THE GEORGIA RADIO HALL OF FAME

[grhof]

On this, the 85h birthday of radio in Georgia, you are invited to visit the Georgia Radio Hall Of Fame at www.grhof.com. Today, we celebrate 22 legatees; Georgia radio pioneers who are no longer living. Career Achievement (living) honorees will nominate and voted on by members. Become a lifetime member and nominate and vote for future inductees. Our innaugural induction ceremony is scheduled for this fall. The Legendary Station section of www.grhof.com has never before seen and rare photos of some of Georgia's great radio stations.

 

[taylorengineer]

Great site.....long overdue!!

 

[BDBopper]

What an awesome site. Learned a lot of new things today. Very well done. I will definitely be joining as a member as a radio enthusiast.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I'll echo what the others have said; the site is excellent (although some of the print in the newspaper clippings is too small to be readable--at least for me).

Looking over the exhibits brought a number of questions to mind. I'd like to speak with an Atlanta radio historian. Also, Jim Davenport is a name that I've associated with WFOM, but I didn't realize he had such an extraordinary radio career in Atlanta. Finally, does anyone know where WATL was on the Atlanta radio dial?

 

[grhof]

Jim Davenport II, is the father of Jim Davenport III (of WFOM). Click on the newspaper articles they will enlarge for easier reading. WATL may have been the forerunner for WAOK.

 

[jy]

Great website and I hear great reaction on this first day, the 85th birthday of radio beginning in Georgia.
The beauty of this is it's not about it's founders, and it's not about one format. It's not living in the past but acknowledging the past. It's not gouging people but charging a minimal fee to show support and allow members to vote with plans to proceed quickly to names you might be more familiar with. Already floods of calls are coming with people wanting to submit photos and memories making it one large scrapbook. Within this posting board they are listeners and current and retired radio pros interested in this idea and it's very gratifying to see so much positive response directly to the site which is certain to continue to improve with your contribution of ideas and photos and stories. WELCOME. www.grhof.com

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Jim Davenport II, is the father of Jim Davenport III (of WFOM). Click on the newspaper articles they will enlarge for easier reading. WATL may have been the forerunner for WAOK.

Thanks for the information on the Davenports and on WATL. I have trouble reading the articles after I enlarge them, but I guess I'm just getting old!

 

[Art Sutton]

Jim Davenport II, is the father of Jim Davenport III (of WFOM). Click on the newspaper articles they will enlarge for easier reading. WATL may have been the forerunner for WAOK.

WATL went on the air at 1400 and later moved to 1380 to go from 250 watts to 5000 watts day and night, directional at night. The original transmitter site is still there on I-20 West at 285. Two of the four self supporting towers were destroyed in a tornado and the two guyed towers were put up in their place.

When WATL left 1400, this cleared the way for WCOH in Newnan to go on the air at 1400. Later an AM went on the air at 1400 in Alpharetta.

 

[taylorengineer]

I was thinking 1380 was WAGA back then. Or was that 590 before the WPLO days?

 

[grhof]

The posts above from Mr Sutton and Taylor Engineer are perfect examples of the motive for establishing the GEORGIA RADIO HALL OF FAME. Both of you gentlemen are resources of historical information that would otherwise be lost. Thank you for participating in this discussion. We hope you will become members and continue to share knowledge. By the way, one unique benefit to joining today is that your membership certificate (yes it's suitable for framing!) will bear the founding date of our organization.

 

[moneynews]

From Mike Kavanagh - WSB Radio and Board of Directors of the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame
I hope all who visit this board will take time to join the Hall of Fame. Membership is open not just to radio broadcasters, but to anyone. This is your chance to join with others each year to vote on a list of the great radio people of the past and present as well and to document and honor their achievements.

If you grew up listening to great radio in Georgia, your input will be important. Already I have had a number of e-mails recommending names of people, which is exciting. Your next step is to plunk down the $25 to become a member, nominate your list though the web site and then vote. I would hope you'd also attend the ceremonies each year where 11 radio greats will be inducted into the Hall of Fame and rub shoulders with many of the radio folks you have heard over the years.

This will be a great website of memories and the induction ceremony will be a fantastic annual affair for anyone with a love of radio. Thanks to John Long and Sam Hale for getting this Hall idea going. They now need your support and input. Radio today may be morphing into a stale voice-tracked juke box, but we will get to shine the spotlight on the people who have been more than just a voice hitting a post. It should be a fun ride.

 

[jy]

This morning during a 20 minute morning drive interview on Harley Drew's show in Augusta the name Buddy Carr, long time popular in DJ nominated for the hall of fame was brought up and the magnetic personality he had. Shortly afterwards Buddy's widow called in saying her phone had been ringing off the hook with this news and she was very emotional and grateful that her husband would even be remembered. The good guys in radio spend each day trying to focus on doing an even better job tomorrow and it's easy to be so busy that visiting the past seems unnecessary. But I understand this website www.grhof.com will continue to grow asap into a site celebrating the good things of current radio as well. It's a great idea. It will contine to get to THAT point if real radio fans not only join but tell their friends. Already calls from New York Pennsylvania California Florida are coming in from former Ga radio people very interested in this. I too have joined and hope readers will give it every benefit of the doubt, join, and mostly, tell your friends. Because the more that know about it, great stories like the Art Sutton and Tom Taylor observations, are just terrific.
Sure beats listening to Shaun Hannity.

 

[JackieSteele]

Nice work, folks. As gatekeeper at the afore-mentioned WCOH in Newnan (which, by the way, celebrates 60 years this upcoming December), it's good to see that people are willing to keep the good-old-days alive. If you're interested, I'll get with our unofficial station historian to gather up some goods on the history of our station.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

When WATL left 1400, this cleared the way for WCOH in Newnan to go on the air at 1400. Later an AM went on the air at 1400 in Alpharetta.

Thanks, Art. I'm guessing it also paved the way for 1400 in Alpharetta.

 

[dianaf]

Great site! Thank you for sharing this information with Radio-Info.com Diana Fleming

 

[grhof]

Thank you and Radio Info, Diana. We love our ad at the top of th page! Thanks to all of our new members. We're continuing our founders day offer of having the timestamp 3/15/07 on your official membership certificate until Sunday night at midnight. Join now and nominate a deserving fellow Georgia radio person for induction into the Georgia Radio Hall Of Fame at www,grhof.com!

 

[atlantainrearviewmirror]

Well done...when i first read this i was expecting 100 or so pages devoted to WSB and was fondly rewarded w very little on WSB - WHICH WAS NICE....theres alot others to talk about and WSB didnt do it all.

 

[grhof]

Our name says it all. While WSB and Atlanta are important in Georgia radio history, there are many people and stories to honor and preserve. Although it appears that you have left the state, we invite you to join and share your memories and nominate deserving people.

 

[Art Sutton]

I was thinking 1380 was WAGA back then. Or was that 590 before the WPLO days?

WAGA did operate on 590. The first birth of WAGA was actually 1420 WTFi in Toccoa, GA in 1927. It operated with 500 watts full time by Toccoa Falls Institute which is now known as Toccoa Falls College. We have a nearly 200 ft high waterfall right here in town and the college is named after it.

By the early 1930s as the Great Depression set in, WTFI moved to Athens and by the late 1930s had moved to Atlanta where it became WAGA. It was 1450 by the time it got to Athens then another AM shuffle sent it to 1480. WAGA operated on 1480 full time but then moved down the dial to 590 where it had 5000 watts day and night with directional at night from 3 towers...a mile or so east of the AM tower farm on Cheshire Bridge Road. That station became WPLO and the 1480 spot was later used by the present station operating there, daytime only.

Atlanta was once home of 5000 watts day and night WCON which operated on 550. It went dark when the Atlanta Journal/COX purchased the Atlanta Constitution which owned WCON along with Channel 2 WCON TV. 550 went dark, WSB left Channel 8 for Channel 2 TV and WGGA in Gainesville took the 550 channel leaving 1240 which became home of WDUN in 1949. In he 1980s, WDUN bought 550 moved to that channel, WGGA moved back to 1240. 550 was 5000 watts day and 500 watts at night with three towers but when the Reagan administration had its fight with Castro on AM radio in the 1980s, WDUN was able to boost nighttime to 2500 watts by ignoring the Cuban Clear Channel on 550. Now the FCC requires American AM stations to protect Cuba again although the Castro government has never honored the North American Radio Treaty. This ability to "ignore" Cuban AM stations in the 1980s also made possible the nighttime use of 640 in Atlanta. There is a 50KW AM in Havana on 640.

See there is nothing new in radio...it just goes in circles.

 

[grhof]

James Leslie "Pepper" Martin, 84, former sports announcer at WFOM in Marietta and 2006 inductee in the Marietta High School Hall Of Fame died. Read about Mr Martin in the GRHOF News section of The Georgia Radio Hall Of Fame at www.grhof.com.