Like many Arkansans, my wife and I like to head to the shores of the Florida panhandle during the summer for some fun in the sun. The road to paradise takes us down U.S. Highway 65 through Dumas, Lake Village and Eudora.
Near the town of McGehee is a building that has always fascinated me, as it looks like something from another era. It’s a rundown Spanish-style building with red clay roof tiles and a stucco exterior with "KVSA 1220" on its facade. After a little research, I found that it once housed a famous radio station that proudly served the Arkansas Delta.
Abbott F. Kinney founded KVSA-AM, 1220, and gave it its call sign, which stood for "The Voice of Southeast Arkansas." The station went on the air Monday, June 29, 1953, and ran on 1,000 watts of power. The station’s format changed several times throughout the years; KVSA played everything from country to rock to gospel music.
The station aired its Studio “A” Dance Party show every Saturday morning. It featured live music from singers and bands traveling the fields of the Delta, including a young man who would become arguably the most popular singer of all-time, Elvis Presley.
Presley, and his band The Blue Moon Boys, appeared at KVSA in March 1955, during which he gave a live on-air interview to KVSA deejay Doug Ward and signed autographs for hundreds of fans — mostly teenage girls — before a concert at the Dermott High School auditorium.
Tickets to see Presley were just 75 cents for adults and 50 cents for children. The show was sponsored by the school’s senior class as a fundraiser. But the following Monday, the school superintendent gave students their money back, claiming that Presley’s concert was "not the kind of entertainment his students were supposed to see."
For decades, KVSA served Dermott, McGehee and the surrounding area with music, local news and agriculture and weather reports. It was also active in the community, sponsoring many school clubs, programs and youth sports teams.
In 1995, Abbott F. Kinney received the Arkansas Broadcasters Association’s Pioneer Award for his contributions to Arkansas radio. Kinney died in April 2002 at age 92. After his death, his wife, Joyce, took over managing the station. But in spite of her best efforts to keep the station alive, KVSA struggled in its final years.
Holding to its nostalgic tradition, the station never had a website or live streamed on the internet. In the modern era of radio, it became difficult to keep a stand-alone AM daytime-only station alive, especially with no counterpart on an FM frequency.
It’s been said that all good things must come to an end. KVSA signed off the air the final time in March 2020. The station’s Facebook page posted this message:
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closing of KVSA. Several factors contributed to the closing of the station. Thank each of you familiar with the station for listening and for your encouragement through the 67 years of broadcasting. As of 1 p.m. today, March 3, 2020, KVSA will be silent forever...”
I still make sure and look out for the old studio every time we travel to the coast. I also can’t help but think about the days when the local radio station was not a piece of a corporate conglomerate, but rather an old friend who was always there.
A proud sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He lives in Saline County with his wife, Amy, and their two beloved Boston Terriers. Find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.
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