KFFA (1360 AM) is an American

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

licensed by the FCC to serve the community of

Helena, Arkansas Helena is the eastern portion of Helena–West Helena, Arkansas, a city in Phillips County, Arkansas. It was founded in 1833 by Nicholas Rightor and is named after the daughter of Sylvanus Phillips, an early settler of Phillips County and the n ...

. The station is owned by Monte Spearman and Gentry Todd Spearman, through licensee Spearman Land and Development.

Historical role

In November 1941, Helena's first radio station KFFA went on the air. 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 — thus was born King Biscuit Entertainers and the beginning of

King Biscuit Time :''"King Biscuit Time" is also the name under which ex- Beta Band frontman Steve Mason releases his solo work.'' ''King Biscuit Time'' is the longest-running daily American radio broadcast in history. The program is broadcast each weekday from ...

. The program was first broadcast on November 21, 1941, and featured blues artists Sonny Boy Williamson and

Robert Lockwood, Jr. Robert Lockwood Jr. (March 27, 1915 – November 21, 2006) 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 ...

playing live in the studio. Other musicians who played on the show included pianist

Pinetop Perkins Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) 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 Life ...

and guitarist

Robert Nighthawk Robert Lee McCollum (November 30, 1909 – November 5, 1967) 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 i ...

. Musicians such as guitarist

Hound Dog Taylor Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor (April 12, 1915 – December 17, 1975) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer. Life and career Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1915, though some sources say 1917. He first played the piano and ...

would stop by for occasional appearances. 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 Jimmy Rogers (June 3, 1924December 19, 1997) was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters's band in the early 1950s. He also had a solo career and recorded several pop ...

and

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning hi ...

, later central to the sound of the

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago ...

band, were among them. Levon Helm, drummer and vocalist for

Ronnie Hawkins Ronald Cornett Hawkins (January 10, 1935 – May 29, 2022) was an American singer-songwriter, long based in Canada, whose career spanned more than half a century. His career began in Arkansas, United States, where he was born and raised. He ...

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 John William Payne (November 29, 1925 – February 10, 2018), 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 fr ...

's, words, (dinner bell clang) "Pass the biscuits, 'cause it's King Biscuit Time!" With more than 17,000 broadcasts, this show has influenced several generations of blues,

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, 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.

References

External links

KFFA official website

King Biscuit Time Radio Show

{{Country Radio Stations in Arkansas FFA Country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1941 Phillips County, Arkansas

Historical role

See also

References

External links