:''"King Biscuit Time" is also the name under which ex-

Beta Band The Beta Band were a Scottish musical group formed in 1996. Their style was described as being "folktronica", although it was mainly a blend of folk, psychedelia, electronica, experimental rock and trip hop, often involving stylistic experime ...

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 KFFA in

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 ...

, United States, and has won the

George Foster Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

for broadcasting excellence. In 2018, certain selections of ''King Biscuit Time'' from 1965 were selected for preservation in the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant."

History and description

The first broadcast of ''King Biscuit Time'' was on November 21, 1941 on KFFA in Helena, and featured blues artists Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller) 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 ...

Williamson and Lockwood played live in the studio and were the key musicians in the original studio band, the 'King Biscuit Entertainers.' Other musicians who joined the original band were

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 ...

on piano and James Peck Curtis on drums. Williamson left the program in 1947, but returned for a stint in 1965 just prior to his death. The 30-minute-long live radio program is broadcast at 12:15 pm every weekday and was named after the local brand of flour, King Biscuit Flour, distributed by the Interstate Grocer Company. The distributor financed the show at the behest of Williamson in exchange for endorsements and naming rights. KFFA was the only station that would play music by African-Americans, and it reached an audience throughout the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

region. It inspired blues musicians including

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

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 ...

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

, and

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and ...

. The show's 12:15 pm time slot was chosen to match the lunch break of workers in the Delta. ''King Biscuit Time'' celebrated its 17,000th broadcast on May 13, 2014. KBT has more broadcasts than the ''

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

'' (which was never a daily broadcast) and '' American Bandstand''. From 1951 until his death in 2018, the program was hosted by the award-winning

"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 ...

who opened each broadcast with "pass the biscuits, 'cause it's King Biscuit Time!" Before Payne, the show was hosted by Hugh Smith, from 1943 to 1951. Over the years the biggest names in blues have been associated with the program, and important blues artists continue to perform live.

Influence and related projects

The popularity of the program made Helena a major blues center. Helena became a stopping place for blues musicians on their way from the Delta region to the Chicago blues nightclubs and was also convenient to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

and its lively blues culture. Several blues musicians came to Helena and made it their home, such as

Little Walter Jacobs 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 him ...

and

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 ...

. ''King Biscuit Time'' was also a major breakthrough for African-American music in general. The popularity of the program and its reach into the untapped African-American demographic gained notice and spawned a host of imitators. By 1947 the first black

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

in the South, Early Wright, had been signed at WROX across the river.

WDIA WDIA (1070 AM) is a radio station based in Memphis, Tennessee. Active since 1947, it soon became the first radio station in the United States that was programmed entirely for African Americans. It featured black radio personalities; its success i ...

in Memphis soon became the first radio station in the South with an all black staff (including deejay B.B. King) and musical format based on the success of ''King Biscuit Time''.

Levon Helm Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. H ...

, the late drummer and vocalist for The Band, credited ''King Biscuit Time'', and in particular James Peck Curtis, for inspiring his musical career. Musician

King Biscuit Boy Richard Alfred Newell (March 9, 1944 – January 5, 2003), better known by his stage name, King Biscuit Boy, was a Canadian blues musician. He was the first Canadian blues artist to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US Newell played gui ...

was given that stage name by

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 ...

. The ''

King Biscuit Flower Hour The ''King Biscuit Flower Hour'' was an American syndicated radio show presented by the D.I.R. Radio Network that featured concert performances by various rock music recording artists. History The program was broadcast on Sunday nights from 197 ...

'' is a one-hour syndicated

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

radio program, the name of which was derived from ''King Biscuit Time''. In 1986, the first annual

King Biscuit Blues Festival The King Biscuit Blues Festival is an annual, multi-day blues festival, held in Helena, Arkansas, United States. History The name of the festival comes from ''King Biscuit Time'', which was the longest running radio show. Sonny Boy Williamson ...

(later renamed to ''Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival'' and returned to King Biscuit Blues Festival in 2011) was held in Helena, attracting thousands of blues aficionados from around the world. In 1992, Delta Broadcasting President Jim Howe started ''The King Biscuit Times'' newsletter to promote KFFA's ''King Biscuit Time'' radio show and the

''.'' This publication soon transformed into a nationally distributed blues magazine published and edited by Mike Beck, along with Grammy-nominated writer and producer Larry Hoffman who served as staff contributor and editorial advisor. As time passed, the list of other contributors were to include John Anthony Brisbin, George Hansen, Sandra Pointer-Jones, and Donald E. Wilcock, the latter serving as managing editor. Regular columnists included “Sunshine” Sonny Payne and Robert Lockwood Jr. In 1997 the publication was the recipient of a "Keeping the Blues Alive Award" in Print Media by the

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world. Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs the ...

. The magazine, which later altered its name to ''King Biscuit Time'', ceased publication in 2005.

References

{{Reflist Arkansas culture American music radio programs Peabody Award-winning radio programs 1941 radio programme debuts United States National Recording Registry recordings