Is 1480 in Augusta still on the air? According to the FCC website, their expanded band station has been granted for 5 years now, as of the end of November, and the rules are the 1480 was to be surrendered.
Just curious.
Back in the golden days, 1480 WRDW and WGAC 580 were the standard in Augusta along with 1340 WBBQ. I think WBBQ was the younger folk's station. WRDW was the newspaper station which also built TV. [size=10pt]WGAC[/size], as many of you probably know, was the station that J B Fuqua built. It [size=10pt]was on 1230 [/size] and moved to the enviable 580 spot where today it's still doing great. In fact, I seem to recall in the last ratings it was the top Beasley station in the market.
Actually, WGAC signed in 1940, on 1210 (moving to 1240, post-NARBA), with 250w-D/100w-N. As I recall, the move to 580 (and the 5kw-D/1kw-DA-N) occured in late '45.
Then, in early '46, Walter Brown, owner of WORD (then on 1400) in Spartanburg, SC, was granted a permit for a new station in Augusta...WTNT, with 250 smokin' watts on 1230.
Interestingly, about a year later, Brown (in partnership with Ed Little, president of the Mutual Broadcasting System) was granted a permit on 1240, which gave birth to Thomson's WTWA (Washington-Thomson-Warrenton-Area) in January, 1948. At the time, Thomson was said to be the smallest (population-wise) town in the USA, to have a radio station.
In mid-1950, both stations were sold, as Brown concentrated on Spartanburg. WTWA was sold to Frank Hash, publisher of the McDuffie Progress, the local newspaper in Thomson.
WTNT was sold to J.B. Fuqua, which then became...WJBF Radio.
Walter Brown later sold WORD (in late 1953), making a move "uptown" (literally), purchasing WSPA-AM/FM in 1954.
In 1971, Brown returned to Thomson, building WTHO-AM/FM (1530 AM/101.7 FM), which was (and still is) a showplace facility (built with all RCA gear...some pieces having "retired" from WSPA).
As it is that what goes around, comes around, in 1979, WTWA returned to Brown's ownership, replacing the inferior 1530 facility (1kw-D/330w-CH, with NO pre/post-sunrise authority), with the fulltime 1240 operation becoming a sister to WTHO-FM.
Fuqua sold WJBF Radio to Ray Ringson and Jack Owens in 1956 (when the station began a long run as WBIA), concentrating on WJBF Television, which he built in 1953.
Once again, Walter Brown's name pops up, when in 1989, his Spartan Radiocasting purchased WJBF-TV from J.B. Fuqua.
By the way, WBBQ had your standard network programs/popular music/full-service (heavy on the news) format until sometime in late '63, when they threw in the towel, jumpin' on the rock 'n' roll train (and eventually becoming NUMBER ONE, since who knows when).
The reason? A top-40 programmed WRDW, having been forced into dumping CBS (WRDW switched to ABC, and CBS went to WGAC) and their full service/popular music format...driven into playin' the devil's music by yet another station in town...and no, you ain't gonna believe this one, but I swear it's true.
The catalyst for WRDW's move to top-40, which birthed WBBQ's stratospheric ride into the top-40 history books?
It was...WFNL, cookin' with 500 watts (daytime only) on 1600.
Oh, and one more thing...WFNL's music and program director...the master manipulator...the genius who opened up a big ol' can o' whoop-ass on TWO long-time, heritage, Augusta radio operations...one of them operating with 5,000 watts full-time?
Oh yes it was! It was none other than one "Handsome" Harley Drew! WBBQ's owner, George Weiss, and GM, "Easy" Ed Dunbar weren't fools...they "stole" Harley away from WFNL, and let him unleash a Tiger on the Fabulous Thirteen-Forty (along with the FAB-40 survey, "Another Winner", and the "Golden Hour").
AND NOW, you know...the rest of the story.
