           |
PASTOR ASTOR and KPEW RADIOThe congregation was dwindling because no matter how strong the “spirit” was, it just wasn’t very easy to raise money for a new building , when it looked like they would have to be worshiping in a concrete bunker ! That was the only kind of structure that Pastor Astor felt safe in anymore. Granny Doll had listened to a few gospel stations on the radio, and decided a ministry over the airwaves might suit Pastor Lyle Bodine Astor to a “T”. There just happened to be an old abandoned concrete building south of town on a slight rise that Herman Dumas Sr had used for storage. “It wouldn’t matter much how bad the place looked if all you did was hear it ,” Doll told the stymied building committee. She got it cleaned up and furnished, with the help of some of the Oil Co. employees and the few remaining church elders. Marv helped get some information, and applied for an FCC licence. With a generous donation from Doll’s “Helping Hand Trust Fund” to the church, they got themselves set up with a tower and all the equipment they needed to transform that place into a real sure enough... AM radio station! L.B( Doll called him that ‘cause she’d laugh every time she called him “Pastor Astor”) wanted his church’s radio home to be called KPEW... “Where your radio could become your private pew at the Fourth Baptist Church and Highway Prayer Club .” The name seemed even more fitting whenever the wind was blowing just right from the northeast, and the aroma of the paper mill in Pine Bluff would drift towards Peavine! What had started out as two hour broadcasts during regular church service times :Sunday mornings and evenings, and on Wednesday nights, ......with Bible Studies on Thursday afternoons....stretched into Wed. Through Thurs.9 am to 7pm. Louise Dolesanger became the music director for the radio station ,as she had been organist and choir director for thirty-five years at the church . By this time she had been a musical entertainer playing the organ at Seymore’s Tex-Mex for 3 years, and her knowledge and taste in music had expanded quite a bit! She and Doll got their heads together and ordered a whole bunch of new records...not all religious either. With the help of Pastor Astor’s 16 year old son, Little Bo, they played music between church services. Every now and then, Lil’ Bo would sneak in some of his favorite secular tunes. Before long, it became obvious to the Pastor that he was getting more listeners that would be tuned into his sermons. So Pastor Astor got the habit of bursting into the control room when Little Bo would least expect it... come on the air without warning , and start preaching... just to see if he could save a few extra souls by surprise. Then, lo and behold, the Pastor discovered the beauty, and increased income of radio advertising! The way he would work in the names of the local businesses to his radio sermons was pure genius! Then as the “donations” piled up , he would pray fervently for certain dress shops, gas stations and eating establishments ....but eventually the IRS got wind of it and he had to change how he did business. Marv was invaluable in his assistance on changing the way KPEW was run. Eventually, Marv and Young Bo took over for the Pastor. They developed an even more diverse format of secular music with the help of Pauline, Kristy, and Misty. Shirleen Naither was a real help with their collection of country music recordings, now she that had all her Nashville connections. By 1975 , KPEW was the best little radio station in the area! Bo made enough off the station’s revenue to donate money to build a real church, with stained glass windows, in downtown Peavine. Old Pastor Astor had retired from the “ministry” after the IRS incident..His other son ,Joe Don, had felt the call, and became the preacher at the lovely new church Bo built downtown. It’s called the “New Church of the Vine”...and Joe Don is referred to as the Reverend Astor...”.Thank God!”said Doll with a straight face. |