Hank Warren, in addition to being a Briarhopper, was the stations' still photographer. His job was to capture on film staff members, events, guests—in effect, everything in sight. He ran the darkroom and kept the photo archives.

He shot thousands of pictures over the years, but only a few hundred have been unearthed. If a large file has survived, we don't know about it.

This collection of 127 proofs (small test sheets from which he chose the best takes of his work) is the largest group we've found.

These proofs were contributed by Jerry Wilson. He obtained them about 30 years ago and, thankfully, kept them safe.

We've cropped and improved the images, and, where possible, provided identification of individuals and situations.

Hank's Proofs

1940s

Some of these old photos fill in the gaps of our knowledge of those days. Had we heard, for example, that the Briarhoppers during World War II traveled to camps to entertain the troops, and that there were at least two Briarhopper units?

82 photos

1950s

This was television's decade, but, at least for the first few years, radio played at least as prominent a role. Entertainers like Fred Kirby and Arthur Smith still performed on 15- or 30-minute shows. And news still played a large role in the lineup.

45 photos

Briarhoppers - Unit 2

Ronald Reagan interviewed by J. D. Clark

Click photos to view galleries. On gallery pages, note links at top for more photos.