Oklahoma Musicians and The Broadcast Frontier

Chapter Five: The Consolidation and Corporatization of the Oklahoma Broadcast Industry

In 1953, Oklahoma television began to change. The end of the FCC freeze created two changes that forced original television stations to end much of their unfettered experimentation. The first was the beginning of competition in the Oklahoma television industry. By 1954, Oklahoma had six new stations: Ada's KTEN, Lawton's KSWO, Enid's KOCO, Oklahoma City's KWTV, and Tulsa's KOTV and KTUL. Before the new stations, program ratings were used rather casually, merely as a guide to audience reaction. Afterward, competition created by the new stations caused program ratings to take on a much greater importance. Poor ratings meant the loss of advertising dollars to the competing stations and, for the first time, programming decisions were based on competition rather than creativity.[1]

Competition gave advertisers greater power over programming. Prior to the influx of competition, WKY-TV had resisted input and influence by sponsors over programming types and performers. Without the threat of losing sponsors to competitors, WKY-TV was free to follow its own instincts in creation of programs. After 1954, competition with the new stations forced WKY-TV to make programming decisions based on the recommendation of its advertising representatives and large sponsors.[2]

The second effect of the end of the FCC station freeze was the ability of the network stations to broadcast live nationwide. Oklahoma stations began receiving live network programming from New York City via coaxial cable in 1954. Because network programming was easier and more profitable than producing shows locally, there ceased to be as much need for local performers; many Oklahoma stations immediately began laying off large numbers of their staff performers. Only the most popular locally produced shows or those that were produced by the sponsors remained after 1954.[3]

Live network broadcasting also changed the expectations of local audiences. Even though network programs had been available on kinescope from the beginning of television, advertisers and station management viewed them as less desirable than locally produced shows. Not only were the kinescope's picture and sound quality inferior to live programs, but also advertisers liked the ability to tie their advertising promotions with personal appearances by the performers of their programs.[4]

Live network broadcasts changed local television practices almost immediately. The live cable feed allowed network programs to meet or exceed the quality of the local stations and, as a result, audience expectations began to change. Television was no longer merely a novelty--the viewing public expected the highest quality programs available. Although the television audience was at first satisfied to watch anything that stations broadcast, it soon demanded programs of the type, variety, and star quality that only the networks could provide. As a result, many local programs began to appear second-class to the audience and advertisers.[5]

The beginning of live network programming sounded the death knell for most Oklahoma performers' local television programs. Live network programming also effectively ended the participation of local musicians in the Oklahoma broadcast industry. A few local musicians hung on to their television or radio shows into the 1960s, and others managed to become their own producers and continued performing on television through the 1970s, but new broadcasting opportunities for musicians were virtually nonexistent after 1960. These changes reached far beyond local musicians' abilities to perform on the furadio, extending into every aspect of musicians' lives and careers. Bobby Warren and Harlow Wilcox were a notable exception to this trend.[6]

Bobby Warren and Harlow Wilcox

Bobby Warren and Harlow Wilcox were perhaps the last Oklahoma musicians who were able to use their access to local broadcasting to promote their music careers effectively. From 1965 to 1975, Warren and Wilcox--as a team and separately--recorded and released music that enjoyed much regional and national success. They used local radio airplay and television appearances to promote the various records they released on Warren's independent record labels.

Bobby Warren was the son of Carl and Dorothy Warren, professional musicians who appeared with numerous groups that performed on radio and television from the 1930s through the 1960s. Like many musicians, the Warrens used the profits from their personal appearances to finance other, more stable businesses. Choosing what seems to have been the natural business for many musicians, the Warrens opened "Carl and Bob's Music" in 1958 on the corner of Porter and Grey streets in Norman, Oklahoma. The music store was the hub of the Norman music scene for the next 25 years.[7]

With parents like Carl and Dorothy, Bobby Warren could not escape becoming a musician and began playing drums at a very early age. With Carl on bass, and Dorothy on piano, Bobby grew up learning to play a variety of styles that allowed him much versatility in his professional career. Warren made his first professional performances when he was 15 with a rock and roll group called "The Bonnevilles." Soon after, Warren was hired by Ronny Martin and the Blue Notes to play on their regular WKY radio program. Over the years, Warren played with numerous bands, including Wilton O'Neil and the Night Lovers, Jude and Jody, Red Zellner, and Harlow Wilcox and the Oakies.[8]

In the mid-1960s, Warren decided to try his hand at record production and promotion. Because he found no local studios to his satisfaction, Warren built his own recording studio in the back room of Carl and Bob's Music. Warren used the contacts he had made while playing on radio and television programs to promote the singles and albums he released for many artists under his Shorebird and Impel record labels. Shorebird's first release was "In Front of Your House" backed with "True Lovin' Woman" for singer Melvin Nash. This single did not sell very well but taught Warren much about the independent record distribution system. Shorebird's next release, Russell Clements' "Lonesome Ol' World," sold reasonably well regionally. By 1967, Warren's record label and recording studio were doing enough business that he quit his well paid position in Jude and Jody's band to devote all of his attention to running these businesses.[9]

During the late 1960s, much of the United States' record business was controlled by regional record distributors called "One Stops." Although major record labels could use their own distribution channels to get their releases in the large department stores, they depended on the One Stops to get their records into the numerous small record stores, five and dimes, and juke boxes. The One Stops also conducted much of the record promotion in rural areas not served by the big labels' regular promotional staffs.[10]

Warren distributed his releases through Oklahoma City's "Phil's One Stop," which distributed records throughout Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, and parts of Texas. Of course, distribution was only part of the task for record companies; promotion was the other. Because his operation was small, Warren acted as his own promo man, conducting regular promotion trips to radio stations throughout Oklahoma and the Southwest. During these promotion trips, Warren met with radio station managers to pitch his latest release and made arrangements with other One Stops to distribute his records. With this system, Warren managed to get his records played on radio stations throughout the Midwest and Southwest, and made enough money from sales to keep his operation rolling.[11]

In 1968, Warren released what would become his record company's biggest hit record, Harlow Wilcox and the Oakies' "Groovy Grubworm." Wilcox was a boyhood friend of Warren and had served as the studio's primary guitar player for many of its releases in addition to writing songs for many Shorebird and Impel artists. "Groovy Grubworm," a happy, up-tempo, guitar instrumental reminiscent of Duane Eddy's "Rebel Rouser," originally was released as the B-side to another Impel record, "Sad as Lonely." Disc jockeys at Oklahoma City's KLPR and KEBC played the B-side instead of the A-side, and "Groovy Grubworm" took off.[12]

Warren naturally decided to give "Groovy Grubworm" its own release and quickly had 1,500 copies pressed to distribute to radio stations and One Stops. Warren, along with his parents and Wilcox hand colored all 1,500 of the records jackets. Because of Warren's vigorous promotion, "Groovy Grubworm" began receiving enthusiastic airplay on radio stations in Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Lubbock, and Ft. Worth. Bobby Vickers, station manager of Knoxville, Tennessee's, WIBC also began playing it. The response from WIBC listeners was so strong that Vickers tracked down Warren and asked him to send some copies to a local record store. Vickers, who had been a promotion man at Mercury Records, then recommended "Groovy Grubworm" to his friend, former Mercury vice president, Shelby Singleton.[13]

Singleton had recently formed his own record label, Plantation, and was enjoying success with Jeannie C. Riley's "Harper Valley P.T.A." Singleton liked "Groovy Grubworm" and offered to lease the master from Warren. Profits from "Harper Valley P.T.A" went toward financing a large promotional budget for "Groovy Grubworm." This influx of cash, combined with Singleton's clout and promotional savvy, made "Groovy Grubworm" a big hit during the last part of 1969 and early part of 1970. "Groovy Grubworm" spent 19 weeks on the Cashbox Country Music Charts, with eight weeks in the top ten, and two weeks at number one.[14]

"Groovy Grubworm" eventually sold over 900,000 records in U.S., an equal number in Europe, and close to 200,000 copies of sheet music. Despite this success, Warren and Wilcox collected virtually no royalties beyond the $5,000 that Singleton paid for the lease rights. As has often happened in the music business, Singleton took advantage of Warren and Wilcox's inexperience and refused to pay them for any of the record's sales. Wilcox and Warren, who had been touring to support "Groovy Grubworm," had a falling out over the lack of royalties paid by Plantation. Wilcox hired a manager and spent the next few years playing concert engagements throughout the world. Plantation released "Cripple Cricket" and Warren released "Moose Trot" (which featured the banjo work of Alan Munde) as a follow ups to "Groovy Grubworm," neither of which came close to the success of "Groovy Grubworm." Changes in Oklahoma's broadcast industry that affected Warren's ability to place his later record releases on local radio have since kept most other local musicians off the airwaves as well.[15]
The Broadcast Industry Consolidates

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the broadcast industry underwent a process of consolidation that effectively put the majority of radio and television programming decisions in the hands of a few individuals. While through the 1960s the broadcast industry in Oklahoma was mostly locally owned and programmed, continuing FCC deregulation and the high profit margins in the industry encouraged corporate ownership. From the 1970s to 1990s, ownership records reveal there was a gradual shift in the profile of station ownership in Oklahoma.[16]

Through 1970, the average Oklahoma radio or television station was owned by a single family or individual who resided in Oklahoma and owned a single station. By 1991, the average Oklahoma radio or television station was owned by a corporation that operated a string of stations in multiple market areas and whose home office was not in Oklahoma. For example, in 1970, only 20 percent of the major network television stations in Oklahoma were owned by persons or companies residing outside the state. By 1991, 70 percent of Oklahoma's major network television stations were owned by persons or companies outside the state, most owning stations in five or more markets. By 1991, even WKY-TV, Oklahoma's flagship station, had been sold to an out-of-state corporation.[17]

As the broadcast industry's ownership has changed, so has the manner in which stations make programing decisions. A company that owns television and radio stations in multiple markets generally is unable or unwilling to program with attention to the idiosyncrasies of individual markets. Instead, these companies program with an eye toward a national marketplace, using outside consultants to maximize their audience share and profits. Cary Bruyning, radio advertising executive, described the changes in broadcast industry: "...the bottom line is to get advertising buys, not to please the audience. We would play organ music if that would get [the advertising] done."[18]

Media consultants became a popular programming tool for radio and television during the early 1970s. In radio, the success of the Top 40 format had given way to a host of other successful radio formats and formulas. The Top 40 format came from a Nebraska radio station, but most subsequent trends had their origins in media center cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Atlanta. Radio station owners discovered formats that were created and proven to be effective in a media center generally would be effective in many other parts of the country. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, this practice had spread to television.[19]

A telling example of how consolidation changed the Oklahoma broadcast industry is the manner in which WKY-TV's management changed during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1976, the Evening News Association of Detroit, Michigan, purchased WKY-TV and changed its call letters to KTVY. The Evening News Association immediately began using consultants to change the station's image, desiring to make it less Oklahoma-oriented and more like their four other stations they owned nationwide. In 1986, Knight-Ridder Broadcasting, Inc., bought the Evening News Association, and KTVY with it, bringing Knight-Ridder's total to ten television stations, the maximum allowed by the FCC. Within a week of the purchase of KTVY, Knight-Ridder fired most KTVY's staff, many of whom had been at the station since the earliest days of WKY and replaced them with personnel from other Knight-Ridder stations.[20]

Despite Knight-Ridder's firing most KTVY management and personnel, it is significant that they retained many of their prime-time news personalities. Because a station's ratings and profits are linked its news team's credibility with the public, stations are generally hesitant to make changes in this area. Reporters and non-prime-time personnel are changed constantly, but a popular prime-time personality's tenure at a single station will often span generations. However, it is more significant that after the mass firing at KTVY, all programing decisions for the station became the responsibility of individuals outside Oklahoma. Furthermore, programing decisions were made with virtually no regard for local customs, styles, or traditions.[21]

This pattern of non-Oklahoma ownership and management seemingly has been repeated at many other radio and television stations throughout the state. Based upon the programming choices that have been made, there seems to be a deliberate bias against programming with any local flavor. Many sponsors have found station managers hostile to their locally produced shows, and stations are increasingly unwilling to sell local air time beyond spot ads. Jude and Jody, who had produced their own country music show for a variety of businesses since the 1950s, found the changing station management of the 1970s so restrictive and uncooperative that they eventually gave up their music show and reduced their advertising to spot ads. Many observers of local television and radio have remarked that the current style of station management has neglected local and regional culture in an attempt to create a more sophisticated and urban image for their stations. Station management programming decisions have been made against local programing despite the popularity that local programs have traditionally held.[22]

Many of the changes the broadcast industry experienced in the 1980s is a direct reflection of the Reagan-era deregulation of broadcast industry. The Reagan-era FCC relaxed ownership standards and opened the floodgates for many mergers and station sales. During the 1980s, broadcast stations were being traded likes stocks and bonds, with a record 99 television stations changing hands nationally in 1985.[23]

Deregulation brought a new breed of station owner to the industry--the speculator. Financial publications during the 1980s promoted the idea of broadcast ownership as a quick and easy way to make big profits. Many broadcast industry publications took a dim view of the new breed of station owner and observed that the exclusive attention to profit had impoverished the industry. The broadcast industry of today is one in which stations are now seen as investment vehicles, not as a business with special public trust. It seems that station owners like E.K. Gaylord, who placed creativity over cash and thought radio and television stations should reflect the unique qualities of their cities, are an extinct species. The types of station owners that have evolved in their place are those where the bottom line is the sole measure of a station's worth.[24]

To demonstrate the broadcast industry's increasingly profit-motivated position, it is interesting to contrast statements made in 1965 by WKY-TV's first general manager, P.A. Sugg, to that of statements made in 1990 by Gene Allen, WKY-TV's general manager in the 1970s.

P.A. Sugg:

Gene Allen:

Because of the profit motive, it is not difficult to understand why programming with a local flavor has been forsaken in favor of formulaic program types.

The stories of Gene Autry, Bob Wills, Patty Page, Wanda Jackson, The Serenaders, Jude and Jody, and Bobby Warren and Harlow Wilcox illustrate the degree to which access to radio and television affected the careers of Oklahoma performers. There are many others whose stories could be added to these; Jimmy Wakely, Jean Sheppard, Norma Jean Beasler, Bob Woods and many others enjoyed similar experiences and successes in their music careers after getting their start on Oklahoma radio and television.

However, to appreciate fully radio and television's impact on local musicians, one needs only to look at virtually every Oklahoman since 1965 who has enjoyed any success in the music industry. A quick scan of the careers of Leon Russell, David Gates, Elvin Bishop, Shelly West, Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire and numerous others reveals how the absence of radio and television outlets have forced performers to leave Oklahoma to find opportunity in music. It naturally follows that the absence of radio and television appearances has made it more difficult for musicians to make a living and has limited, if not extinguished, many careers.

BackNext

Copyright (c) Kelly Raines1995 eturn to index

Notes: Chapter 5

[1] The Broadcasting Year Book 1990, C-50-51; Danny Williams, interview by Rodger Harris, January 23, 1989, Fort Worth, Texas, tape recording transcription, Archives and Manuscripts division, Oral History Collection, Oklahoma Historical Society; Louise Daniels interview.

[2] Danny Williams interview; John Shannon and Gene Allen, interview by Rodger Harris, December 4, 1990, Stillwater, Oklahoma, tape recording transcript, Archives and Manuscripts division, Oral History Collection, Oklahoma Historical Society; Louise Daniels interview.

[3] Barnouw, Tube of Plenty, 111; Louise Daniels interview.

[4] Harris and Blackburn, "Whatever Happened to 3-D Danny," 231-232; Joe Webster interview; Louise Driver interview; Danny Williams interview; Jude Northcutt interview.

[5] Louise Daniels interview; John Shannon and Gene Allen interview; Danny Williams interview; P.A. Sugg interview; Savage, Singing Cowboys and All That Jazz, 159-176.

[6] Louise Daniels interview; Jude Northcutt interview.

[7] Norman Transcript, Focus section, 6-A, 26 February 1993.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid, Jude Northcutt interview.

[13] Ibid.

[14] Ibid, George Albert, Frank Hoffman, The Cashbox Country Singles Charts, 1958-1982, (Metuchen: The Scarecrow Press, 1984), 414, 578.

[15] Ibid; Bobby Warren interview.

[16] John Shannon and Gene Allen interview; Broadcasting Yearbook, 1971, B-152; Broadcasting Yearbook, 1991, B-289.

[17] Some states, such as Kansas, no longer have any local ownership of television stations. Wichita Business Journal, 20 February 1989, vol. 3, no. 50, sec. 1, 3; John Shannon and Gene Allen interview; Broadcasting Yearbook, 1971, B-152; Broadcasting Yearbook, 1991, B-289.

[18] St. Petersburg (Florida)Times, 14 June, 1987, sec. E, 1; Mike Elder, interview by Author, July 19, 1992, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, John Shannon and Gene Allen interview.

[19] Often local television personalities will be contractually obligated to have all changes in wardrobe and hair style approved by the station's consultants. Cindy Bear, interview by Author, November 3, 1994, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Broadcasting, "Radio '71," 41-80; Mike Elder interview; John Shannon and Gene Allen interview.

[20] John Shannon and Gene Allen interview.

[21] Linda Cavanaugh, Bob Berry, and Clayton Vaughn, are examples of broadcast personalities who have had lengthy careers on Oklahoma television. Ibid.

[22] Jude Northcutt interview.

[23] Broadcasting, Nov. 24, 1986, 63-85.

[24] Ibid; Shreveport (Louisiana)Business,Business Dateline , Jan. 1987, 9-18.

[25] P.A. Sugg interview.

[26] John Shannon and Gene Allen interview. õõõ