The first radio station between Ft. Smith and Little Rock, Arkansas officially went on the air on February 25th, 1947. KXRJ in Russellville, owned and managed by Russ Horne and Jerrell Shepherd, Paris and Russellville natives, respectively, became one of about 1,600 radio stations in the country. Horne and Shepherd had originally asked to get KARV as the call-letters for their new station, but tha
t was not available. The second choice was KRUS, but it was also unavailable. So, the FCC awarded the station is third choice, KXRJ – the “R” standing for Russ and the “J” for Jerrell. KXRJ first went on the air for a 7-hour test on February 24th from 5 PM until midnight. The first studio was located on the campus of Arkansas Polytechnic College in Russellville. KXRJ started its regular broadcast schedule on February 25th, 1947. During the first hours on the air, the station received several hundred calls of congratulations and praise for the clearness of reception and quality of the programs. KXRJ was broadcasting 250 watts on 1490, or the station could be found at 150 on older radios. The 17 hours of broadcast on the 25th included transcribed music and request numbers, spot news, sports summaries, and programs from the mutual broadcasting system, including news casts by Fulton Lewis, Jr. and Gabriel Heatter, The Inside of Sports, and Guy Lombardo’s Orchestra. Russ Horne and Jerrell Shepherd were the owners and managers of KXRJ. Approximately 8,000 people turned out on March 1st and 2nd, 1947, for KXRJ’s Open House ceremonies. The station had officially gone on the air on February 25th. During the Open House, special programs were presented by groups from Atkins, Dardanelle, Clarksville, Morrilton, and Russellville. Listeners were asked to make their choice of the best program by mail. Atkins won and was honored with a 30 minute remote broadcast originating from Atkins. KXRJ, now KARV, moved to a new spot on the radio dial in February of 1980. During the 7:30 news on February 13th, 1980, KARV moved from 1490 AM to 610 AM, enabling many residents of the Arkansas River Valley to hear KARV radio for the first time during nighttime hours and gave outlying areas of the River Valley their first opportunity to hear KARV during daytime hours.
