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1380 WTOB & Dick Bennick Introduced rock and roll to the Piedmont

W

wnmb

In 1947, Winston-Salem got its third radio station as WTOB signed on the air from studios on 4th Street across from Sears. The first two stations were WSJS and WAIR. WTOB initially operated during daytime hours at 710, but moved to full time at 1380 in the early 1950s. The station also moved to new studios in the Thruway Shopping Center. However, more hours and more power did nothing to improve its audience, as it remained in third place behind its elders. In 1956, as rock and roll was taking hold in other parts of the country, WTOB's owner, the Winston-Salem Broadcasting Company, decided a big change was necessary. They hired a young man who was orginally from Concord but who was making a name for himself at a radio station in Birmingham, Alabama, playing this new rock and roll stuff. His name was Dick Bennick. In late 1956 Dick hit the airwaves in Winston-Salem and started playing the hits of Bill Haley, Fats Domino and others. His afternoon program was an immediate sensation. In a short time, the entire WTOB format was changed to rock and roll, except for an early morning farm program! By mid 1957, Dick was getting up to 5000 cards and letters a week from fans. He began hosting record hops, and did all the things that were happening in larger markets. In a short time, the names of Dick Bennick, John Stanton, Jim Melvin and Ted Arnold were names most everyone in Piedmont knew. George Lee, who recently passed away, joined the station in the early 60s. Later well known WTOB personalities, to name a few, were Glenn Scott (still mornings on WSJS now), The Flying Dutchman (Pete Berry), and Russ Spooner. I am writing a book about all this, having grown up in Winston-Salem and adjacent Yadkin County. I sure would appreciate any of you passing along any memories of these days, and I am seeking airchecks from the 50s and 60s from Winston-Salem as well. So far, I've gotten some real treasures, but I am sure there must be many more.
As a footnote to all this, not too long after WTOB became a full time top 40 station, WAIR changed its format as well and began its own version of top 40 radio.
Dick Bennick died in Florida in 1996, but I'll bet if you ask anyone in Winston-Salem today is age 50 or over, they would remember him very well.
WTOB today has different owners and is doing the Hispanic format thing. WAIR is no more, but another station occupies the 1340 spot on the dial.
Please feel free to post about this and contribute anything which can help in bringing back these memories. I will be happy to give credits in my writing.
Thanks.
 
Just a note about Dick...I saw him back in 1979 in Florida. He was at WGTR (I believe that was the call letters) at Cypress Gardens. The studio was in the parking lot. He still had his funeral home wagon and was doing his spooky bit on a Tampa T-V station. It was wonderful to see him! He was one of the greats!!!
 
Thanks for the reply. You are close about the radio Station. It was WGTO in Winter Haven. He was on the air there, having moved to Florida in the early 70s; later became the sales manager. In the late 60s, Dick began hosting a Saturday night horror movie party on Channel 8, WGHP, in High Point. The station was owned by the same company that owned WTOB.
Dick's character was called Dr. Paul Bearer. He was very creative and the show was called Shock Theatre. He took the idea with him to Florida and became very popular as the host of a similar show on WTOG TV in Tampa.
 
Who could forget Dick's Downtown Au go go (Winston's first nightclub for teens), the Saturday Morning movies at the Carolina with a band and Dick Bennick, or the HI-Fi Club dances at the old Elks Lodge. On air, was there ever a better newsman than George Thomas? Bob McClain was cool at night and there there was Lee Bryant in the afternoons. On WAIR Ray Travis (Sasser), Bob Blair, and even Daddy O were fun to listen to. Oh, and remember Dick Bennick's teen dance show on WGHP? I was a guest on that show many times and it was always alot of fun.
 
n-guy and barneypip; thanks for your replies. Yes, I have the Bob McLain aircheck and others. I have a fantastic one by George Lee, and I have several Dick Bennick audio cuts.......just looking for more. I will be glad to share any I have with others as well.
A personal note; Dick was my inspiration and mentor getting into radio. As a kid growing up on Queen street I used to visit WTOB a lot. I got to sit in the studios, played in the TV studio, and met some absolutely great people.
Ray Travis (Ray Sasser) of WAIR is here in the Myrtle Beach area.
 
Bill, your first two links aren't coming up for me. I get "document not found" on the white screen of death! The last one (the Hi-Fi Club) I got fine.
 
WTOB! Now that was a real Radio Station. I am in radio now because of WTOB. Listened to The Flying Dutchman thru the static in north High Point till the pattern change. George Lee, Bob McLean many other names I have forgotten. Never got to work there but my partner Willie Edwards did nights/afternoons and Ray "J.R." Snyder was his 20/20 news-man. Had lunch with Wayne Ashworth this past Saturday. We could listen to WTOB and WKIX in the TRIAD. Both owned by Southern Broadcasting and both were GREAT top 40 stations. I've got a copy of some TOB jingles both Pams and Drake/Chenault on reel to reel. Try to get them on the internet one day. If one thing is missing from my career is that I never got to work above the Town Steakhouse. Got to visit many times. Willie tells some of the greatest radio story's about working there. Don't want to write a book but Robert Tucker and myself worked at WHPE and we would set in the parking lot at Thruway and watch the On-The-Air light come on when Bon McLean would do his thing. Wasted youth? I am sure the folks who live in Charlotte fell the same way about Big WAYS as we do about WTOB & WKIX! Great Topc! Great memories.

Wes
 
Wes;
Did you use the name Wes Jones on WHPE? And yes, I remember "The Wild child" Willie Edwards on WTOB.
Out in Yadkin County at night when the WTOB was not listenable, I heard WHPE. Another name that comes to mind in Max Parish.
Glenn Scott worked at both WAIR and WTOB. He once used the air name "The Great Scott".
Here are some other names for you from WTOB that are not in previous posts. Lee Bryant. Dave Loyd. Rick Dees worked there for a time. Jim Clark.
I cannot begin to tell you the influence this station had on me in choosing a career in radio.
As you know, there was a great rivalry between WTOB and WAIR for listeners in the mid 60s. One day, the WAIR crew showed up at Thruway Shopping center, right near the WTOB studios. they were giving away WAIR license tags for the front of cars, and some other prizes for putting one on your car.
They were really promoting the event heavily. WTOB simply ignored it on the air, but one of the guys did come out to the parking lot and when chided by a dj from WAIR, my friend simply replied "You may put some of those tags on the fronts of cars. Good for you. But we got them (the people) where it counts, because 1380 is on their radios!"
 
Bill: Yes that’s me. Max Parish gave me my first paying job in the business. $1.60 per hour. But I was on the radio. And getting paid to learn! Can you do that now? Max produces the Dusty Dunn show on WGOS 1070 AM. Dusty is at the Greensboro studio and Max is at the station off Green Street on Mendenhall. I see Max about two or three times a month. Dusty is another WTOB Alum. Did mornings in 1970. When Dusty was on WCOG in Greensboro he had a 52.1 share in afternoons. But that was when the book was a High Point/Greensboro and Winston was a single market. WCOG was a good station but did not have the sound that WTOB had.

Wes
 
I couldn't get any of the links to WTOB airchecks to work. A shame! I would LOVE to hear them! I grew up in the Ronda/Elkin area (Wilkes and Surry Counties), and listened to WTOB through the static. LOVED IT! I miss them so much! I miss driving by their towers once I got my license!

George Lee...now there's a name from the past! I remember him not just from WTOB, but of course the long-running "George Lee Showboat" on WSJS. It isn't my imagination, is it? Radio WAS better in those days!
 
Interesting that WHPE has been mentioned as a Triad top 40 station. The station was a real mess, nothing like WTOB, Big WAYS, or WKIX, but I bet it had a huge listenership, especially at night. I had a pile of cousins my age in the late 60s/early 70s that grew up in Western Rowan County (Woodleaf). During the day, they listened to WTOB or WAYS, but at night they found FM radios and tuned in WHPE-FM. Meanwhile, I attended Ferrum College, about 70 miles north of the Triad in VA, and we also tuned in 95.5, day and night. I'm sure this went on all over the Piedmont and SW VA. Places like Danville and Martinsville. No offense, but the djs and production values were horrible---lots of dead air, horrible jingles, etc. I remember one comedy routine they had----fake traffic reports, which was so corny. I wonder if they ever realized how many listeners they really had...
 
Walker is right .. radio was a lot better back then! More creative, more inventive, and more fun!

Didn't Russ Spooner work at WTOB for a while? May have been late 60s or early 70s. Studios were at 5th and Broad at the time, I think?
 
Too bad all of us who are younger and coming up through automation/VTing/no news/etc won't have any stories about the "good old days of radio" except what we heard from the older people before us.... :mad: :mad: ??? :-[
 
Hey guys, when i loaded the links to the mp3 files I was not in the studios, but using a laptop while out of town. When I get back to NMB I will reload them from the production room computer itself rather than linking to Yahoo.
As to Russ spooner, yes, he was at WTOB in the mid 70s to the late 70s.
WTOB studios were in the Thruway Shopping Center from 1954 to around 1974. Then owner at the time, John Woods, moved to Fifth street in a former Bell phone building, then back to Thruway for a time in the 80s. Now, the station is near Wake Forest University.
 
Current WTOB studios are off North Point in the building occupied by WKZL before they moved to Greensboro.
 
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