KFFA (AM)

Last updated
KFFA
KFFA Real Country AM1360 logo.png
City Helena, Arkansas
Frequency 1360 kHz
BrandingKFFA AM 1360
Programming
Format Country
Ownership
OwnerMonte Spearman and Gentry Todd Spearman
(Spearman Land and Development)
KCMC-FM, KFFA-FM, KJMT, KRZP
History
First air date
November 1941
Technical information
Facility ID 16520
Class D
Power 1,000 watts (day)
90 watts (night)
Transmitter coordinates
34°31′39″N90°37′48″W / 34.52750°N 90.63000°W / 34.52750; -90.63000
Links
Website www.hpr.network/radio-station-portfolio

KFFA (1360 AM) is an American radio station licensed by the FCC to serve the community of Helena, Arkansas. The station is owned by Monte Spearman and Gentry Todd Spearman, through licensee Spearman Land and Development. [1]

Contents

Historical role

In November 1941, Helena's first radio station KFFA went on the air. [2] Station Manager and part owner Sam Anderson offered to sell a block of time to a group of blues musicians on the condition that they obtain a sponsor. Max Moore, owner of Interstate Grocer Company, which distributed King Biscuit Flour, agreed to sponsor the show [3] — thus was born King Biscuit Entertainers and the beginning of King Biscuit Time. [4]

The program was first broadcast on November 21, 1941, and featured blues artists Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Lockwood, Jr. playing live in the studio. Other musicians who played on the show included pianist Pinetop Perkins and guitarist Robert Nighthawk. [2] [5] Musicians such as guitarist Hound Dog Taylor would stop by for occasional appearances. [6]

These KFFA broadcasts, heard in the hometowns of Nighthawk, Lockwood, and Sonny Boy, were a draw to young southern blues artists who came to Helena to hang around and learn. Jimmy Rogers and Little Walter, later central to the sound of the Muddy Waters band, were among them. Levon Helm, drummer and vocalist for Ronnie Hawkins and The Band, grew up outside Helena in Turkey Scratch. He frequently went into town to watch as the show was broadcast.

The KFFA studios were on the second floor of the Floyd Truck Lines building, a rickety old structure. The program was broadcast from there for 20 years until the building was condemned and the studio moved to modern quarters on the top floor of the Helena National Bank Building.

The show opens with the announcer's, "Sunshine" Sonny Payne's, words, (dinner bell clang) "Pass the biscuits, 'cause it's King Biscuit Time!" [4]

With more than 17,000 broadcasts, this show has influenced several generations of blues, rock, and pop musicians.

Terry Mross, American actor best known for his role in Dazed and Confused, worked at KFFA in the early 1970s and was a frequent guest host of King Biscuit Time when substituting for permanent host "Sunshine" Sonny Payne.

The program is broadcast weekdays at 12:15 PM local time and recordings of the show are available for download from the internet at the station's web site.

See also

Related Research Articles

Robert Lockwood Jr. Musical artist

Robert Lockwood Jr. was an American Delta blues guitarist, who recorded for Chess Records and other Chicago labels in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the only guitarist to have learned to play directly from Robert Johnson. Robert Lockwood was one of the first professional black entertainers to appear on radio in the South, on the King Biscuit Time radio show. Lockwood is known for his longtime collaboration with Sonny Boy Williamson II and for his work in the mid-1950s with Little Walter.

Alex or Aleck Miller, known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp stylist who recorded successfully in the 1950s and 1960s. Miller used various names, including Rice Miller and Little Boy Blue, before calling himself Sonny Boy Williamson, which was also the name of a popular Chicago blues singer and harmonica player. To distinguish the two, Miller has been referred to as Sonny Boy Williamson II.

King Biscuit Time is the longest-running daily American radio broadcast in history. The program is broadcast each weekday from KFFA in Helena, Arkansas, United States, and has won the George Foster Peabody Award for broadcasting excellence. In 2018, certain selections of King Biscuit Time from 1965 were selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant."

Pinetop Perkins American blues pianist

Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Earl Hooker American blues guitarist

Earl Zebedee Hooker was a Chicago blues guitarist known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a "musician's musician", he performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, and John Lee Hooker and fronted his own bands. An early player of the electric guitar, Hooker was influenced by the modern urban styles of T-Bone Walker and Robert Nighthawk. He recorded several singles and albums as a bandleader and with other well-known artists. His "Blue Guitar", a slide guitar instrumental single, was popular in the Chicago area and was later overdubbed with vocals by Muddy Waters as "You Shook Me".

Helena–West Helena, Arkansas Place in Arkansas, United States

Helena–West Helena is the county seat of and the largest city within Phillips County, Arkansas, United States. The current city was consolidated, effective January 1, 2006, from the two Arkansas cities of Helena and West Helena. Helena is sited on lowlands between the Mississippi River and the eastern side of Crowley's Ridge. West Helena is located on the western side of Crowley's Ridge, a geographic anomaly in the typically flat Arkansas Delta. The Helena Bridge, one of Arkansas' four Mississippi River bridges, carries U.S. Route 49 across to Mississippi. The combined population of the two cities was 15,012 at the 2000 census and at the 2010 census, the official population was 12,282.

Robert Nighthawk Musical artist

Robert Lee McCollum was an American blues musician who played and recorded under the pseudonyms Robert Lee McCoy and Robert Nighthawk. He was the father of the blues musician Sam Carr. Nighthawk was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1983.

King Biscuit may refer to:

The King Biscuit Blues Festival is an annual, multi-day blues festival, held in Helena, Arkansas, United States.

Baby Boy Warren was an American blues singer and guitarist who was a leading figure on the Detroit blues scene in the 1950s.

John William Payne, better known as "Sunshine" Sonny Payne, was an American radio host, who had presented blues music as the host of the King Biscuit Time radio show on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas from 1951 until his death. In 2010 he was nominated for induction into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Houston Stackhouse was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. He is best known for his association with Robert Nighthawk. He was not especially noted as a guitarist or singer, but Nighthawk showed gratitude to Stackhouse, his guitar teacher, by backing him on a number of recordings in the late 1960s. Apart from a brief tour in Europe, Stackhouse confined his performing to the area around the Mississippi Delta.

Joe Willie Wilkins was an American Memphis blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He influenced his contemporaries Houston Stackhouse, Robert Nighthawk, David Honeyboy Edwards, and Jimmy Rogers, but he had a greater impact on up-and-coming guitarists, including Little Milton, B.B. King, and Albert King. Wilkins's songs include "Hard Headed Woman" and "It's Too Bad."

<i>Nine-O-One Network</i>

Nine-O-One Network was an American bi-monthly music magazine, published in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1986 to 1989.

WGVM Radio station in Greenville, Mississippi

WGVM is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Greenville, Mississippi, United States. The station was established in 1948 by David M. Segal and owned by him for nearly six decades. WGVM is currently owned and operated by Monte Spearman and Gentry Todd Spearman, through licensee High Plains Radio Network, LLC.

KFFA-FM Radio station in Helena, Arkansas

KFFA-FM is a radio station broadcasting an adult contemporary music format. Licensed to Helena, Arkansas, United States, the station is currently owned by Monte Spearman and Gentry Todd Spearman, through licensee Spearman Land and Development.

Cherry Street Historic District (Helena–West Helena, Arkansas) United States historic place

The Cherry Street Historic District is a historic neighborhood, commercial, and entertainment district serving as the downtown of Helena in Helena–West Helena, Arkansas. Cherry Street is located between Elm Street and the nearby Phillips County Courthouse to the north, and Porter Street to the south. The history of Cherry Street is tied to the blues heritage of the area beginning in the 1940s.

Arthur Lee Stevenson, known as Kansas City Red, was an American blues drummer and vocalist who played a major role in the development of urban blues. He performed and recorded with many notable blues artists, such as David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Robert Nighthawk, Sunnyland Slim, and Walter Horton.

WROX (AM) Radio station in Clarksdale, Mississippi

WROX is an Oldies radio station in Clarksdale, Mississippi. It is a class C station operating at 1000 watts on 1450 kHz. The WROX studio and business office is located at 628 DeSoto Avenue, one block from the famous 'Crossroads' in Clarksdale..

KWEM-LP is a low-power FM radio station in West Memphis, Arkansas, United States, owned by Arkansas State University Mid-South. The station airs a format of blues and gospel music and is also used as a training ground for students in the community college's digital media program.

References

  1. "Application Search Details". Federal Communications Commission.
  2. 1 2 Giles Oakley (1997). The Devil's Music. Da Capo Press. pp.  202/3. ISBN   978-0-306-80743-5.
  3. Komara, Edward (2006). Encyclopedia of the Blues. Routledge. ISBN   0-415-92699-8.
  4. 1 2 Palmer, Robert (1981). Deep Blues. Penguin Books Ltd. ISBN   0-14-006223-8.
  5. "King Biscuit Time Website" . Retrieved 2006-10-31.
  6. "Hound Dog Taylor Biography" . Retrieved 2006-11-18.