King Biscuit Time
Encyclopedia
- "King Biscuit Time" is also the name under which ex-Beta BandThe Beta BandThe Beta Band were a British musical group who received much critical acclaim and achieved cult status amongst avid followers of the underground and experimental music scene...
frontman Steve Mason releases his solo work.
King Biscuit Time is the longest-running daily American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
broadcasts in history. The program is broadcast each weekday from KFFA
KFFA (AM)
KFFA is an American radio station licensed by the FCC to serve the community of Helena, Arkansas. The station is owned by Delta Broadcasting, which is owned by Jamie and Nancy Howe, and Otis Howe, all of whom live in Helena.-Historical role:...
in Helena, Arkansas
Helena, Arkansas
Helena is the eastern portion of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, a city in Phillips County, Arkansas. As of the 2000 census, this portion of the city population was 6,323. Helena was the county seat of Phillips County until January 1, 2006, when it merged its government and city limits with...
, United States and has won the George Foster Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
for broadcasting excellence and is currently broadcast from the KFFA studio located in the Delta Cultural Center
Delta Cultural Center
The Delta Cultural Center in downtown Helena, Arkansas, is a cultural center and museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage. It is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the culture of the Arkansas Delta.The center consists of three buildings:...
in Helena.
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)Sonny Boy Williamson II
Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
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
Pinetop Perkins
Joseph William Perkins , known by the stage name Pinetop Perkins, was an American blues musician, specializing in piano music...
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 every weekday and was named after the local flour company, King Biscuit Flour. The local grocery 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
Mississippi Delta
The Mississippi Delta is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. The region has been called "The Most Southern Place on Earth" because of its unique racial, cultural, and economic history...
region and inspired a host of important blues musicians including B.B. King, Robert Nighthawk
Robert Lee McCollum
Robert Lee McCollum was an American blues musician, who played and recorded under the pseudonyms Robert Lee McCoy and Robert Nighthawk.-Robert Lee McCoy:...
, James Cotton
James Cotton
James Cotton is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band.-Career:...
, and Ike Turner
Ike Turner
Isaac Wister Turner was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk...
. The show's 12:15 time slot was chosen to match the lunch break of African-American workers in the Delta.
King Biscuit Time celebrated its 16,000th broadcast on June 22, 2010. KBT has more broadcasts than the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
and American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
. Since 1951 the program has been hosted by the award winning "Sunshine" Sonny Payne
"Sunshine" Sonny Payne
For the Louisiana sheriff, see John William Payne."Sunshine" Sonny Payne is an American radio presenter, who has presented blues music as the host of the King Biscuit Time radio show on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas since 1951...
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.
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, TennesseeMemphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
and its lively blues culture. Several blues musicians came to Helena and made it their home, such as Little Walter Jacobs and Jimmy Rogers
Jimmy Rogers
Jimmy Rogers was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters' band of the 1950s.-Career:...
.
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
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
in the South, Early Wright, had been signed at WROX across the river. WDIA
WDIA
WDIA is an AM radio station in Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States of America. Its radio frequency is 1070 kHz. In 1962 it became the first U.S. radio station programmed by African-Americans, though its ownership was white.-History:...
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.
The King Biscuit Flower Hour
King Biscuit Flower Hour
The King Biscuit Flower Hour was a syndicated radio show presented by the D.I.R. Radio Network that featured concert performances by various rock artists.-History:...
is a one hour syndicated rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
radio program the name of which was derived from King Biscuit Time. Levon Helm
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm , is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band....
, drummer for The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
, has credited King Biscuit Time, and in particular James Peck Curtis, for inspiring his musical career. 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
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....
, including the "Keeping the Blues Alive Award", and features interviews and biographies of major blues personalities.