Kenneth R. Giddens (September 10, 1908 – May 7, 1993) was an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

owner, but most notably the broadcaster who put two

radio stations Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a lan ...

and one

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...

based in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

on the air, all at one point in time bearing the call sign ''WKRG'' (only the TV station still has that callsign today). Giddens also served as director of the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

longer than any other person in the broadcast service's history.

Life

Giddens was born in

Pine Apple, Alabama Pine Apple is a town in Wilcox County, Alabama, United States. It incorporated in 1872. Per the 2020 census, the population was 143. It has two places on the National Register of Historic Places, the Hawthorne House and the Pine Apple His ...

in 1908. He attended Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now known as

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

) in 1928, studying architecture before graduating in 1931. Giddens used his newfound knowledge in the creation of a chain of movie theaters spanning three states, which would become the foundation of his journey into the young broadcasting industry. Kenneth's interest in broadcasting peaked when buying radio

advertisements Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of interest to consumers. It is typically us ...

for his Giddens & Rester theaters. Giddens and his family would start up Mobile's new broadcast operation WKRG-TV, Inc. in 1946. Under Giddens' direction, radio station

WKRG WKRG-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Mobile, Alabama, United States, serving southwest Alabama and northwest Florida as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Gulf Shores, Alabama–licensed CW o ...

went on the air on September 26, 1946, followed by WKRG-FM in 1947, and

WKRG-TV WKRG-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Mobile, Alabama, United States, serving southwest Alabama and northwest Florida as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Gulf Shores, Alabama–licensed The CW, ...

on September 5, 1955. While in Mobile, Giddens partnered in the construction of the city's first air-conditioned enclosed

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

called

Bel Air Mall The Shoppes at Bel Air, formerly Bel Air Mall, is a super-regional shopping mall, located in Mobile, Alabama, United States. The mall has a gross leasable area of . It is the oldest continuously operating enclosed super-regional mall in Alabam ...

. Giddens contributions to broadcasting and his fellow man would not end in southwest Alabama and its surrounding areas, but continue in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

as the new director of the Voice of America starting in September 1969 until April 1977. Giddens also served as president of the Alabama Broadcasters Association and the National Broadcasters Association, where he was also part of its international committee. After Kenneth's death on May 7, 1993, the Giddens family continued his broadcast legacy until the WKRG radio stations were sold in 1994, and the TV station was sold in 1998; the former WKRG-AM is now WNTM, and WKRG-FM is now WMXC.

Recognition

Kenneth Giddens was among the first inductees in the Communication Hall of Fame at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

's College of Communication and Information Sciences. The college now recognizes Giddens as someone who has brought lasting fame to the state of Alabama, as said in the following statement: “Kenneth Giddens will be remembered for his many contributions to Alabama and the nation through his outstanding leadership as a businessman, broadcaster, and public servant.”

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Giddens, Kenneth R. American television executives People from Wilcox County, Alabama 1908 births 1993 deaths Auburn University alumni 20th-century American businesspeople Voice of America people