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."

DJ Judge Rutherford

I generally assume that any group that shows up on my doorstep proselytizing and/or evangelizing is a group to be avoided. I find this particular type of performance art to be patronizing, moderately offensive and highly obnoxious. So as a result I knew nothing of the Jehovah's Witnesses. It is only recently I learned about their early use of radio.

Judge Joseph Frederick Rutherford was the third president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and by connection he played a big role in the early development of the Jehovah's Witnesses group. They were founded loosely in the 1870s. His involvement began in the 1890s and was on their board of directors by 1916. He became their president in 1917. (They didn't even adopt the name Jehovah's Witnesses until 1931 before that they were just the IBSA.) He and several directors was arrested on charges of sedition under the Espionage Act in 1918 for the contents of a book they published that year. It may sound far fetched but they were advocating that draftees refuse their orders, which is a form of obstructing the war draft. Pacifism and passive resistance was received very poorly in WWI by the authorities.

They were released from the Atlanta Penitentiary on bail in 1919 after 8 months and charges were dropped in 1920. After being released from prison he began writing and publishing again. But do remember that arrest, some people really had it in for Rutherford. Pastor Charles T. Russel writes of a newspaper article that records what is probably the first broadcast by Rutherford. It was on April 16th 1922 at the Metropolitan Opera House in Philadelphia, PA. The Howlett referred to below is Thomas F. J. Howlett, the founder of WGL-AM. Those calls were assigned in February of 1922. It was the first Philadelphia broadcast license. "Howlett station" is Thomas F. J. Howlett, the founder of WGL-AM. Those calls were assigned in February of 1922. It was the first Philadelphia broadcast license. More here.

“Judge Rutherford’s Lecture Broadcasted from Metropolitan Opera House. Talks into Transmitter. Message is Carried Over Miles of Bell Telephone Wires to Howlett’s Station.”

In 1923 his group bought the equipment from the decommissioned 740 WDT-AM and began building WBBR. (no connection to the modern Bloomberg station) In those early days they did live on-air baptisms.  Rutherford stepped up the evangelizing  in 1924 with the launch of a 15-minute radio program which was initially on WBBR-AM, based on Staten Island. I use the word "initially" with cause. In 1927, the FCC subsumed WBBR-AM to the benefit of WJZ-AM pulling the station out from under him. It was big enough news Time Magazine wrote about it:

"At was at a hearing of the Federal Radio Commission in Washington. The commission had given the radio wave length of WBBR, Judge Rutherford's station, to WJZ of the National Broadcasting Co., and had refused to allocate any wave length to WBBR. WBBR was considered an unessential station. That was complot, cried Judge Rutherford."

WBBR-AM had signed on in 1924 at 1230 kHz. By 1927 they were sharing with WJBI-AM, WLTH-AM and WEBJ-AM on 1170. The book Airwaves Of New York recorded that his organization owned seven stations including ones in Chicago, IL, Oakland, CA and CKCX in Toronto. In mid-1924 CHUC in Saskatoon signed on. It was followed by CHCY in Edmonton, and CFYC in Vancouver. In Canada the Radio Branch began to receive complaints about IBSA stations. Some regarded technical problems, they caused interference, frequency drift etc, but most were about content: primarily their denigration of other faiths but also their opposition to canned goods, and specifically their deranged opposition to vaccination. Several IBSA stations licenses were canceled in Canada in 1928. They viewed this as another conspiracy.

Despite setbacks the network grew.  In September of 1928 he was broadcasting on a network of 53 stations and by mid august the network included 96 stations, which at the time was a record. He used this accomplishment to goad other religious broadcasting groups and Merlin Hall Aylesworth of NBC. With his grandstanding in some ways it becomes unsurprising that regulators took a dislike to him. So when WBBR lobbied to share time with WJZ, in 1927 they were told no and relegated to share time with 3 other stations. They had the frequency from 6:00 AM to 8;00 AM  weekdays, and 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Tuesday to Friday.

When the Witnesses didn't own the station, they bought airtime. He bought airtime on half a dozen different New York stations. As Rutherford attacked other religions sometimes he was banned from individual stations. Ostensibly it was was his attacks on the clergy that resulted in bans by both NBC and BBC radio networks. But it is just as likely that he was also making a repeat performance of his WWI "seditious" comments. In teaching pacifism, and opposing nationalism and jingoism he made enemies. Specifically in wartime that causes tension. But in Canada their licenses were not renewed on 4 stations specifically because of derogatory comments about other clergy. His accusations of theocracy in government went over badly.

Nonetheless his network grew even without WBBR. Eventually this grew via a network to as many as 480 radio stations (a ludicrous number) depending on what source you favor. In the Watchtower publication Face The Facts from 1938 they put the number at 118 stations. In his own text, The Fifth Column from 1940 he estimated 240 stations in the network.  I have never found a complete verifiable list, but a newspaper clipping I found from 1934 includes to following much shorter list of 114 stations. Several things of note on the list.  they are still on WIP after almost 15 years.  I also find it interesting that it lists Cuba but not Canada. It may have been a targeted mailing or maybe they'd been run out of Canada by then. Full list below the break...