King Biscuit Time

King Biscuit Time is the longest-running daily American radio broadcast in history. The program is broadcast each weekday from KFFA in Helena, Arkansas, United States, and has won the George Foster Peabody Award for broadcasting excellence.

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. It inspired 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 who opens each broadcast with "pass the biscuits, 'cause it's 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.

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