Dr. H.C. Allison

Dr. H.C. Allison

Doctors
Radio operators
Newspapers

Henry Clay Allison was born in Hood County, Texas in 1896 and died in 1976. He settled in Smithfield in the mid-1930s. He helped form the Northeast Tarrant Civic League in 1941. He also opened a chiropractic clinic and the Smithfield Springs Health Farm near his homestead just south of present Starnes Road near Century Drive. He also served in WWI and played a role in the annexation of Smithfield to North Richland Hills.

However, he carried a reputation that did not inspire trust. He reportedly only attended chiropractic school briefly and represented himself as a doctor. As for his “Health Farm,” it was little more than home for the mentally ill and alcoholics, as there was no tangible program to help them. Furthermore, the only thing keeping people in was a high fence.

Henry Clay Allison was a chiropractor by trade, but he also had a huge passion for radio. He purchased KFJZ from its founder Bill Branch in 1928, only to turn around and sell the station to former Fort Worth mayor and department store owner H.C. Meacham a little over a year later for a profit of $10,000. However, Allison was not done with radio yet.

In early 1933, he applied to the Federal Radio Commission to start a new 100-watt radio station in Fort Worth at 600 kilocycles. In June, the commission rejected his application on the grounds of unsatisfactory equipment and transmitter location. Dr. Allison did not let this ruling deter him though, and he went ahead and built his new station anyway - license or not. He gave his operation the unofficial call letters of "K-Y-R-O", after his primary vocation. His operation seemed so legitimate that the Star-Telegram even included it in its radio listings. KYRO was perhaps one of the most prominent pirate radio stations to have ever broadcast in north Texas, but the station's popularity soon became its downfall. The Federal Radio Commission shut down Allison's station in September and arrested him. Eventually, Allison was found guilty of "unlawfully operating a radio station without a federal license". Allison didn't have to serve any jail time, but he would never indulge his passion for radio again. (From DFW Radio Archives)

Another area of controversy was his newspaper, the Smithfield Springs Bulletin. The paper was wielded to cut down people opposed to his plans. He was evidently hungry for power and money because in 1941 he launched a campaign to rename the town Smithfield Springs (the same as his health farm). The citizens were opposed to this idea. In his paper, he called people opposed to the name change “sullen and sulking” in their “obstinacy” and “aristocratic ladies” trying to block progress. When he formed the civic league, opponents were deemed “back-biters” and “stumbling blocks.”