W. K. Henderson
Encyclopedia
William Kennon Henderson, Jr., usually known as W.K. Henderson (August 6, 1880–May 28, 1945), was a pioneer in the radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 industry who in 1922 acquired WGAQ in Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....

, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, expanded it, and renamed the call letters after himself as KWKH
KWKH
KWKH is a classic country music radio station serving Shreveport, Louisiana. The 50-kilowatt station broadcasts at 1130 kHz. Formerly owned by Clear Channel Communications and Gap Central Broadcasting, it is now owned by Townsquare Media....

.



Hello, World, Doggone, Ya! -- trademark greeting of W. K. Henderson


Background

Henderson was born to W. K. Henderson, Sr., and the former Mamie Jamison in Bastrop
Bastrop, Louisiana
Bastrop is a city in and the parish seat of Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 12,988 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of and is included in the Bastrop, Louisiana Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Monroe-Bastrop, Louisiana Combined...

, the seat of Morehouse Parish
Morehouse Parish, Louisiana
Morehouse Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Bastrop. In 2000, the parish population was 31,021....

 north of Monroe
Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...

. The parents moved to Jefferson
Jefferson, Texas
Jefferson is an historic city in Marion County in northeastern Texas, United States. The population was 2,024 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Marion County, Texas, and is situated in East Texas...

 in Marion County
Marion County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 10,941 people, 4,610 households, and 3,120 families residing in the county. The population density was 29 people per square mile . There were 6,384 housing units at an average density of 17 per square mile...

 in northeast Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, where Henderson was reared and educated. He attended the Thatcher Institute in Shreveport before he entered and subsequently graduated from the Roman Catholic-affiliated St. Edward's University
St. Edward's University
St. Edward's University is a private Roman Catholic institution of higher learning located south of Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas. The university offers a liberal arts education and its campus is located on a hill overlooking the city of Austin. The campus's most notable landmark is Main...

 in Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

, Texas. In 1896, the Hendersons moved to Shreveport. After college, he established Henderson Garage and sold Ford automobiles. Upon the death of the senior Henderson near the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Henderson, then thirty-eight, disposed of the garage and assumed management of the Henderson Iron Works and Supply Company, the largest company of its kind south of St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

.

KWKH

Henderson, meanwhile, developed an interest in the new medium of radio. He and several partners operated WGAQ from 1922-1925. He then acquired full ownership of the renamed KWKH, and the station with expanded band width went on the air on September 25, 1925. Operating from his estate called "Kennonwood," north of Shreveport, the 50,000-watt, clear-channel station matched in prestige WWL in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

. On the air, Henderson railed against the power of the new Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

 to regulate his station, going so far as to issue a private phonograph record to present his views. During the evening hours, its powerful signal reached all over the United States. Henderson allied himself politically with the popular Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

, Huey Pierce Long, Jr., who was elected governor of Louisiana in 1928. Like Long, Henderson challenged the power of chain store
Chain store
Chain stores are retail outlets that share a brand and central management, and usually have standardized business methods and practices. These characteristics also apply to chain restaurants and some service-oriented chain businesses. In retail, dining and many service categories, chain businesses...

 monopolies
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...

. Henderson and Long came to a parting of the ways, and Henderson sold the station in 1933. Henderson's trademark sign-in on radio was "Hello, World, Doggone Ya!" The Shreveport mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 during Henderson's heyday as a broadcaster was Lee Emmett Thomas
Lee Emmett Thomas
Lee Emmett Thomas was an attorney and banker who served as the mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, from 1922–1930. He was also from 1912–1916 the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives.-Background:...

, who pushed for the acquisition of Shreveport Municipal Auditorium.

For seven years, Henderson was one of the most famous personalities of radio, not just in Louisiana but throughout the world. He received more than fifty letters daily from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and thousands from within his country. In addition to his opposition to chain stores, Henderson solicited his own brand of coffee over the air. His group known as the "Minute Men" consisted of independent merchants who paid dues to have their stores advertised on KWKH. In 1930, Radio Digest reported KWKH to have been at the time "the most powerful station in the South."

Long after Henderson's death, KWKH introduced Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

 to the nation. He appeared at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium on the Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride was a radio and later television country music show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, that during its heyday from 1948 to 1960 helped to launch the careers of some of the greatest names in American music...

 for eighteen months between 1954 and 1956, having at first in his career been shunned by the more established and longer-lasting Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...

 of Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

. KWKH became synonymous with coverage of the Hayride, broadcast from the Municipal Auditorium located downtown at 705 Elvis Presley Avenue (formerly Grand Avenue).

Family

In 1908, Henderson married the former Josie Carter, daughter of New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

 native and Shreveport druggist Leon Marks Carter (1855–1903) and the former Mattie L. Parsons (1856–1937). Their sons were Kennon and William Carter Henderson. Henderson died in Shreveport at the age of sixty-four.

Josie Henderson was a delegate to the 1932 Republican National Convention
1932 Republican National Convention
The 1932 Republican National Convention was held at Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois, from June 14 to June 16, 1932. It renominated President Herbert Hoover and Vice President Charles Curtis for their respective positions....

, which met in Chicago to renominate the Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...

-Curtis
Charles Curtis
Charles Curtis was a United States Representative, a longtime United States Senator from Kansas later chosen as Senate Majority Leader by his Republican colleagues, and the 31st Vice President of the United States...

 ticket. Born in 1882, Mrs. Henderson died on June 29, 1945, a month after the passing of her husband. The Hendersons are interred, along with the Carters, at Greenwood Cemetery in Shreveport.

W. K. Henderson's son, the late William Carter Henderson, was one of the founders of KSLA-TV
KSLA-TV
KSLA, virtual channel 12, is the CBS-affiliated television station for Shreveport, Louisiana and the Ark-La-Tex region. Owned by Raycom Media, it broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 17. The sole transmitter is located in Mooringsport, Louisiana...

, the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 affiliate in Shreveport. W. K.'s grandson, William C. "Bill" Henderson (January 30, 1940–March 10, 2010), was active in real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

management for his family's Henderson Properties Company.
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