calsfoundation@cals.org
November 21, 1941
The King Biscuit Time radio program went on the air on KFFA, 1360 AM, Helena’s first local radio station. Soon after the station’s first broadcast, blues musicians Robert Lockwood Jr. and Sonny Boy Williamson II approached owner Sam Anderson with a proposal to air a local blues radio show. Anderson liked the idea, but he knew the show would have to have a sponsor. He directed Lockwood and Williamson to Max Moore, the owner of Interstate Grocer Company, as a possible sponsor. Moore, who recognized the possibilities of marketing to African Americans, agreed to sponsor the show if the musicians would endorse his product. With greatly increased sales of King Biscuit flour, Interstate Grocery began marketing Sonny Boy cornmeal.