Snapshots of History
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By Mike Avitt
104-110 N. Taylor Street in Mount Ayr.
I took this week’s picture in April 2011 and in 1949, the storefront nearest the camera was the home of Mount Ayr’s first television set. Ted Marrs had a radio shop in that location and he put a new TV on display there in July 1949.
But, who had the first radio?
Radio was a phenomenon. For the first time sporting events could be heard in “real time.” Politicians, newscasters, and advertisers could reach their listeners instantly. Music, weather reports, breaking news, livestock and grain prices could be had with the push of a button. Sounds easy, but not so fast…..
First, you had to own a radio. I know Glenn Baird was selling radios out of J. B. Currie’s store in the early 1920s. Johnston Auto Co. was selling radios in 1924. So, a radio set could be purchased locally if you had enough money.
Second, you had to have electricity. Mount Ayr got electricity in 1909 and most of the other towns were electrified around 1920. However, rural Ringgold County did not get electricity until 1945, so those folks were on the waiting list.
Third, there had to be a station to dial in. And here’s where things get interesting.
There were probably some radio stations that came and went and my research missed them. What I did find was two stations that went on the air in 1923 which Ringgold County might have been able to pull in on a cloudy night.
What eventually became KFEQ out of St. Joseph, Missouri started in 1923 from Oak, Nebraska. The operations moved to St. Joe in 1925. This was an agriculture-based radio station with farm reports, weather, livestock and grain quotes, and broadcasts from the St. Joseph Livestock Exchange. Initially, KFEQ wasn’t on at night.
Also in 1923, WOW, 590 on the AM dial, aired from Omaha, Nebraska. WOWT, a television station, began broadcasts in August 1949. All radio stations were on the AM dial as FM was invented until 1933.
Things picked up in 1924 when WHO,1040 on the dial, began airing from Des Moines. And the floodgates opened in 1925.
Shenandoah, Iowa had two major nurseries: Earl May and Henry Field. Both of these enterprises established radio stations in 1925 with Earl May’s KMA 960 AM still on the air.
KMA is said to stand for “Keep Millions Advised.” The Everly Brothers began performing on KMA and KFNF (Field’s radio station) as part of the “Everly Family” with their mother and father in the late 1940s.
Radio was fast. Newspapers give you the news later, but keep in mind, newsprint can be saved and re-read or shared. On the radio, if you miss it, it’s gone. I still consider radio to be a better invention than television. Radio is a necessity and television is a luxury.
That’s my humble opinion and I could be wrong.
