I know this thread started a long time back, and I recall posting quite a bit about the history of some of the stations. As it always seems to be, as time passes, you remember something else, discover something new, or find out you weren't absolutely correct about everything. So, here a few bits and pieces.
WGUS/North Augusta kicked off with 500 watts on 1600 in 1958, upgrading to a kilowatt on 1380 in 1960.
George Weiss, WBBQ's founder, did build another station. In late 1946, he built WFAK/Charleston. It was a kilowatt daytimer on 730. He sold it in 1948, and the new owners changed the calls to WPAL.
Before WAKN (990) and WLOW (1300), Aiken had WNCA, a 1kw daytimer on 740. WNCA went on the air in 1949. I assume it wasn't successful, as it disappeared by 1952. In 1952, WBAW, with 500 watts on 740, took to the air in Barnwell. 1952 was also the year that WAKN debuted in Aiken.
Regarding the 94.3 in Martinez, here's how all that was able to come about. WSNT-FM/Sandersville was originally on 94.3. The construction of WBYZ/Baxley required changing WSNT's frequency to 93.5 (a frequency which would work from WSNT's existing tower).
In 1977, Gene Harden, who owned WTWA/Thomson, filed for, and got a CP to build an FM in Thomson on 94.3. Before he could build the station, Walter Brown, who owned WTHO-AM/FM, bought WTWA from Harden, with the CP for the FM being cancelled. (This was historic, as Brown had built WTWA back in 1947. With the purchase of WTWA, the WTHO(AM) license on 1530 was surrendered in 1978).
In 1980, the president of the Bank of Columbia County (can't remember his name), filed to have 94.3 assigned to Martinez, and was granted a CP in 1982, and WMTZ went on the air in mid-1983.
As an interesting aside, WSNT's frequency was changed again in the mid-80's. This time, they were moved from 93.5 to 99.9, in order to allow WVOH-FM/Hazelhurst to move to a Class C2, and increase power from 3kw to 50kw. And, in 2001, WVOH took a downgrade to a Class C3 (and 25kw), to allow WMGB/Jeffersonville to upgrade to a Class C1, increasing power to 100kw. WSNT is the only Class A FM I've ever heard of, that has operated on three different frequencies, with none of the changes voluntary, and/or with the intention of bettering the facility.
Ain't this radio chess game a whole hoot and a half???
Now then, regarding WRNZ/Wrens...
96.9 was originally on 96.7, and was known as Z-96. The station had its beginnings in 1974, when a individual came before the Wrens City Council, presenting the concept of Wrens having a radio station. He convinced longtime mayor J.J. "Juddy" Rabun to make a request to the FCC for an allocation. The allocation was finally made in early 1977, but nothing else was heard from the guy who'd got it all started.
I visited with Mayor Rabun in April of '77, and expressed an interest in building and operating the station. A group of investors was assembled, and we filed the application in late '77. The CP was granted in late '78, and we moved in Wrens in early '79. We got the station built fairly quickly, and went on the air at 2:00PM on Sunday, June 10th, 1979. The ERP was 1,050 watts @ 500' HAAT.
Our format was an A/C-Top 40 hybrid, and a lot of folks have always said it was a hot little station. No question that it could've been much better, but I think it was way yonder better than most would've expected a Wrens, Georgia radio station to be.
Honestly, we had too much radio station for the area we covered. I was extremely fortunate to have some great talent...my PD/Afternoon guy was J.J. Hemingway, who now operates Cascade Broadcast Services in Spokane, Washington (and is PM Drive on KISC/Spokane). Middays was the late Steve York, nights were handled by MD Jim Jacobs. Jim has owned WTDR/Talladega-Anniston, Alabama since 1992. I was the weakest link in the chain, handling mornings, sales and janitorial.
It was expensive to operate, and my backers felt it should've made money from day one. They kept the pressure on me, which necessitated the swift departure of Hemingway and York, but we gained the talented Tony Cooper from WPEH/Louisville and Lynn Sinclair from WBCU/Union, South Carolina. Even with the reduced overhead and a greater push in sales, it still wasn't enough. Even though I owned 25% (on paper), the folks with the money handed me my walking papers in December, along with a request that I surrender my stock...unless I wanted to cut them a check for 25% of the outstanding debt. I declined that invitation, and walked away with my tail dragging the ground behind me.
In February, 1980, my former partners sold the station to Bob Hutchinson from Thomson. Bob owned the Ford and Pontiac/Oldsmobile dealerships in Thomson, and his family owned Hutchinson Homes, a mobile home manufacturer based in Thomson. Bob had plenty of money, plus the contacts in Thomson to help the station gain the needed advertisers. After Bob took over, the format was changed to a straight-ahead Top 40, and I think it did pretty good.
In mid-1981, Bob and his two brothers were killed in the crash of a company plane. They had traveled to Texas, to look at acquiring a mobile home plant there. As his executrix, Bob's wife Ruth took over the radio station after his death. In less than a year, she sold the station to guy named Frank Ayers. I never met him, but I've been told a couple of folks that worked for him, that he was not fun to work for, and wasn't much of a broadcaster. Business was not good.
In 1983, Ayers sold the station to a group from South Carolina. The licensee was Comcast, Inc., but had no connection to the cable company. These folks put in an automation system, with a rather elaborate (for 1983) voice-tracked format. In 1984, they made a format change, and changed the calls to WMJB. I think these folks gave a good try, but they couldn't make it work, either.
In early 1985, Comcast sold the station to Val-Tel, who also owned WRDW/Augusta. I'm not certain about this, but the calls were changed to WRDW-FM, and I believe the FM simulcast the AM. I'm not certain of the format. These folks weren't successful either, and it went off the air sometime in '88, finally going bankrupt in 1989. At the request of the bankruptcy trustee, I inspected the facility in early 1990, and gave them a report on what it would take to get it back on the air, and a rough estimate of what it was worth.
There was some skillful financial and legal manuevering, and the station did go back on the air, although still in bankruptcy. An upgrade to go from a 3kw Class A to a 6kw Class A was filed, then amended to change frequencies and go to a Class C3, which was granted in late '91. With the upgrade granted, the station now had the potential to a player in Augusta, and the beleaguered owners struck gold.
Greg Davis, who owned WTHB/WFXA in Augusta, bought WAKB in late-1992 for a million bucks. I ran into Greg in Athens in early 1993, and told him that he ought to cut me a check for about a hundred grand. I told him that had it not been for me, the station would've likely never existed, so he wouldn't have been able to buy it. Frankly, I think I had him so confused that he was reaching for his checkbook, but...I stopped him. If only I'd had the first round of shock treatments BEFORE that conversation!
Ahh well...you win a few, you lose a few, and a few get rained out.
Oh, by the way...ask J.J. Hemingway to tell you about our second news guy, Rick Myers. No matter what, whenever you needed Rick, he was always tied up!!! You know, I lived through it, and I still don't know that I believe it.
After all this tale-telling, I need an aspirin and a nap!
WGUS/North Augusta kicked off with 500 watts on 1600 in 1958, upgrading to a kilowatt on 1380 in 1960.
George Weiss, WBBQ's founder, did build another station. In late 1946, he built WFAK/Charleston. It was a kilowatt daytimer on 730. He sold it in 1948, and the new owners changed the calls to WPAL.
Before WAKN (990) and WLOW (1300), Aiken had WNCA, a 1kw daytimer on 740. WNCA went on the air in 1949. I assume it wasn't successful, as it disappeared by 1952. In 1952, WBAW, with 500 watts on 740, took to the air in Barnwell. 1952 was also the year that WAKN debuted in Aiken.
Regarding the 94.3 in Martinez, here's how all that was able to come about. WSNT-FM/Sandersville was originally on 94.3. The construction of WBYZ/Baxley required changing WSNT's frequency to 93.5 (a frequency which would work from WSNT's existing tower).
In 1977, Gene Harden, who owned WTWA/Thomson, filed for, and got a CP to build an FM in Thomson on 94.3. Before he could build the station, Walter Brown, who owned WTHO-AM/FM, bought WTWA from Harden, with the CP for the FM being cancelled. (This was historic, as Brown had built WTWA back in 1947. With the purchase of WTWA, the WTHO(AM) license on 1530 was surrendered in 1978).
In 1980, the president of the Bank of Columbia County (can't remember his name), filed to have 94.3 assigned to Martinez, and was granted a CP in 1982, and WMTZ went on the air in mid-1983.
As an interesting aside, WSNT's frequency was changed again in the mid-80's. This time, they were moved from 93.5 to 99.9, in order to allow WVOH-FM/Hazelhurst to move to a Class C2, and increase power from 3kw to 50kw. And, in 2001, WVOH took a downgrade to a Class C3 (and 25kw), to allow WMGB/Jeffersonville to upgrade to a Class C1, increasing power to 100kw. WSNT is the only Class A FM I've ever heard of, that has operated on three different frequencies, with none of the changes voluntary, and/or with the intention of bettering the facility.
Ain't this radio chess game a whole hoot and a half???
Now then, regarding WRNZ/Wrens...
96.9 was originally on 96.7, and was known as Z-96. The station had its beginnings in 1974, when a individual came before the Wrens City Council, presenting the concept of Wrens having a radio station. He convinced longtime mayor J.J. "Juddy" Rabun to make a request to the FCC for an allocation. The allocation was finally made in early 1977, but nothing else was heard from the guy who'd got it all started.
I visited with Mayor Rabun in April of '77, and expressed an interest in building and operating the station. A group of investors was assembled, and we filed the application in late '77. The CP was granted in late '78, and we moved in Wrens in early '79. We got the station built fairly quickly, and went on the air at 2:00PM on Sunday, June 10th, 1979. The ERP was 1,050 watts @ 500' HAAT.
Our format was an A/C-Top 40 hybrid, and a lot of folks have always said it was a hot little station. No question that it could've been much better, but I think it was way yonder better than most would've expected a Wrens, Georgia radio station to be.
Honestly, we had too much radio station for the area we covered. I was extremely fortunate to have some great talent...my PD/Afternoon guy was J.J. Hemingway, who now operates Cascade Broadcast Services in Spokane, Washington (and is PM Drive on KISC/Spokane). Middays was the late Steve York, nights were handled by MD Jim Jacobs. Jim has owned WTDR/Talladega-Anniston, Alabama since 1992. I was the weakest link in the chain, handling mornings, sales and janitorial.
It was expensive to operate, and my backers felt it should've made money from day one. They kept the pressure on me, which necessitated the swift departure of Hemingway and York, but we gained the talented Tony Cooper from WPEH/Louisville and Lynn Sinclair from WBCU/Union, South Carolina. Even with the reduced overhead and a greater push in sales, it still wasn't enough. Even though I owned 25% (on paper), the folks with the money handed me my walking papers in December, along with a request that I surrender my stock...unless I wanted to cut them a check for 25% of the outstanding debt. I declined that invitation, and walked away with my tail dragging the ground behind me.
In February, 1980, my former partners sold the station to Bob Hutchinson from Thomson. Bob owned the Ford and Pontiac/Oldsmobile dealerships in Thomson, and his family owned Hutchinson Homes, a mobile home manufacturer based in Thomson. Bob had plenty of money, plus the contacts in Thomson to help the station gain the needed advertisers. After Bob took over, the format was changed to a straight-ahead Top 40, and I think it did pretty good.
In mid-1981, Bob and his two brothers were killed in the crash of a company plane. They had traveled to Texas, to look at acquiring a mobile home plant there. As his executrix, Bob's wife Ruth took over the radio station after his death. In less than a year, she sold the station to guy named Frank Ayers. I never met him, but I've been told a couple of folks that worked for him, that he was not fun to work for, and wasn't much of a broadcaster. Business was not good.
In 1983, Ayers sold the station to a group from South Carolina. The licensee was Comcast, Inc., but had no connection to the cable company. These folks put in an automation system, with a rather elaborate (for 1983) voice-tracked format. In 1984, they made a format change, and changed the calls to WMJB. I think these folks gave a good try, but they couldn't make it work, either.
In early 1985, Comcast sold the station to Val-Tel, who also owned WRDW/Augusta. I'm not certain about this, but the calls were changed to WRDW-FM, and I believe the FM simulcast the AM. I'm not certain of the format. These folks weren't successful either, and it went off the air sometime in '88, finally going bankrupt in 1989. At the request of the bankruptcy trustee, I inspected the facility in early 1990, and gave them a report on what it would take to get it back on the air, and a rough estimate of what it was worth.
There was some skillful financial and legal manuevering, and the station did go back on the air, although still in bankruptcy. An upgrade to go from a 3kw Class A to a 6kw Class A was filed, then amended to change frequencies and go to a Class C3, which was granted in late '91. With the upgrade granted, the station now had the potential to a player in Augusta, and the beleaguered owners struck gold.
Greg Davis, who owned WTHB/WFXA in Augusta, bought WAKB in late-1992 for a million bucks. I ran into Greg in Athens in early 1993, and told him that he ought to cut me a check for about a hundred grand. I told him that had it not been for me, the station would've likely never existed, so he wouldn't have been able to buy it. Frankly, I think I had him so confused that he was reaching for his checkbook, but...I stopped him. If only I'd had the first round of shock treatments BEFORE that conversation!
Ahh well...you win a few, you lose a few, and a few get rained out.
Oh, by the way...ask J.J. Hemingway to tell you about our second news guy, Rick Myers. No matter what, whenever you needed Rick, he was always tied up!!! You know, I lived through it, and I still don't know that I believe it.
After all this tale-telling, I need an aspirin and a nap!