103.3 KOBV - Bentonville Community Radio

12/21/2025

Come hang with the Bentonville Radio DJs! Some are DJing, some are making chili.. and it's guaranteed to be better than this AI slop pic! 🤣 tonight, 12/21 (winter solstice!) 6pm-whene'er you wanna leave

12/21/2025

Tonight! Come say hi and check it the tunes (and chili) https://facebook.com/events/s/chili-cook-off-dj-battle--1033/1476192796775106/

12/01/2025

bringing heavenly live music to the Movista offices (Icehouse building, across from Brother's Meet House)

11/21/2025

Beats, Rhymes, Life every Thursday

11/18/2025

stepping up its DJ game!

An unexpected yet vibrant DJ culture has popped off in Bentonville.

11/17/2025

11/15/2025

Stephane Wrembel performance was stunning and the setting was magnificent!

11/10/2025

Early Musical Royalty

If we saw a photograph of Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, or Son House, most of us could name them instantly. The same goes for a line-up of the Rolling Stones or the Beatles. But look at this — this extraordinary gathering of men and one remarkable woman.

Here stand some of the greatest musical minds of the early twentieth century — William Grant Still, W.C. Handy, J. Rosamond Johnson, Will Vodery, Noble Sissle, Charles Cooke, and H. Lawrence Freeman. Their work shaped everything that followed — from early jazz and blues to Broadway, film, and popular song.

Handy gave the world St. Louis Blues and Memphis Blues — songs that opened the door for the entire blues movement. J. Rosamond Johnson co-wrote Lift Every Voice and Sing, which became known as the Black National Anthem. William Grant Still composed Afro-American Symphony, the first symphony by a Black composer to be performed by a major orchestra. Noble Sissle co-wrote I’m Just Wild About Harry, one of Broadway’s first great hits. H. Lawrence Freeman wrote operas when few would have believed it possible for a Black composer to do so. And Will Vodery’s orchestral genius shaped the sound of the Ziegfeld Follies and early Hollywood musicals.

They faced extraordinary challenges and the relentless barriers of racism, yet their talent carried them through. They wrote, arranged, and conducted music that reached the very heart of American culture. Many of those who hired them became famous and wealthy through their efforts, but these men too found success, dignity, and lasting influence in their own right.

At Document Records, we believe they probably deserve to be spoken of in the same breath as Irving Berlin, Lennon, and McCartney — for they too changed the face of music forever.

Photograph courtesy of the Miriam Matthews Collection, UCLA Library. Circa 1930.

— Gillian, Document Records
Written on back of photo: Leading Afro-American Composers and arrangers: Front Row, left to right: William Grant Still, H. Lawrence Freeman, W.C. Handy, Rosamund [sic.] Johnson, Will Vodery. Third from left in back row: Charles Cooke. Fifth from left in back row: Noble Sissle.