Pine Ridge, Arkansas, was the fictional setting for the radio program ''
Lum and Abner
''Lum and Abner'' was an American network radio comedy program created by Chester Lauck and Norris Goff that was aired from 1931 to 1954. Modeled on life in the small town of Waters, Arkansas, near where Lauck and Goff grew up, the show proved i ...
'', which ran for 13 weeks every year from 1932 to 1954 on
WNBC
WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...
. It was based on the town of
Waters, Arkansas, and some of its residents. Subsequently, the real town of Waters changed its name to
Pine Ridge by a vote of the city council
and the community of
Pine Ridge, Oklahoma
Pine Ridge is an unincorporated community in Hale Township, Caddo County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located south of Fort Cobb at the junction of County Road 1380 and County Street 2550.
History
According to locals, the community got i ...
also was named after the fictional town.
''Lum Edwards'' and ''Abner Peabody'' were the main characters. The radio show was a comedic look at rural life in the
Depression and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
era. Other characters in the show included ''Mousey Gray'', ''Cedric Wehunt'', and ''Squire Skimp''. In the series, Lum and Abner were the owners of the ''Jot 'Em Down Store''. Some of their misadventures included a failed experiment in creating a
bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
(first season), getting swindled by a counterfeit money printer (Diogenes Smith – who introduced the phrase "Wonderful World" into the series), and Lum trying himself for a crime he didn't commit (after all, he was simultaneously the town's only prisoner and
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...
).
American comedy radio programs
Lum and Abner
Fictional locations in the United States
{{US-radio-show-stub