such as heavyweight fights. Local radio stations looked nationally to other stations for programs to broadcast."

Farm news was critical in a state where agriculture dominated the economy.

"Since many farm families came home to eat dinner at noon, this became an important hour for radio," Schick wrote. "The 'King Biscuit Time' program from KFFA-AM in Helena featured blues artist Sonny Boy Williamson, whose picture then appeared on the company's flour sacks."

WLBN-AM began in Fort Smith in June 1927 and moved to Little Rock four months later. It changed its call letters to KLRA in 1928 and became one of the state's most famous stations. It had a staff band, did remote broadcasts and joined the powerhouse CBS Radio Network in 1929. KLRA-AM 1010 would remain popular into the 1980s and was among the last Little Rock stations with a staff of full-time news reporters.

"Radio played a role during World War II, helping with drives for scrap metal and rubber, selling war bonds, and boosting morale," Schick wrote. "KOTN-AM in Pine Bluff assisted the Jaycees in their collection of aluminum. KBTM-AM carried musical shows from the Strand Theater in Jonesboro to boost morale.

"Following the war, broadcasting grew rapidly as veterans came home. In 1947, the oldest AM radio station in Arkansas still in existence -- KUOA in Siloam Springs, founded in 1926 -- became the first to add an FM station. The Arkansas Broadcasters Association was formed in 1948 to represent radio interests and later added television as that industry developed."

KTHS-AM in Hot Springs became the state's first 50,000-watt station in 1953. It moved to Little Rock and became KAAY in September 1962.


Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.

Upcoming Events