Border Radio: Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves, Revised Edition by Gene Fowler & Bill Crawford

Author:Gene Fowler & Bill Crawford [Fowler, Gene & Crawford, Bill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Media Studies, Music, Non-Fiction, Social Science
ISBN: 9780292789142
Google: Bc36AQAAQBAJ
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 2010-06-27T23:00:00+00:00

Pappy’s papier-mache capitol-dome sound truck. Courtesy Austin History Center.

Those who opposed his plan for funding pensions in the legislature were “a little bunch of pin-headed legislators so pig-headed as to keep the sovereign voters from voting on anything.” Critics pointed out that his expensive new sound truck, topped with a papier-mache replica of the state capitol dome, had been donated to the campaign by the Hillbilly Flour Company in direct conflict with the penal code of Texas, which forbade campaign gifts from corporations. O’Daniel responded by saying, “This sound truck that has shocked the sensibilities of these influence-peddling lawyers at Austin and these make-me-an-offer columnists for the corporation press … is just an ordinary truck bought by our family flour company… . Pattie-boy signed a note for it, for $500… . Thank you son.” He ended his campaign in Abilene, leading the band in a song of his creation, “There Ain’t Gonna Be No Runoff,” and urging the crowd to give a “good old cowboy yell” for the benefit of the radio audience.

The other candidates spent a good deal of their energies in attacking O’Daniel, calling him an “ignoramus,” “a medicine show candidate,” “a Kansas Republican,” and “a crooner.” A supporter of Ma Ferguson compared O’Daniel to Nero, accusing the governor of “fiddling around” while “the political house of Texas is on fire,” and deplored “the spectacle of government by remote control and transcription from a Mexican radio station.” Ma Ferguson’s husband mocked O’Daniel’s style in a radio broadcast speech from Lufkin: “Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Hello, boys and girls, and all you folks out in radio land. Thank the Lord this is not O’Daniel speaking… . Six flags have reigned over the domain of Texas. Descending from the sublime to the ridiculous, we now witness the spectacle of our grand old state being ruled by a flour sack as an emblem of our proud history.” E. O. Thompson complained of trying for weeks “to get the governor to come out from behind his microphones and discuss his record with the people man-fashion.” Harry Hines pulled a coup by requesting the prime radio time of the Carr Collins Crazy Water Crystals show on WBAP. Collins wished to relinquish the time to O’Daniel but could not, as Hines had made his request first, and the WBAP management refused to budge. Collins pulled his band off the air and bought a fifteen-minute slot directly after Hines to make observations of his own on the political situation.

Despite the attacks by O’Daniel’s opponents, Pappy’s popularity had been steadily on the rise since the close of the legislative session in 1939. Pollsters attributed the phenomenon to “the paucity of political activity that might have engendered opposition.” O’Daniel was much better at attending functions and issuing proclamations for Yam Week, Bottled Soft Drink Week, and Black-eyed Pea Day than he was at fighting the hard battles of the legislature. On Election Day he retained the support of the rural population and the older people who still believed that he was “a good Christian man.

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