Kennett Merchants Planning Bargains
By Johnny Mack, KBOA News Director
In this special edition, KBOA announces its 10th anniversary July 19th, 1957, and invites you to attend a giant celebration of the event in Kennett, Mo., on that date. This invitation is being extended to everyone in the KBOA coverage area which includes parts of five states; Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois, and Kentucky.
Since July 19, 1947, KBOA’s signal has gone out to your homes and you have let us come in and bring you entertainment, news, diversion, companionship, religion, and the words of our sponsors, which, of course, make it all possible.
In these 10 years the KBOA staff members have often wished to be able to meet our great unseen audience so that we could be better acquainted and in turn could better serve you.
So when our 10th anniversary approached we decided to make it a real party and invite everybody. Well, the big day — next Friday—is only a few days off and here is the way the party has shaped up.
To Give Away $1,000
First of all, to put everybody in a holiday mood, ten $100 bills will be given to our anniversary party guests. This will be done by selecting 10 names from the postcards which our listeners have sent to the station saying they were coming to the party on the Kennett Square.
Incidentally, you still have time to get your name in the pot for one of those $100 bills. Just send your name and address on a post-card to KBOA, Kennett, Mo., postmarked not later than midnight, July 16.
The winners of the $100 bills will be selected from the north steps of the county courthouse in Kennett and, to help entertain our friends during the celebration which will start at 10:30 in the morning and continue through 3 in the afternoon with a break for lunch, we have called on some old time KBOA performers who have made the big time in the country and western recording field, the Wilburn Brothers, Teddy and Doyle.
Other Stars Coming
They were just kids in their teens when we knew them, but they are nationally famous Decca recording stars now. They have asked a few of their Grand Old Opry friends to come along with them—people like Gordon Terry, a handsome young man who records for Columbia records. He sings and plays guitar and some of the finest old time fiddle you ever heard.
Another of the Grand Old Opry guests will be Don Helms who is probably best known as the late Hank Williams’ steel guitar man. That should be enough recommendation for anyone.
In addition to Don and Gordon, there will be others who appear regularly on the Grand Old Opry show from Nashville, Tenn., and they will have plenty of entertainment all lined up for the anniversary celebration. They will be with us on the square all day.
Throughout the approximately four hours of the celebration various dignitaries and ex-KBOA performers and personnel will be introduced from the platform and some of the activities will be broadcast directly from the platform on the courthouse steps.
Stores Plan Bargains
You are all invited to come to Kennett early on Friday morning to take advantage of some of the most amazing bargains we have ever had the pleasure of telling you about. You will find them all cataloged conveniently in this special edition so be sure to save this copy and bring it with you Friday as a guide to the bargains you want to check for yourself.
You will have plenty of time to take advantage of the bargains which KBOA advertisers have set up as specials for this one day only, because all the stores will stay open until 8:30. That 830 theme will be carried out throughout the celebration because that is KBOA’s spot on your radio dial. All the specials are priced at 83 cents, $8.30 or $830 and they are only good for one day, next Friday, July 19.
Plan Open House
Before and after the celebration on the Kennett-Square, every visitor to Kennett on KBOA Day is invited to come out to the studio on South Highway 25 and eat a piece of our giant birthday cake and take a tour of the station and meet the people you hear on the air every day.
So that you may know us better, throughout this special edition, you will find a story of how KBOA came to be by the man who is most responsible for its existence, Paul C. Jones, and you will find pictures and short life histories on all KBOA employees.
These past 10 years have been good years for KBOA and we hope they have been for you too, and that you will come and help us celebrate our 10th anniversary on Friday, July 19.
Source: Daily Dunklin Democrat, Kennett, Mo, Monday, July 15, 1957