The Beginning and End of KLCN

1945 KLCN Hymnal

 

I found a hymnal, as I sometimes do. This one is titled Three Hundred Country Chapel songs and Hymns. At 49 pages you'd think it can't possibly have 300 songs, but it does have 4-12 songs squeezed onto each page. What makes it interesting is the words at the bottom of the front cover "Radio Station KLCN, Arkansas Oldest Radio station, Blytheville, Ark." On the back is a calendar from 1954 which firmly dates it. On the back is also the address it was originally shipped to: the 3rd armored division base in Fort Knox, KY.  The hymnal was compiled by Alfred Edward Brumley, a prolific gospel song writer. Also, being Brumley, it's all shape note music. I know his name because in 1938 he wrote the song "Turn Your Radio On." While not the first song about radio, it's notable. 

KLCN often claimed to be the first radio station in Arkansas, and that's technically true. But while it signed on August 15th, 1927 the book Arkansas Airwaves by Ray Poindexter reports that "Arkansas radio pioneers are aware that radio broadcasting was done in the area several years prior to that date." It's mysterious, and unattributed claim, but probably true. The station sign on was also delayed by the timing of the Radio act of 1927. Only 7 radio stations were allowed to proceed under a judges order. [SOURCE] (The other 6 stations were WKBJ, KHMC, WTHS, KFYO, KGGF, and KGGH.) The New York Times wrote: 

"Explaining that the regions involved have only a limited number of stations, Judge E. O. Sykes, Federal Radio Commissioner, in whose district the stations are located, said: "These permits were granted to stations which were constructed prior to the passage of the Radio act of 1927. They were held up by the Federal Radio Commission pending action by stations already licensed, and were assigned frequencies which in the judgment of the Federal Radio 'Commission will not be harmful to other broadcasters. The commission feels that these stations will render a real public service in States which heretofore have had very limited broadcasting facilities, and with their low power will not create material new interference.”

While it started on 1050 kHz it couldn't stay there. (possibly on 800 kHz prior) A year later, after the great frequency move of 1927 it moved to 1290 kHz, still at 50 watts, broadcasting daytime only. The Department of Commerce Service Bulletin of November 20th 1928 listed the owner as Charles Leo Lintzenich. But the New York Times listed the owner as the Daily Courier News. In fact the CN in WLCN stands for Courier News. [SOURCE] But it's all one and the same. Lintzenich was employed at the Courier News as a typesetter and later as the advertising manager for the paper. He got his start in radio serving with the U.S. Signal Corps. The owner of the Courier News, Edgar Harris was supposedly a "major share holder" in the station. But in 1928 Harris sold the paper, and Lintzenich bought him out of the radio station. 

It's worth mentioning that Lintzenich was proudly Dutch, a Dutch nationalist whose nickname was "Dutch" and recollections of him often use that nickname. [SOURCE] But speaking of the New York Times, in 1929 they reported "freak atmosphere" radio reception of KLCN in 1929. 

"For two consecutive nights between midnight and 3 A. M. KLCN, a radio station here, broadcast with seven and a half watts power test programs heard more than a thousand miles away. All previous records for low-power broadcasting on the regular radio channels are believed to have been broken in two test programs put on the air by the station after midnight Sunday and Monday and heard in Lakeland, FL.; New York City, Buffalo and Syracuse; Egg Harbor and Greenfield, NJ; Harrisburg, PA.; Windsor, ON., and Fort Worth, TX, in addition to fifty other cities and towns..."

The Times also reported in that story that the station was co-owned between Lintzenich and J.A. Bass, owner of Radio Sales Co. They went on to explain that the Institute of Radio Engineers, built the transmitter, consisting of one UX210 for an oscillator, while three UX250s as modulators. Later QSL cards confirm reception 1,750 miles away in Alberta, Canada. [SOURCE] A signed letter on Radio Sales Co. letterhead confirms J.A. Bass is James Bass. Their business connection seems to have been brief. 

The Radio Pictoral magazine of 1931[SOURCE] lists Lintzenich as the sole owner as do the 1936, '378 and '38 Broadcasting Yearbooks, but both note the station was operating at 100 watts. The 1933 Kelly's Radio Call book lists it at 50 watts, which is correct. The increase was in 1934. The 1936 issue of Radio Index lists the radio station location as at Main & Division Streets. That 1938 issue also listed off the makes of microphones in use: RCA, Amperite, Sure [sic] and Western Electric. The PD was William Secoy.  [SOURCE] Secoy remains obscure. Other than those 3 issues of the Broadcasting Yearbook heremains elusive.  That appears to be the entirety of his radio career.

Radio engineer Fred O. Grimwood bought the station from Lintzenich in 1939 but Broadcasting magazine described Grimwood as the former licensee by 1945. Grimwood built a new 208-foot tower, and got them a power increase to 250 watts. He also weathered the NARBA frequency allocation changes and moved the station to 13020 kHz. [SOURCE] But it was Grimwood who sold the station to Harold L. Sunbury for $15,865.12. It's an odd number but was recorded in the NAB reports. Broadcasting magazine reported only that after the sale "Mr. Grimwood is now engaged in war work." Later he popped up as the owner of WPAD in Paducah, IL.  [SOURCE] Sudbury was not a fan of Lintzenich. He was once quoted as saying 

"[Lintzenich] was a genius in radio technology.... He was way ahead of his time, but he let time pass him by. With Dutch, radio was a toy. He violated every rule the FRC and the FCC ever formulated, and some they hadn't thought of."

Sudbury wasn't a carpet bagger. He went to high school in Blythville.  He joined the station staff in 1938.  He was also a radio Ham, W5GSY. The 1938 Radio Amateur Callbook puts his station at Tenth and Chickasawba in Blytheville, AL. Somehow he managed to buy out KLCN 6 years later. But it must have been on a shoe string. In the March 1944 issue of Broadcasting KLCN placed an add for new and used recording equipment and 279A and 270A tubes.  

In 1953 Sudbury filed for a modified CP with the FCC to increase power from 1,000 watts to 5k. WCOC in Meridian, MS objected. But KLCN moved to 910 to protect their contour.  In 1954, KLCN-AM broadcast at 1,000 watts on 910 kHz. It was in the Sunbury era that KLCN had it's most famous guest. Johnny Cash performed there while still a student at Dyess High School in 1949. Cash was far from the only musician, The Dixie Stompers, Clayton Hunt Orchestra, Jimmie Boyd, Stoney and Wilma Lee, The Melody Playboys, Calvin Frazier, Houston Stackhouse, Sonny James, James Clecy Haggett, the Leachville String Band, the Sahara singers, and others. Ray Duke and his Sugar Creek Gang were also regulars, and had their own KLCN songbook. (Notably from that list Haggett was also a DJ there.)

When Tom Hill was engineer in the 1970s KLCN was on 910 kHz at 5,000 watts, but still just a daytimer. They owned the FM stick, KHLS 96.1 FM which in 1974 duplicated KLCN 10% per the Arkansas Radio book. Sudbury died in 1987 and W5GSY was reported as a "silent key" in the subsequent call books into 1987.  By the 1990s KLCN was broadcasting an ill-fitting AC format. But by 2002 the paired station flipped to classic country.  The FCC hit them with a $9K public file fine for omissions occurring between 1999 and 2003. They did try a novel argument in 2011 invoking a small business law to no avail. The fine stood. [SOURCE] [SOURCE] 

Around 2003 Sudbury Services acquired 98.7 KOKR. It wasn't the first. By 2019 they also owned KNBY, KOSE, KTPA, KXAR, KAMJ, KHLS, KHPA, and KQMJ across the south. But KLCN was not doing well. After the $9,000 fine the future seemed inevitable. It's not a titanic fine, but apparently it was enough. Sudbury Services Inc surrendered the license for KLCN to the FCC on April 30, 2018. The FCC subsequently cancelled the license on December 31st, 2018. [SOURCE]

Unidentified Radio Ephemera

 

I found this small scrap of paper in a cookbook, being used as a book mark. It's roughly 1" by 3" and appears to bear a printed advertisement. It's not newsprint, it feels more like cheap magazine paper. It would be unremarkable for me except for the intriguing words "Disc Jockey."  The ad looks oddly familiar but I can't place it. 

The back bears a little text, the number 12. and a few non-sequential words interrupted by the tear "...toon Classic Disney's Best... Fabulous Fifties (Disney)". I've had no luck identifying it from any of those details. 

 Clues, hints, guesses and answers are all welcome. 

Radio Tiraspol vs. Radio Bessarabia

Workers Library Publishers 1941

This pamphlet (above) was published in English, as a translation of a radio address Stalin made on  July 3rd, 1941. WWII history in 1941 usually focuses on December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor. But this is something equally important. 

Stalin's speech came after a different speech on June 22nd, 1941 by Vyacheslav M. Molotov, the Soviet People’s Commissioner for Foreign Affairs. [SOURCE] These followed Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany. Stalin was not heard publicly for 11 days after the invasion began, while radio news chattered, he remained mute and radio played a key role leading up to this pivotal time. 

Before the Molotov speech, the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, (RRBC) made propaganda broadcasts, falsely claiming that Soviet aircraft had fired on Romanian airfields. This was similar to the false flag operation that preceded the invasion of Poland; the Gleiwitz incident. This was state controlled media, and while Romania would later switch sides and join the Allies in August of 1944, King Carol II and his Kingdom of Romania were very much part of the Axis in 1941. It is unclear which station(s) broadcast that claim, but it is clear where it began... 

Radio Romania logo 1940s

Radio Tiraspol was founded on October 30th, 1930, by the Soviets in Ukraine. It started broadcasting with 4 kW. DX logs from around 1934 also list RW57 on 282 meters and RW86 on 1013 meters. The Radio Call book of 1931 lists two on 838 meters in the USSR. A 1938 BBC Foreign Programme Journal describes the station as RS3 "Political Talk" and lists it at 30 kW of power, on 280 meters. In truth, it primarily broadcast Soviet propaganda. A new radio mast was built in 1936 in Tiraspol, for greater signal penetration into the territory of Bessarabia. To quote the book Soviet Subversive Action [SOURCE] by Dumitru Stancov:

"Soviet radio stations carried out a lively propaganda campaign, paying special attention to Bessarabia. While our Chisinau radio station, out of its 4-5 hours of daily activity, reserved 3-4 hours for dance music, the Tiraspol radio station, out of its 8 hours of activity, devoted at least 5-6 hours to propaganda."

In response, RRBC founded Radio Bessarabia in Chisinau in 1937, broadcasting at 20k watts on the 291.2 meter band.  This is in modern Moldova. According to Radio Romania International. [SOURCE] Radio Bessarabia was specifically intended to combat anti-Romanian propaganda broadcast by Radio Tiraspol. In 1939, Radio Bessarabia the Marconi Company installed a more powerful 200 kW transmitter in Chisinau... this was described at the time to be twice as powerful as Radio Tiraspol.  To quote the February, 1931 issue of Radiocorriere [SOURCE] (an Italian-language listings magazine) 

"For some time now, Romanian broadcasts have been disrupted by Russian short- and long-wave stations; these not only drown out the voice of Radio Bucharest but also take pleasure in broadcasting—in French—news highly detrimental to the beloved neighbor. According to experts, radio sets in border areas are constantly "swamped" by Soviet broadcasts, especially since the USSR recently installed a new station right in Tiraspol, on the Dniester River—mere hundreds of meters from the border. The Tiraspol station broadcasts talks and news in the Bessarabian Romanian dialect, a move that has caused considerable concern among the authorities. Technicians have proposed installing a station in Chișinău to neutralize the Russian one, while others favor increased activity from Radio Bucharest, suggesting it should broadcast talks and news in French and other foreign languages ​​to counter Russian propaganda."

But all this Soviet propaganda wasn't pointless provocation. In 1940 Russia invaded and began occupying some Romanian islands, parts of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. This wasn't unexpected. The "secret" German-Soviet treaty, [SOURCE] The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939 granted Russia this territory as it was populated predominantly by ethnic Ukrainians. Some histories, including the one in Wikipedia state that this was a violation of the treaty. It specifically says in article III "With regard to Southeastern Europe attention is called by the Soviet side to its interest in Bessarabia. The German side declares its complete political disinteredness in these areas." Their deal seems clear. 

Russia gave a 48 hour ultimatum over the radio. So in June 1940 the Radio Bessarabia station personnel and equipment were evacuated to Huși, just across the Prut river. The Soviets occupied the Bessarabia studios starting June 28th. They brought in staff from Radio Tiraspol to operate the station. When then finally withdrew, they blew up the buildings, the antenna and destroyed the transmitter. I believe it was this original staff, working from Huși, who broadcast the anti-soviet propaganda on behalf of the Nazis.

Levitan in 1944

On June 22nd the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany is reported on Radio Moscow by Yuri Levitan. Levitan was their Dan Rather, the primary new announcer on RV-1, Radio Moscow. It broadcast on medium wave and shortwave in that era. The station was jammed in Italy by Mussolini, and also by Romania but less effectively.

In WWII the Allies did fine work recasting Stalin as partner, and rehabilitated his image in the Western media. It's strange to read books and periodicals published between 1939 and 1945 and see Stalin cast as a kindly, grandfather figure, just one of the good guys. [That changed immediately after the war of course.] Anyway, in response to the German invasion, Stalin gives an unusual speech where he knows he has a larger audience than usual, and he leans into that new branding and opens by calling his listeners comrades, but also, brothers and sisters dear friends.

 Some sources describe this speech as an address to the CPUSA. That's the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), a Marxist-Leninist political organization that was founded in Chicago in 1919. This is unrelated to the American fascist group, TPUSA, founded in 2012. But I think Stalin's address was actually to the CPSU, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. 

Anyway, I found a translation online which is slightly different. [LINK] There are a few more out there. I've read that translating Russian is a challenge [LINK]. If you speak Russian, you can listen to the original speech here: [SOURCE] His speeches, and writings are widely circulated if you are into political writing.

Find that Philco

 

Are these all Philcos? No. I just like the alliteration. This dial lists KOA, KGIR and all the other buttons are knocked out. That's not a lot to work with. 850 KOA-AM signed on in 1924. They signed on as a 5,000 watt station and in 1927 increased to 12,500 watts, becoming an NBC affiliate in 1929. The station was so ubiquitous in that era it does not narrow the date range. 

Today the KGIR-AM calls reside in Cape Girardeau, MO. But back in the 1930s, KGIR was a 500 watt station in Butte, MT on 1360. With only 500 watts of power, I think that puts our radio somewhere between Butte and Cody, WY. They're about 500 miles from Denver, but surely able to receive a clear channel station in that era.  The station signed on in 1929 and changed its call letters to KXLF in 1946 which book ends our date range.

Here we have a more to work with, though the labels have slid around unhelpfully: KMPG?, KOH, KGMB, KGKB, KROV, and KICA. But what a weird selection. 590 KGMB I can hardly believe as it's was based in Honolulu. It also can't be KGME-AM in Phoenix, AZ. It signed on in 1940 on 1200, as KPHO only picking up the KGME call letters in 2000. I hope I'm misreading that one. KROV does not exist that I'm aware of. I think that could be KRGV in Oroville, CA but more likely 690 KROW in Oakland, CA which used those calls from 1936 until 1964 before it changed to KABL.  More here. 

980 KICA-AM was most recently a farm station in Clovis, NM. The calls are not cut off. But earlier it was a TV station with the same calls in the same city. It was on 1240 back in the 1940s, and 1370 in 1936. This is highly unlikely with it's distance from the other bay area stations, but I have no other plausible matches. 

630 KOH-AM was not in LA, it was in Reno, NV from 1928-1994 when it became KRCV-AM. The stick on 780 in Reno is KKOH, it borrows the brand name but is not otherwise related. The original KOH, now KPLY is known the oldest radio station in Nevada. 

The first calls are KMP-something. Station 710 KMPC-AM was in Los Angeles. More here. The calls have moved around and currently broadcast Radio Korea on 1540 in LA. The original station first signed on as KRLO in 1927 and changed calls to KMPC in 1930 and held the calls for 67 years. Gene Autry owned KMPC in the 1950s. It aged with it's audience and was Adult Standards and talk radio in the 1980s.  

Just one more. This one is fun with the vertical station levers instead of push buttons. I see KGFW, KFAB, KMMJ, WGN, and WOW.  KGFW, is another heritage station, founded in 1927in Ravenna, NE. The station moved to Kearney in 1931 where is remains today on 1340. KFAB is even older and first signed on as KFRR in 1924. It moved to 770 in 1928. 

KMMJ is almost as old, having been founded in 1925 in Clay Center, NE. Noe how near Kearney that is.  I think 720 WGN-AM out of Chicago is an outlier, received only because it's a clear channel station.  Likewise 590 WOW has been on air for 100 years but never more than 5,000 watts. I think this radio sat between Omaha and Grand Island. This set of stations is pretty consistent. 

Frank and Ernest

 

1963 Frank and Ernest Broadcast Schedule

Since 1972, the name Frank and Ernest has been associated with a comic strip created by Bob Thaves. But there is an earlier, unrelated duo in radioland with the same names. Frank and Ernest is the name of an international religious broadcast by the Dawn Bible Students Association, which has been heard on hundreds of radio stations over the last 90 years. I'll list those off for easy searching. I've made corrections to the above image which has minor omissions and errors, though it's just Alabama thru south Dakota:

CALLS	Freq	City/State
WMSL	1400	Decatur, AL
WJBB	1230	Haleyville, AL
KUEQ	740	Phoenix, AZ
KBTM	1230	Jonesboro, AR
KPAY	1060	Chico, CA
KICO	1490	El Centro, CA
KGLM	740	Los Angeles, CA
KBIG	104.3	Los Angeles, CA
KVON	1440	Napa, CA
KVCV	600	Redding, CA
XERB	1090	San Diego, CA
KCOK	1270	Tulare-Visalia, CA
KIMN	950	Denver, CO
KZIX	600	Fort Collins, CO
KDZA	1230	Pueblo, CO
WTUX	1290	Wilmington, DE
WOL	1450	Washington, D.C.
WSUZ	800	Palatka, FL
WFLA	970	Tampa, FL
KRLC	1350	Lewiston, ID
WEAW	1330	Chicago, IL
WLPO	1220	LaSalle, IL
WFRX	1300	West Frankfort, IL
WJOB	1230	Gary-Hammond, IN
WIBC	1070	Indianapolis, IN
WLBC	1340	Muncie, IN
KROS	730	Clinton, IA
KLOE	1230	Goodland, KS
WLBJ	1410	Bowling Green, KY
WAVE	1490	Louisville, KY
WNOP	1230	Newport, KY
WWKY	740	Winchester, KY
WABI	910	Bangor, ME
WSRO	1470	Marlboro, MA
WBSM	1420	New Bedford, MA
WCAT	1390	Orange, MA
CKLW	800	Detroit, MI
WMAX	1490	Grand Rapids, MI
WSGW	790	Saginaw, MI
WAKX	1480	Duluth-Superior, MN
KEVE	1440	Minneapolis, MN
WLOX	1490	Biloxi, MS
WABO	990	Waynesboro, MS
WMBH	1450	Joplin, MO
KREI	800	Farmington, MO
KCMO	810	Kansas City, MO
KATL	1340	Miles, City, MT
KRGI	1420	Grand Island, NE
WJRZ	870	Newark, NJ
KSIL	1340	Silver City, NM
WEEE	1300	Albany, NY
WRJZ	970	New York, NY
WBMA	1400	Beaufort, NC
WCGC	1270	Belmont-Charlotte, NC
WGAI	560	Elizabeth City, NC
WLOE	1490	Leaksville, NC
WHLO	640	Akron-Canton, OH
WNOP	740	Cincinnati, OH
WBNS	1460	Columbus, OH
WPTW	1570	Piqua, OH
WHIZ	1240	Zanesville, OH
KAST	1260	Astoria, OR
KGAL	920	Lebanon, OR
KGON	1520	Portland, OR
KODL	1230	The Dalles, OR
WHOL	1600	Allentown, PA
WCVI	1340	Connellsville, PA
WWVA	1170	Pittsburgh, PA
WPAZ	1340	Pottstown, PA
WGRF	1240	Aguadilla, PR
KYNT	1450	Yankton, SD

Today it's down to just 9 stations: KFNX Phoenix, AZ; KAAY Little Rock,AR;  KWBG Des Moines IA; KKVV Las Vegas, NV; WCKY Cincinnati, OH;  WINB Red Lion, OH; WNAH Nashville, TN and WWVA Wheeling, WV. [SOURCE] 

In the original run of the program, when the original hosts were still alive, the format was for one would ask the other a leading question on religious doctrine. The long-winded answer would start a theme which would constitute the body of the program. Hymns would typically bookend the 15 minute program and break up the questions.  Today, 90 years later the format remains unchanged, but the new hosts are Ed and Russel, assuming those are real names. 

Our story starts in 1928, William Norman Woodworth was a member of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, (WTBTS) they're Jehovah's Witnesses. He and John E. Dawson had been producing the program Frank and Ernest for them. Norman Woodworth played Frank and John Dawson was Ernest. Then Woodworth had some big argument with Judge Joseph F. Rutherford, the president of WTBTS. There are two versions of the story behind the nature of the conflict: 

1. Rutherford wanted to eliminate the radio program entirely, against the wishes of Woodworth. 
2. Rutheford demanded that to write the show himself, because he disliked Woodworth's content; specifically the preaching of "Russell's Divine Plan." [Google it, I'm not doing theology here]

It's hard to be certain 99 years later.  But we know from historical sources, that Rutherford was a control freak and a bully. So I favor the latter version. In evidence, we do have some context in print from that era. The author of the article is not known, but in issue 308 of the Golden Age from July 1931, the Witnesses' made the schism between them and Woodworth very clear, in an article titled "Bible Students Radio Echo." 

As respects the dialogues of "Frank and Ernest", it is a matter of record that these dialogues were broadcast for several years from Radio Station WBBR, the WATCHTOWER ; and it is as apparent that during those years "Frank and Ernest" were greatly used and highly honored by the Lord as it is that Nadab and Abihu, Miriam, the ten spies, Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their comrades, and Saul and Uzzah were used and honored before their deflections arose. But those who are wise toward God will now have nothing to do with "Frank and Ernest" or with the "Bible Students Radio Echo" now that these men have ceased their association with the instrumentality God is using in the earth to perform His work at this time, and this regardless of what they broadcast, whether it be good, bad or indifferent."

The result of that conflict was that Norm left the WTBTS group around 1929 and he took his show with him. The Dawn Bible Students history reports that Dawson and Woodworth attempted to re-start Frank and Ernest in New York on WOR, beginning April 12th, 1931, then again in Boston, but had to stop after they ran out of funds some three months later. They sought ecclesia sponsorship from the Pastoral Bible Institute (PBI) but PBI declined to find the program. [SOURCE] [SOURCE]

As a result, some younger members of PBI split off on their own, led by Woodworth. That association was originally a group of younger members of the Pastoral Bible Institute (PBI). In 1932 there were 9 trustees of he the Dawn Bible Students Association and they were two of them. In 1932 together they founded Dawn Publishers, Inc.  In the mid-1930s they hired the W.L. Gleason agency for distribution. Bill Gleason arranged for Russell Pollock to broadcast programs on the California Rural Network. Eventually the program was carried on the ABC network in 1949, then Mutual in 1950.

1925 LOC catalog of copyright entry

The book A People for His Name by Tony Wills calls their magazine The Dawn's pamphlets "repetitious and boring" but he adds useful details:

"Listeners to the Watch Tower Society's radio programs prior to 1930 must have noticed that they were more faithful to [Charles] Russel than [Joseph] Rutherford. This was because William Norman and others made them up. W. N. Woodworth left the central office about 1929 and started broadcasting apart. He became associated with a dissident ecclesia. In 1931 a convention was held at which a central committee was elected, and The Dawn started to appear to keep those interested those attracted by the radio programs."

Some sources also put the program on another Jehovah's Witness owned station,WORD in Chicago, then on 1480. I have found little evidence for this.  Most sources cite 1927 as the start of the Frank and Ernest program. [SOURCE] And one can easily find it in WBBR schedules in the New York Times from that year. [LINK] The August 14th issue of that year shows Frank and Ernest closing out the broadcast day at WBBR at 8:35 PM following a studio orchestra. The same placement occurs on August 30th. That continued through 1928, 1929 and into June of 1930, when it stops abruptly.  

However I also found a listing for the program on WRVA, Friday March 21st 1930. It's right after a "Vabac Melodies" and right before an unknown program called "VA Players."  The program appears again in April and June with slightly different line ups. [SOURCE]  It is somewhat unclear if this is Rutherford or Woodworth. But it casts some doubt on the timeline, both Woodworths departure and his dispute with Rutherford. Because of this there remains a possibility that Rutherford continued to broadcast new programs without Woodworth, or that WTBTS could have circulated re-runs. Either way WBBR stopped broadcasting the programing 1930, matching the New York Times radio listings. 

According to one history [SOURCE] Woodworth resumed "Frank and Ernest" radio broadcasts in 1940. This is generally consistent with the print record, or rather the lack thereof. I can find no references in print before 1941. The best reference I found was in a 1934 issue of the East Liverpool Review, announcing a Norman Woodworth lecture, but it mentions that he's known for the Frank and Ernest program. [SOURCE]

The Witness' stations were quite odd on their own and I've written about them a few times before. [LINK]  WBBR was a religious broadcaster station owned by the Witnesses. It first signed on in 1924 on 1230 kHz from Staten Island, NY.  [LINK] By 1926, the WBBR was sharing the 1100 frequency with two other New York City stations: WEBJ and WFBH. By 1927, WFBH was deleted, but WBBR and WEBJ moved to 1170. 

The Frank and Ernest program would have first aired while WBBR was on the 1170 frequency. There are records which indicate WBBR broadcast unauthorized on 720 in 1926 into 1927. In 1928 WEBJ leaving WLTH and WBBR to share time on 1170. In 1929 WLTH split off getting 1400, and WBBR went solo, moving to 1300 where it stayed into the 1940s.  

The WBBR radio station, 1924 from jw.org

None of this tells us about the start of Frank and Ernest. Who are Frank and Ernest? In the Library of Congress catalog of copyright entries is a 1925 "Frank and Ernest" musical composition by Norman J. Vaus of New York. But there's no information on Mr. Vaus to add light to that.  One of my theories it that these were just common names, like selecting Mike or Joe. Both names were more common in the 1920s than now. 

Currently I favor a different theory. Frank and Ernest are also adjectives. Perhaps the idea is that Frank acts very Ernest but Ernest is just a bit frank? The pun was somewhat popular and appears in multiple periodicals in the mid 1920s including another comic strip unrelated to Thaves (below). [SOURCE] In 1932 there was an unrelated comic duo on KWK-AM also by the name, there was another on WWJ. There are so many references to different real and fictional Frank and Ernest duos it's like they've always existed. The gag predates radio. 

Old Gold ad, 1928

 

Rutherford died in 1942. In 1957, citing the ability to reach the faithful better through in-person contact and publications, the Witnesses sold WBBR to Tele-Broadcasters, Inc. of New York, for $133k. Tele-Broadcasters changed the calls to WPOW. Norman Woodworth died on October 29th, 1975. I don't know what happened to John Dawson . But as a finale, on December 31st, 1984, WPOW signed off in a deal with Salem Communications, to allow WNYM to increase power. More here.

To quote an unknown writer for the Portland Express in 1923, 

"I can't be Frank and Ernest, 
Though I try to be game; 
the reason why," said Harry, "is, 
That neither is my name."