White County is celebrating 75 years of local radio history dating back to the 1st broadcast of KWCB AM on August 25, 1951.
KWCB signed on at 5:30 a.m., operating with 1,000 watts at 1300 AM. The daytime station provided news, music, community announcements and entertainment to listeners throughout White County and surrounding communities.
The call letters reflected the name of the original company, White County Broadcasting.
Searcy businessman Carl N. Dodd served as the station’s 1st general manager. Early radio industry records identify Dodd as president and general manager of White County Broadcasting Company. A 1954 radio directory lists KWCB as a 1,000-watt station operating at 1300 AM.
Former Arkansas State Senator John Paul Capps became an on-air personality during the station’s early years. His work at KWCB helped launch a broadcasting career that would continue for nearly 5 decades.
Capps worked as an announcer, newsman and station manager before becoming a radio station owner. He also served for decades in the Arkansas General Assembly.
Tornado Damages Original Radio Tower
KWCB originally operated from a small building near the location of the present Searcy Walmart Supercenter.
Approximately 6 months after the station signed on, its radio tower was damaged when the deadly Judsonia tornado touched down in White County on March 21, 1952.
The powerful tornado began near Searcy before moving through Kensett, Judsonia and areas near Bald Knob. Judsonia suffered the most severe destruction during what became one of the deadliest tornado disasters in Arkansas history. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas confirms the tornado occurred in March 1952.
Ron Price Joins KWCB
Longtime broadcaster Ron Price joined the KWCB staff in 1966.
By the early 1970s, KWCB had been renamed KWCK. The station moved to the Searcy courthouse square, added an FM frequency and opened state-of-the-art studios.
The modern studios gained national attention, with photographs reportedly appearing on the covers of broadcast equipment catalogs distributed across the country.
A 1974 broadcasting industry directory listed the station at 100 East Arch Avenue. It identified John Paul Capps as vice president and general manager and Ron Price as news director.
Price remembers those years as KWCK’s golden age, when local radio connected listeners through music, news, sports, public service and community involvement.
“We had quite a crew at 1 time. About 36 or 38 people worked there, including 5 in the news department alone. We had a top-notch organization. At that time, we were outbilling KLRA, which was the number 1 station in Little Rock.”
— Ron Price
rom its beginning as a small 1,000-watt AM station to the growth of KWCK and FM broadcasting, the station’s history represents 75 years of local radio service in Searcy and White County.
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