Ark-La-Tex

Arkansas-Louisiana-Texas
Arkansas-Louisiana-Texas
Region
	Downtown Shreveport, Louisiana in 2015
	Downtown Tyler, Texas skyline in 2012
	Broad Street Texarkana, Arkansas in 2016
Country	United States
State	Arkansas; Louisiana; Oklahoma; Texas
Principal cities	Shreveport; Bossier City; Tyler; Longview; Paris; Marshall; Texarkana; El Dorado; Idabel;
Population (2010)
• Total	1,043,570
Time zone	UTC−6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Area code(s)	318, 430 and 903, 870, 580

The Ark-La-Tex (also stylized as Arklatex, ArkLaTex or more inclusively Arklatexoma) is a U.S. socio-economic region where Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma abut. The region contains portions of Northwest Louisiana, Northeast Texas, South Arkansas, and the Little Dixie area of Oklahoma. The largest city and center of the region is Shreveport, Louisiana. Other major cities in the Ark-La-Tex include Tyler, Texas, Longview, Texas, Marshall, Texas, and the Texarkanas.

Most of the Ark-La-Tex is located in the Piney Woods, an ecoregion of dense forests of mixed deciduous and conifer flora. The forests are periodically punctuated by sloughs and bayous that are linked to larger bodies of water such as Caddo Lake or the Red River. The Ark-La-Tex covers roughly 46,500 square miles (120,000 km²) with an estimated 2010 population of 1,043,570.^{[citation needed]}

Origin of the term

According to one source, the name "Ark-La-Tex" was first promoted for the region by a Shreveport Chamber of Commerce campaign in 1932-33.^[1]

Communities

Largest cities

List of cities over 2,500 people:

Louisiana

City	Parish	Population
Arcadia	Bienville	2,919
Blanchard	Caddo	2,899
Bossier City	Bossier	62,745
Eastwood	Bossier	4,093
Grambling	Lincoln	4,949
Greenwood	Caddo	3,219
Haughton	Bossier	3,454
Homer	Claiborne	3,237
Jonesboro	Jackson	4,704
Mansfield	DeSoto	5,001
Many	Sabine	2,853
Minden	Webster	13,082
Natchitoches	Natchitoches	18,323
Red Chute	Bossier	6,261
Ruston	Lincoln	21,859
Shreveport	Caddo, Bossier	200,975
Springhill	Webster	5,279
Vivian	Caddo	3,671
Winnfield	Winn	4,840

Texas

City	County	Population
Atlanta	Cass	5,675
Athens	Henderson	12,710
Bonham	Fannin	10,127
Carthage	Panola	6,779
Clarksville	Red River	3,883
Crockett	Houston	7,141
Daingerfield	Morris	2,560
Gilmer	Upshur	4,905
Gladewater	Gregg, Upshur	6,228
Hallsville	Harrison	3,775
Henderson	Rusk	13,712
Hooks	Bowie	2,769
Jacksonville	Cherokee	14,544
Kilgore	Gregg, Rusk	12,975
Longview	Gregg, Harrison	80,455
Lufkin	Angelina	35,067
Marshall	Harrison	23,523
Mount Pleasant	Titus	15,564
Mount Vernon	Franklin	2,662
Nacogdoches	Nacogdoches	32,996
New Boston	Bowie	4,550
Paris	Lamar	25,171
Pittsburg	Camp	4,497
Sulphur Springs	Hopkins	15,449
Texarkana	Bowie	36,411
Tyler	Smith	96,900
White Oak	Gregg	6,469

Arkansas

City	County	Population
Arkadelphia	Clark	10,714
Ashdown	Little River	4,723
Camden	Ouachita	12,183
De Queen	Sevier	6,629
El Dorado	Union	18,491
Hope	Hempstead	17,264
Magnolia	Columbia	11,577
Mena	Polk	5,737
Nashville	Howard	4,627
Prescott	Nevada	3,868
Texarkana	Miller	29,919

Oklahoma

City	County	Population
Broken Bow	McCurtain	4,120
Hugo	Choctaw	5,310
Idabel	McCurtain	7,010

Culture

The culture of the Ark-La-Tex region, and especially its music, shows a mixture of influences from the related, but distinct, cultures of its surrounding states. The music of the area is marked by country and blues sounds typical of the music of the Southern United States, the Western music of Texas, and the well-documented music of New Orleans and Acadiana in Louisiana.^[2] The area had a significant role in the development of country and rock and roll music beginning in the 1940s. On March 1, 1948, Shreveport radio station KWKH launched a country music variety show called the Ark-La-Tex Jubilee, followed a month later by the long-running and influential Louisiana Hayride program.^[3] Hayride director Horace Logan and regular performer Webb Pierce started a music publishing company called Ark-La-Tex Music.^[4]^[5]

Drummer Brian Blade, a Shreveport native, included a song entitled "Ark.La.Tex." on his 2014 album Landmarks, exploring the mixture of musical influences in his home region.^[6]

Media

TV

KLTV - Tyler (ABC affiliate)
KYTX - Nacogdoches (CBS affiliate)
KFXK - Longview (Fox affiliate)
KCEB - Longview (Me-TV affiliate)
KETK - Jacksonville (NBC affiliate)
KTRE - Lufkin (ABC affiliate)
KTAL - Texarkana/Shreveport (NBC affiliate)
KMSS - Shreveport (Fox affiliate)
KSHV - Shreveport (MyNetworkTV affiliate)
KPXJ - Shreveport (CW affiliate)
KSLA - Shreveport (CBS affiliate)
KTBS - Shreveport (ABC affiliate)
KLTS-Shreveport (PBS affiliate)
AETN - Arkadelphia/El Dorado (PBS affiliate)
KTVE - El Dorado (NBC affiliate)

Radio

93.7 KXKS-FM—KISS Country
95.7 KLKL-FM—The Greatest Hits of All Time
97.3 KQHN-FM—Shreveport's #1 Hit Music Station i97.3
98.1 KTAL-FM—98Rocks

Notable people

References

^ Bonnye E. Stuart, Louisiana Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff (Globe Pequot, 2012), ISBN 978-0762769773, pp. 5-7. Excerpts available at Google Books.
^ See generally Kip Lornell and Tracey E. W. Laird, eds., Shreveport Sounds in Black and White (University Press of Mississippi, 2008), ISBN 978-1934110423, and in particular the introductory section entitled "The 'Ark-La-Tex' and Music Research" at pp. xii-xvii. Excerpts available at Google Books; other excerpts also available at Amazon.com here.
^ Tracey E. W. Laird, Louisiana Hayride : Radio and Roots Music along the Red River: Radio and Roots Music along the Red River (Oxford University Press, 2004), ISBN 978-0195347180, p. 6. Excerpts available at Google Books.
^ "Webb Pierce" in Michael Erlewine, ed., All Music Guide to Country: The Experts' Guide to the Best Recordings in Country Music ( Hal Leonard Corporation, 1997), ISBN 978-0879304751, p. 364. Excerpts available at Google Books.
^ "KWKH Maps Big Build-Up on Hillbillies", Billboard, August 30, 1952, p. 19.
^ "Brian Blade Finds A 'Landmark' In His Shreveport Roots", Weekend Edition, April 27, 2014.("... my depiction musically of this region where we live, you know, where Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas meet here at the northwestern corner of Louisiana. I guess in terms of the structure of the song - these sort of three different moods - it unfolds in this very small way - these seeds. Then all of a sudden, you cross a line and the landscape changes immediately.")

[1] Bonnye E. Stuart, Louisiana Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff (Globe Pequot, 2012), ISBN 978-0762769773, pp. 5-7. Excerpts available at Google Books.

[2] See generally Kip Lornell and Tracey E. W. Laird, eds., Shreveport Sounds in Black and White (University Press of Mississippi, 2008), ISBN 978-1934110423, and in particular the introductory section entitled "The 'Ark-La-Tex' and Music Research" at pp. xii-xvii. Excerpts available at Google Books; other excerpts also available at Amazon.com here.

[3] Tracey E. W. Laird, Louisiana Hayride : Radio and Roots Music along the Red River: Radio and Roots Music along the Red River (Oxford University Press, 2004), ISBN 978-0195347180, p. 6. Excerpts available at Google Books.

[4] "Webb Pierce" in Michael Erlewine, ed., All Music Guide to Country: The Experts' Guide to the Best Recordings in Country Music ( Hal Leonard Corporation, 1997), ISBN 978-0879304751, p. 364. Excerpts available at Google Books.

[5] "KWKH Maps Big Build-Up on Hillbillies", Billboard, August 30, 1952, p. 19.

[6] "Brian Blade Finds A 'Landmark' In His Shreveport Roots", Weekend Edition, April 27, 2014.("... my depiction musically of this region where we live, you know, where Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas meet here at the northwestern corner of Louisiana. I guess in terms of the structure of the song - these sort of three different moods - it unfolds in this very small way - these seeds. Then all of a sudden, you cross a line and the landscape changes immediately.")

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