Gathered ’round the radio

Broadcasting changed world of entertainment

For those of us who grew up in the television era, it is difficult to grasp the importance of the radio to our ancestors. One of my earliest memories is of old men gathered around a radio on a late Saturday afternoon listening intently to a boxing match. On Saturday nights radios throughout rural Dixie were tuned to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn.

The first radio broadcast in Arkansas came on Saturday evening, Feb. 18, 1922, when Radio Station WOK went on the air in Pine Bluff two days after receiving a federal license. WOK was the brainchild of Harvey Couch, the founder of Arkansas Light and Power Company (later renamed Arkansas Power and Light, and today known as Entergy).

Couch was an enthusiastic radio promoter. He realized the incredible impact radio could have on every aspect of life, not the least being on business. The late Ray Poindexter of North Little Rock reported in his comprehensive book Arkansas Airwaves (1974) that Couch stated as early as 1920 that AL&P had made plans to “build a radio system that would provide private stations at all the company’s plants around the state to keep the plants in close touch…”

Couch himself had a large radio receiver at his home in Pine Bluff. The Westinghouse unit relied on a huge outdoor antenna supported by two 100-foot poles. With his wife and young children gathered about, Couch enjoyed live musical performances transmitted by KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pa.

WOK made history during its first year of operation. The Rev. H.B. Trimble, pastor of Couch’s church, Lakeside Methodist, delivered a sermon over the radio — an opportunity Couch offered other denominations. The radio quickly became a favorite medium for preachers, as it remains today.

Couch had plenty of local talent in Pine Bluff to fill up the evening hours, the only time radio programs were offered. Pine Bluff, like most good-sized towns, was home to several bands, glee clubs, music teachers and entertaining people in general.

The Pine Bluff Commercial newspaper reported on the growing public fascination with radio: “Radioitis. The radio telephone Bug. If it hasn’t sunk its hooks into you yet, don’t be too sure. … A set can be made in an hour’s time at a cost less than five dollars.” The newspaper noted that “a short time ago radio was looked upon as a plaything for the rich.”

Soon radio stations sprang up around the state. The John Fink Jewelry Store at Fort Smith received a license on May 1, 1922, for radio station WCAC. Unlicensed broadcasting actually began in Fort Smith some years earlier.

Little Rock got its first radio station on May 20, 1922, when WCAV was licensed. The first broadcast occurred on a hot July evening when live performances filled the station for the whole hour and 10 minutes it broadcast that night. Like most early radio stations, WCAV programming was varied. One Sunday evening in the spring of 1923, WCAV broadcast a short talk by a U.S. Veterans Bureau representative on employment opportunities for disabled veterans of World War I. This was followed by several live violin selections by Katherine Lincoln of the Little Rock Conservatory of Music. Listeners as far away as Fayetteville reported hearing the program.

The rage for radios grew dramatically with each passing year. In 1923 Americans spent $136 million on home radio receivers. That same year Little Rock’s Hollenberg Music Company named radio pioneer John Clayton to head its new Zenith radio sales department. Clayton also taught “radio telephony” for the Little Rock Public High School.

A pioneering radio station in Fayetteville was KFDA, which was licensed May 24, 1923. This station proposed to broadcast music from summer dances. Many consumers complained of poor reception from distant stations during the humid summer months, and KFDA hoped to fill that void. Like many early stations, KFDA lasted little more than a year before its owner closed shop. In these early years, having a radio station involved considerable expense and almost no revenue. Large scale advertising was still on the horizon. But it was perfect for “public” radio.

The University of Arkansas received a license for KFMQ , a “limited commercial station,” on Dec. 4, 1923. Faculty from the College of Engineering were behind the project, including acquiring $5,000 to build a studio and install a Donaldson Radio Company transmitter.

The station was warmly welcomed by the academic community, and professors soon began broadcasting lectures. Three university orchestras, glee clubs and other musical groups often performed for KFMQ. In the summer of 1924, KFMQ gained local fame for scooping the local daily newspaper when it was first to announce the results of the Democratic national convention. Perhaps more important to most Arkansans, on Saturday, Sept. 27, 1924, KFMQ carried the first play-by-play broadcast of a Razorback football game.