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Terre Haute Radio History

J

jjschim

Not being from the area, was just curious about which were the first stations in the Terre Haute area. Anyone have some tidbits of history on that?
 
I think the first station was 640 AM. It was started by Rose Poly (now Rose Hulman) in the late 20s and became WBOW when it went commercial. 640 has been dark since 2001. The longest continuously operating AM is probably 1480 WPFR (formerly WTHI), but I don't know the first air date of 1480.

On FM, I think WTHI-FM is the longest continuously operating station. Both WTHI-FM and rimshot WWBL have been continuously operating since 1948, not sure which one was actually "first."

WTHI-TV was the first TV station, signing on in '53 or '54 from the 500' tower on Ohio St (then shared with WTHI-FM, now just the FM). WTWO didn't sign on for several more years.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
I think the first station was 640 AM. It was started by Rose Poly (now Rose Hulman) in the late 20s and became WBOW when it went commercial. 640 has been dark since 2001. The longest continuously operating AM is probably 1480 WPFR (formerly WTHI), but I don't know the first air date of 1480.

On FM, I think WTHI-FM is the longest continuously operating station. Both WTHI-FM and rimshot WWBL have been continuously operating since 1948, not sure which one was actually "first."

WTHI-TV was the first TV station, signing on in '53 or '54 from the 500' tower on Ohio St (then shared with WTHI-FM, now just the FM). WTWO didn't sign on for several more years.
Click to expand...


WBOW began as WRPI circa 1927. I can't recall the original frequency, but it later moved to 1230, where it remained until the early '90s when it moved to 640. 1230 was retained by the then-owners as a repeater of WZZQ-FM, until of course all of the stations had their licenses pulled (that's another story).

WTHI-AM started on 1480 AM in 1945.

On the TV side, WTWO started in 1965, while then-WIIL-TV (now WAWV) started in 1973.
 
A lot of well known radio broadcasters had jobs in Terre Haute. Jay Stevens, who was he you might ask? Remember "Let's Make a Deal?" Jay was the announcer and would describe the items on the show with Monte Hall. He was on WBOW.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
The longest continuously operating AM is probably 1480 WPFR (formerly WTHI), but I don't know the first air date of 1480.
Click to expand...
Wasn't 1480 silent for several months a couple or so years ago?
 
Since this is a "history", what ever happened to Tony Clark, Kathy Walker, and some of the other Power 103 employees. We all know that Bubba The Love Sponge started at 103 and became a super star in radio.
 
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