William Satterfield collection of Delaware political radio commercials and interviews
Content Description
The William Satterfield collection of Delaware political radio commercials and interviews contains approximately 500 unique recordings, documenting the political discourse of the First State in the 1970s and 1980s. These recordings were produced either by the political campaigns or parties themselves (Series I), or by the staff of WKEN (Series II and III), most intended for air.
Series I, Political radio advertisements, includes 435 radio commericals featuring campaign songs and advertisements for candidates for public office and the local, state, and national level. Because WKEN was based in Dover, most advertisements featuring local candidates, both for county office or the Delaware General Assembly, represent Kent County, Delaware.
Series II, Political interviews, contains 10 interviews aired on WKEN. Eight were aired on "The Open Mike," a weekly public affairs radio program. Guests include former governors and contemporary state and federal legislators.
Series III, Miscellaneous political recordings, includes recordings collected by reporters working for WKEN. Some of these recordings may have functioned as background for political stories, while others, featuring audio with public officials, press conferences, and floor debate from the Delaware House of Representatives, may have been packaged for rebroadcast.
Two notable sets of recordings are from Return Day 1984 and 1986. Return Day is a unique Delaware tradition. Held in Georgetown, Sussex County, Delaware, Return Day celebrates the reading of election returns for Sussex County. Return Day is an opportunity for both winning and defeated candidates to come together as a sign of unity and "bury the hatchet," literally -- state party leaders bury an actual hatchet after the reading of the returns.
Dates
- Creation: 1970-1986
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1972, 1980-1984
Creator
- Satterfield, William (Person)
Language of Materials
Materials entirely in English.
Access Information
The collection is open for research.
This collection contains audiovisual media that has been reformatted. Access to an unedited digitized version of the master reels (unsegmented recordings, no transcripts, etc.) is available by request. Please contact manuscripts staff for access.
Conditions Governing Use
Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, https://library.udel.edu/static/purl.php?askspec
William Satterfield
William "Bill" Satterfield was born and raised in Dover, Delaware. He attended Wake Forest University and earned a BA in history. After college, Satterfield returned to Delaware and began a career as a news radio reporter for WKEN Dover in 1975, eventually rising to news director at the station by 1983. While at WKEN, he also served as the Delaware correspondent for WCAU radio in Philadelphia. From 1984 through 1986, Satterfield worked as a farm news reporter out of Salisbury, Maryland.
In 1986, Satterfield was hired by the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc. (DPI, now the Delmarva Chicken Association) to serve as Assistant to the Executive Director. On January 13, 1993, Satterfield became Executive Director of DPI until his retirement on December 31, 2018.
"William Satterfield." Leadership Delaware, accessed January 8, 2021 https://leadershipdelaware.org/person/william-satterfield/. DCA Executive Directors, "Bill Satterfield," Delmarva Chicken Association, accessed January 8, 2021 https://www.dcachicken.com/about/executive-directors.cfm.Cindy Chambers, "Bill Satterfield Selected Rotary Club Of Salisbury President Elect," SBY Business Journal, January 13, 2020 https://sbybiz.org/bill-satterfield-selected-rotary-club-of-salisbury-president-elect/."WKEN (AM)," Broadcasting Yearbook 1984, B-48 and B-49. Accessed January 8, 2021 https://worldradiohistory.com/Broadcasting-Yearbook.htm.
WKEN Dover
WKEN Dover (AM 1600) was a radio station operating out of Dover, Delaware, beginning in 1957. The station featured public affairs programming in addition to music and news. In 1997, the original call sign changed to WQVL, marking a period of successive call sign changes between 1997 and 2012. For a time, the station was simulcast on a sister station in New Jersey. At different times, WKEN had a broadcast focus on both Gospel music and oldies, before being reassigned WRJE and broadcasting "Regional Mexican" music until the station ceased operation on January 13, 2016, when the FCC cancelled the broadcast license.
"WRJE." Wikipedia, accessed January 8, 2021 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WRJE. "WKEN (AM)," Broadcasting Yearbook 1984, B-48 and B-49. Accessed January 8, 2021 https://worldradiohistory.com/Broadcasting-Yearbook.htm.
Extent
1 phonograph record : 7 inch, 45 RPM
70 1/4 inch audio tape
6 audio cassette
1 CD
49.2 gigabyte (616 total recordings, approximately 488 unique recordings)
Abstract
William Satterfield, a native of Dover, Delaware, served as a news reporter and news director of WKEN (AM 1600) between 1975 and 1984. The William Satterfield collection of Delaware political radio commercials and interviews contains approximately 485 unique recordings, documenting the political discourse of the First State in the 1970s and 1980s.
Custodial History
This collection was originally gifted to the Center for Political Communication at the University of Delaware in 2012. In 2018, the collection was formally transferred to the University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press, Special Collections department.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of William Satterfield, 2018-2019.
Materials Available in Alternative Format
Access to digital copies of the original recordings in the Satterfield collection are available by following mp4 links in the finding aid. These digitized files are housed in Artstor, where users may browse this collection or use advanced searches to identify and listen to the recordings. Each recording includes a full transcript.
Original media reformatted by George Blood, L.P. with generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' "Recordings at Risk" Project.
Shelving Summary
Boxes 1-3: Shelved in SPEC MSS record center cartons MSS0877_0001: Shelved in SPEC Media Phonographs
Rights Statement
The text of this web page can be reused and modified under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Processing Information
Processed and encoded by John D. M. Caldwell, 2020-2021.
Subject
- Satterfield, William (Person)
- United States. Congress. Senate (Organization)
- United States. Congress. House (Organization)
- Delaware. General Assembly (Organization)
- Carper, Thomas R., 1947- (Person)
- Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (Person)
- Castle, Michael N., 1939- (Person)
- Reagan, Ronald (Person)
- Peterson, Russell W. (Russell Wilbur), 1916-2011 (Person)
- Du Pont, Pierre S. (Person)
- Anderson, John (Person)
- Schmitz, John G., 1930-2001 (Person)
- WKEN (Radio station : Dover, Del.) (Organization)
Genre / Form
Geographic
- Delaware--Politics and government--1951-
- Kent County (Del.)
- United States--Politics and government--20th century
Topical
- Title
- Finding aid for William Satterfield collection of Delaware political radio commercials and interviews
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
- Date
- 2020 October 22
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- Digitization funded by CLIR Recordings at Risk Grant, 2020-2021.
Repository Details
Part of the University of Delaware Library Special Collections Repository