In 1921, Couch visited Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and radio station KDKA, a pioneer of modern broadcasting. On the trip he also met Lee de Forest, inventor of the wireless radiotelephone and the vacuum tube. Couch bought equipment and decided to set up a radio station in his home state, "to advertise Arkansas and, incidentally, AP&L". He saw great potential benefits for his company and Arkansas. AP&L had already been planning to create a radio system so its generating plants around the state would have easy communication. Couch demonstrated the radio in November 1921 to the Pine Bluff Rotary Club.