The 62nd Logan County Tobacco & Heritage Festival reaches a crescendo ending this weekend. Much has changed about Russellvile and the Festival since the gala’s rebirth in 1957.
Obviously, two of the biggest changes involve the Festival itself. It’s been the Tobacco Festival for 62 falls, but “& Heritage” was added many years later to pacify a health advocate who wanted to eliminate “King Tobacco” altogether. Second, the highlight of festivals for a few decades was the Thursday evening Queen’s Pageant, which was followed two nights later by the Queen’s Ball. In 2018, Queen Presley Harris was crowned two weeks ago and Festival activities have been continuous ever since.
The Tobacco Show is still around with meagre participation, but gone are the Pipe Smoking and Tobacco Spitting contests. In fact, also missing from the Land of Logan are auctions on tobacco floors and farms’ tobacco bases.
Downtown Russellville is not the same either. Most obvious are the two open spaces at the intersection of Main and East Fourth streets in the long-time locations of Duncan’s Drug Store and the Old Bank of Southern Kentucky. Word is that the Perry’s Drug Store site is also slated for the wrecking ball. Also missing are every clothing store (Leedom’s, Henry B. Edwards, Kleins, Wright’s, The Clothes Tree, the Louisville Store, etc.) except the Shoppe on the Square, in the long-time location of Logan County Hardware and Furniture.
Nowhere to be found are Hancocks, Bentley’s, Kuhns, Ben Franklin, Gene Riley’s and Hickey Stovall’s appliance stores, Helen’s Dress Shop, Royaltone Studio, Humphries’ Jewelry, and many more on the Square. The building which long housed the Citizens National Bank is more of an office than a bank for its successor, and Southern Deposit Bank and First Federal Savings & Loan are under different name signs.
Despite its name, the News-Democrat now primarily relies on submissions from conservative columnists for its Editorial page. That slant is reflected in the voting patterns in the former Democratic Stronghold where most of the votes and offices above the county level go to Republicans.
Looking for constants? Here are three:
*Evelyn Richardson is the same reliable, dependable, humble historian we have depended on for decades. Maybelle Morton, Mrs. J. Wells Vick, Henry Duncan, Maurice Linton, and Ed and Ed Coffman Jr. are no longer with us, but Mrs. Richardson is not only very much alive but never seems to tire of community service.
*The Chamber of Commerce continues to do a marvelous job of planning and implementing the Festival with the aid of countless volunteers. The Logan Chamber is under the superb leadership of President Mandy Henley and Chamber staffers Karen Logan and Pandora Christian.
*And for 65 years this fall, WRUS has been the voice and much more for the people who populate the Land of Logan.
During 60 of those years, Don Neagle has been The Voice of Logan County. He’s transitioned from disk jockey to ad rep to news reporter to morning anchor to adept interviewer to co-owner. He’s even a television star, since the Electric Plant Board television’s community channel simulcasts several hours of the 80-year-old workhorse’s radio show five mornings per week.
WRUS became Logan County’s alarm clock before smart phones were invented. We haven’t needed a wireless Alexa to tell us what is going on and when, as long as we’ve had Winky and Lon Sosh, Warren Dockins, Gene “Stick Buddy” Locke, “Don T” Trumphour, Janelle ‘J.B.” McGhee, Tim Harris, and the current veteran staff of Mack Mallory, Chris McGinnis, and Myla Christine Porter along with Don Neagle with the news and the Community Calendar. We know whose life has ended because obituaries are the equivalent of front-page news on WRUS.
Radio came to Russellville on Aug. 28, 1953 when Roth Hook of Alabama and Charlie Stratton of Hopkinsville formed Southern Kentucky Broadcasters. The station began with the call letters WRSL. Earl Johnson was the general manager.
Two years later Russellvillian Winky Sosh bought Stratton’s interest and became the manager, giving the new WRUS an infusion of local knowledge and community pride. The Soshes were an integral part of the station and the community for decades to come. Winky’s daughter/Lon’s sister, Jean Reynolds, a retired Russellville teacher, remains active in the community, as does her husband, Mark Reynolds. Their son, John Brett Reynolds, not only is the community president of First Southern National Bank but is the Voice of the Panthers as WRUS’ play-by-play broadcaster of Russellville football and basketball.
The current first family of local radio, though, is named McGinnis. Bill McGinnis and his son Chris have been the business gurus who (in the person of Bill) turned the original WRUS FM into a highly profitable enterprise known as The Beaver, which he sold a few years ago. Chris has been Don’s partner in ownership of WRUS for 18 years this month. His business sense is magnified by his love of Russellville/Logan County and his involvement in the community. Unlike many AM stations, WRUS is growing and thriving.
Additionally, WRUS apparently is a surrogate Love Potion #9. Bill McGinnis met Brenda White in 1966 while Bill was a student host of Teen Town Party on WRUS. They have been married most of the years since. The day after their son Chris met Tiffany Mdacham at a Cougar baseball game, she won the Happy Birthday Club on WRUS. “She assumed I had made that happen, but anyone who knows Don Neagle realizes he’s not going to bend the rules. Still it helped us get to know each other.” Tiffany has been a McGinnis much of the time since. She and Chris have two sons.
Longevity has been a cornerstone of WRUS’ history. Midday air personality Mack Mallory, an Olmstead alum, has been with the station for 35 years, drive time deejay Myla Porter started with WRUS when she was a WKU student in 1983, Hilton Ashby was the chief account executive for decades. Lillian Devasier was the financial manager during a similar time span.
Along the way, FM radio has played a role. WRUS FM was engineered by RHS alum Andy Mac Rector with the help of on-air personality Bob Miller, who is married to another Russellville graduate, Ann Goddard Miller. WRUS FM went on the air in February 1965 at 92.1.
Lon Sosh became owner of both stations and changed the name of the FM station to WAKQ (KQ101), since it had moved to 101.1 on the dial. An outstanding sportscaster, Lon turned the FM station into one of the best sports station in Kentucky. He did play-by-play on Western men’s games himself. At times KQ101 was the home of St. Louis baseball, UK sports, and Austin Peay football and basketball (the last under the management of Buddy Matthews). And, of course, Russellville football and basketball along with basketball games involving the five Logan County high schools were aired regularly.
Lon was named to the Russellville Alumni Association Athletic Hall of Fame in honor of his sports broadcasting and support of Panther sports.
He sold the FM station to an out-of-state group which changed the name to WBVR (The Beaver). Country music took the place of rock ‘n roll and sports. The station was a huge success and was popular over a radius of about 75 miles, including into Nashville. Then Bill McGinnis, who has advanced from ad salesman to manager to owner, sold the 100,000-watt tower and moved The Beaver to Bowling Green and Hopkinsville.
WRUS wasn’t carrying sports, either, but an on-air entrepreneur called “Ol’ Gibb” (Donald Scranton) reintroduced sportscasts to the station, selling the ads himself. Sportscasts have been an integral part of the night programming on the AM station ever since.
All of that has led to the return of WRUS FM this year. It’s on 94.1 and extends the coverage of the station—especially at night—to the outer edges of Logan County. The programming is identical to the AM station’s broadcasts as a simulcast.
Throughout it all, WRUS has continued its local programming.
When Tobacco Festivals remind us of how much things have changed in Russellville and Logan County, it’s refreshing to rely on an even older Logan institution than the Festival--good ol’ WRUS.