Panhandle Magazine Summer 2020

By Ben Parks, Sound Wrangler American Cowboy Radio

I’m Ben Parks, basically a lifelong resident of Amarillo and jack-ofall-trades, from sales to restaurants to railroads. In 2018 Jim Turvaville, my friend of thirty-some-odd years, mentioned that he had a construction permit to build an FM radio station in Guthrie, Texas, but he planned to let it expire. He didn’t see any commercial potential since the coverage area for the radio permit was limited to King County, the second least populated county in Texas. With only 277 residents, Guthrie is the county seat for King County.

When Jim said Guthrie, my ears perked up, and I verified that it was Guthrie, Texas - not Guthrie, Oklahoma. I immediately saw the potential for combining the broadcast radio station with an internet station playing cowboy music - at a location where there are real cowboys. Guthrie and King County may be short on population, but those folks know cowboys! It’s part of the big ranch country of West Texas, home to the 6666 Ranch, the Tongue River Ranch and the Pitchfork Ranch. In the cattle and horse world, Guthrie is well known.

I’m not a cowboy myself, but I grew up on ranches around Amarillo and eastern New Mexico and had the pleasure of helping (read - getting in the way of) the real cowboys on these ranches when they were working cattle and branding. The music of the cowboy was instilled in me early, with songs like Eddy Arnold’s “Wagon Wheels” and the Sons of the Pioneers’ “Cool Water” and “Tumbling Tumbleweeds.”

Along with this musical influence, I would get up early on Saturday mornings and watch the test pattern until the station came on the air bringing Roy Rogers and Trigger into the living room. Remember the fist fights on top of moving railroad cattle cars? Roy would never lose his hat, and when the train stopped, Trigger was right there to chase down the bad guys! As a kid, I could never understand why Roy would want to spend time with Dale Evans when he could be playing his guitar or riding Trigger into the sunset.

I’ve been exposed to most music genres, but the one I keep coming back to is known as western or cowboy music. It’s different from country; its roots are founded in the strong values of the American cowboy rather than the honky-tonk tales of country music. I once discovered an internet radio station that played the format I longed for, but when the lady who created it passed away, the music went off the net.

Western music isn’t a format that is readily available on your radio, so other than building your own playlist, it’s hard to find. There is a lot of good music out there with a lot of great independent artists producing new songs every day, but they need an avenue to get their art to the public. Although many stations across the country may have a cowboy

Picture: Ben Parks

or western music program or two, they only highlight these artists for a couple of hours a week. I have been unable to find a station that was fully dedicated to cowboy culture.

That’s why I was so excited when Jim mentioned the radio permit in Guthrie. Jim and I had talked about the nuts and bolts of building an internet station or streaming western music, and it was always just rolling around in the back of my mind. I knew that if I had this heartbeat for all things cowboy, scores of other folks around the world were probably looking for the genre too.

Jim and I were able to secure a transmitter location in Guthrie and began to broadcast on October 4, 2018. Our FCC call letters are KJAG for Jaguars, the Guthrie School’s mascot, and we also broadcast the services from the First Baptist Church of Guthrie.

The great people of King County have embraced the station, and even though I live in Amarillo, I feel affection for the people and places there.

Before powering up the transmitter I established a website www. AmericanCowboyRadio.com and began formatting the material I wanted to hear. I spent about six months fine tuning this streaming service to attain a sound that I believed others would enjoy hearing also. American Cowboy Radio is now trademarked, and I believe it will grow into a worldwide source of entertainment for those wanting to hear cowboy music, stories and poetry.

This project has already exceeded my vision and has introduced me to people and experiences that I never dreamed of. In the past year I’ve attended the International Western Music Association show and award ceremony

in Albuquerque and the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, and I’ve been well received by the artists in those organizations. In Albuquerque I had the opportunity to interview Lisa Sutton, Lynn Anderson’s daughter, and discuss her project with Sony as they recently released a 50th anniversary edition of the I Never Promised You a Rose Garden album (in pink vinyl, of course).

Another highlight was accompanying Ed Montana backstage when he appeared on the Grand Ole Opry. I never had a reason to dream that I’d walk across the alley from Jack’s BBQ into the back door of the Ryman Auditorium or visit oneon-one with Michael Martin Murphey and Red Steagall.

I don’t know where this ride will end, but I’m having a great time.

AMERICAN COWBOY RADIO ® Our vision is to preserve and promote the Authentic American cowboy way of life through its music, poetry and stories on air and online in a clean, family friendly format. The Cowboy Way! AMERICAN COWBOY RADIO, a series established by TEXAS LLC.