Broadcasting History - Various Articles
Shreveport Radio Stations of the 1920s
The following table was provided by Joey Kent, owner of the Louisiana Hayride/KWKH archives. He writes:My father purchased the Louisiana Hayride from KWKH in the mid-70s and I inherited the recordings, photos, etc. upon his passing in 1992.In doing research on the Hayride a number of years ago, it became necessary to undertake the history of KWKH to fully understand the Hayride's roots. In so doing, I became fascinated with the story of KWKH founder WK Henderson and especially his engineer, William Erwin Antony, who helped start 20 of Shreveport's 25 earliest stations.
I have researched this for over 13 years and, in addition to having access to the Henderson family papers (I'm an eighth cousin as it turns out!), I recently came into the papers of WE Antony. From his licenses and notes, along with a trip to the National Archives and many long hours pouring over RSBs, I have pieced together the history of early Shreveport radio from the arrival of the first ham set in town in 1907 up to the end of the Henderson era in 1933.
My chief purpose in all this was to straighten out all the confusion over what station became KWKH, who was first on the air, etc. I could advance an argument for making KWKH one of the oldest stations still on the air if you trace it back through WE Antony's line to WAAG. He was on the air before WG Patterson's WDAN which later became WGAQ. Basically, the first 20 stations in Shreveport were created using Antony's equipment and many listed him as the license holder although he often got friends or fellow radio club buddies to take out licenses for new stations in their name so he could experiment some more.
In listing the Shreveport stations, I include KWKH which is listed at Kennonwood since this was the country estate of WK Henderson located 18 miles north of Shreveport. The closest town would be Mooringsport since Kennonwood was not an incorporated city but a country spread of some 3500 acres, but Henderson had two studios in downtown Shreveport as well as one out at Kennonwood where the transmitter was. Another city I will include in Shreveport is Cedar Grove, which today is very much a part of the central city. It was back in the 20s as well, I imagine, although some sort of township status still existed.
Station Licensee Company Date licensed frequency wattage date closed notes 4CK W. E. Antony (none) 1912-14 1495 ... 1916-04/13 ... 5AX Dorr R. Simmons (none) 1915 ... ... ... Dorr R. Simmons was an electrician with the Elliott Electric Co., future owners of WAAG. 5ZS W. E. Antony (none) 1916-04/13 705 ... 1927 Call sign changed to W5ZS. WAAG Percy & Sid Elliott Elliott Electric Co. 1922-04/11 1000, 1140 10w 1923-1/2 ... WDAN W. G. Patterson Glenwood Radio Corp. 1922-05/18 ... ... 1922-11/30 ... WGAQ W. G. Patterson Glenwood Radio Corp. 1922-06/26 1140, 1190, 1000 100w, 150w, 250w 1925-1/8 Became KWKH-1 on 1/8/25. WMAU W. E. Antony Louisiana State Fair Association 1922-10/02 ... ... 1923-1/2 Station erected for the annual State Fair KFDX W. G. Patterson Glenwood Radio Corp./First Baptist 1923-04/02 835, 1200, 1270 100w, 250w, 500w 1929-2/28 Henderson buys from Patterson KFHF W. E. Antony Central Christian Church 1923-04/15 1130 150w 1924-6/30 ... KWKH -1 W. G. Patterson Henderson Iron Works 1925-01/08 ... 250w, 500w, 1kw 1926-8/14 Henderson financed and essentially owned. Sold to Patterson and he changes it to KSBA KSBA W. G. Patterson Shreveport Broadcasting Association 1926-08/06 1120, 1150, 1450 1kw 1929-2/27 KSBA sold to Sid Elliott & A.C. Steere by 2/27/29. KWKH-2 W. K. Henderson eventually Hello World Broadcasting Co. 1926-08/06 760 1kw, 3kw, 3.5kw, 5kw, 10kw 1932-9/25 ... KRAC Bradford Hearn/R. M. Dean Caddo Radio Club 1926-11/03 1360 50w 1928-5/31 Station erected for the annual State Fair. Moved to R.M. Dean's house 12/27. Changed to KRMD 5/28 KGDX W. E. Antony (none) 1926-12/30 1030 500w 1928-1/31 KGDX changed to KWEA by 1/31/28 KGGH W. E. Antony/Arthur J. Bates Bates Radio & Electric Company 1927-08/15 1460, 1410 50w 1929-2/27 Began at 1460, went to 1410 next month. Changed from KGGH to KTSL by 2/27/29 KTSL W. E. Antony/A. H. Houseman Houseman Sheet Metal Works 1927-09/15 1310 50w, 100w 1931-10/9 KGGH to KTSL by 2/29, 100w by 3/30/29, Houseman sole owner by 5/29, Moved to Laurel, MS 10/9/31 KWEA W. E. Antony eventually Hello World Broadcasting Co. 1928-01/31 1410, 1210 100w, 250w 1936-08/01 KWEA 250w at 1410 by 2/29/28, to 100w at 1210 by 11/30/28 KRMD R. M. Dean (none) 1928-05/31 1310 50w, 100w ... KRMD to 1310 by 11/30/28 KTBS Sid Elliott, A. C. Steere Tri-states Broadcasting Service 1929-03/30 1450 500w, 1kw ... Changed from KSBA to KTBS by 3/30/29
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