King Biscuit Time
- "King Biscuit Time" is also the name under which ex-Beta Band frontman Steve Mason releases his solo work.
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King Biscuit Time is the longest-running daily American radio broadcast in history. The program is broadcast each weekday from KFFA in Helena, Arkansas, and has won the George Foster Peabody Award for broadcasting excellence.
History and description
The first broadcast of King Biscuit Time was on November 21, 1941 on KFFA in Helena, and featured the African-American blues artists Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller) and Robert Lockwood, Jr. 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 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 region and inspired a host of important blues musicians including B.B. King, Robert Nighthawk, James Cotton, and Ike Turner. The show's 12:15 pm time slot was chosen to match the lunch break of African-American 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 and American Bandstand. Since 1951 the program has been hosted by the award winning "Sunshine" Sonny Payne[1] who opens each broadcast with "pass the biscuits, cause its King Biscuit Time!" Before Payne, the show was hosted by Hugh Smith from 1943–1951. Over the years the biggest names in blues have been associated with the program, and important blues artists continue to perform live.
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 and its lively blues culture. Several blues musicians came to Helena and made it their home, such as Little Walter Jacobs and Jimmy Rogers.
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 in the South, Early Wright, had been signed at WROX across the river. WDIA 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, drummer for The Band, has credited King Biscuit Time, and in particular James Peck Curtis, for inspiring his musical career.
The King Biscuit Flower Hour is a one-hour syndicated rock and roll radio program, the name of which was derived from King Biscuit Time.
In 1986 the first annual King Biscuit Blues Festival (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. A magazine spin-off, King Biscuit Time edited by Donald Wilcock, has won several awards from the Blues Foundation, including the "Keeping the Blues Alive Award", and features interviews and biographies of major blues personalities.
