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Holiday musical performances slated for ‘King Biscuit Time’
December 10, 2007
HELENA-WEST HELENA--HELENA-WEST HELENA -- Students from KIPP Delta College Preparatory School will help “King Biscuit Time” ring in the holiday season Tuesday, Dec. 11, through Friday, Dec. 14, at the Delta Cultural Center at 141 Cherry St. in historic downtown Helena-West Helena.
The public is invited to attend each day’s broadcast. Admission to DCC events is free of charge.
The nation’s longest-running blues radio show, “King Biscuit Time,” will broadcast special Christmas-time performances during its regular weekday broadcasts from 12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. “Sunshine” Sonny Payne, the show’s long-time host, will also be visiting on-air with students and faculty of DCPS.
“We wanted to do some special programming at the DCC during the holidays, and Sonny was particularly interested in involving Delta youths,” said Jack Myers, DCC educational coordinator. “KIPP Development Director Abbey Leachman has been wonderful in organizing the school’s cooperation in the activities. This was something that came together quickly, but we can imagine it as the beginning of something larger.”
Myers noted that the DCC hopes to see its holiday programming grow in coming years.
“Holiday programming on ‘King Biscuit Time’ seems like a natural to us,” he said. “It provides us with some unique Delta cultural offerings to highlight, and it could give our area schools and church choirs great opportunities to garner attention for their gifted youths and share the microphone with Sonny Payne, both on the radio broadcast and on the Internet. We hope school choirs and other groups will put us on their calendars for each December, and contact us to set up dates. This is something we plan to publicize each season.”
Located just down the street from the DCC at 215 Cherry St., the KIPP Delta College Preparatory School is a tuition-free, open-enrollment charter school founded in 2002. Offering an academically intensive program, the DCPS currently serves 280 students in fifth through 10th grades.
“King Biscuit Time” debuted on Helena AM radio station KFFA on Nov. 21, 1941. Sponsored by Interstate Grocery Company in Helena to promote their King Biscuit Flour, the program featured live performances by blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter Sonny Boy Williamson and guitarist Robert Junior Lockwood. Payne, still in his teens, began his association with the show in July 1942, and, following his Army service in World War II, he took over as the show’s announcer in September 1951. “King Biscuit Time” was recognized with the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award in 1992. Payne has received numerous professional accolades including the Blues Foundation’s Keeping the Blues Alive Award for lifetime service and the Arkansas Broadcasters Association’s Pioneer Award.
“King Biscuit Time” broadcast its 15,362nd episode on Thursday, Dec. 6.
Gallery hours at the DCC Visitors Center at 141 Cherry Street and the nearby DCC Depot at 95 Missouri Street are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. “King Biscuit Time,” the nation’s longest-running blues radio program, is hosted each weekday at the DCC Visitor’s Center by “Sunshine” Sonny Payne, from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. “Delta Sounds,” hosted by DCC Assistant Director Terry Buckalew and Payne, is broadcast each Friday from 1 to 1:30 p.m.
For more information, interested persons can call the Delta Cultural Center at (870)-338-4350 or toll free at (800)-358-0972 or visit the DCC online at www.deltaculturalcenter.com.
The Delta Cultural Center shares the vision of all seven agencies of the Department of Arkansas Heritage – to preserve and promote Arkansas heritage as a source of pride and satisfaction. Other agencies within the department are the Historic Arkansas Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Old State House Museum, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the Arkansas Arts Council, and the Natural Heritage Commission.
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