PaulBWalkerJr said:
Obviously, I work for WABV so I know a LITTLE about this place, but not much.
I do know at SOME point, it was christian formatted music as evidenced by these jingles
http://www.walkerbroadcasting.com/WABVJingles.mp3 My estimate based upon asking a few long time townspeople here is that they are 20 to 25 years old.
There is a rusted out Gates BC-500K sitting behind my studios here, originally on 1240kHz. My Engineer, William Boyd tells me it was last used on 1250Khz.
I've also found over a dozen 1250 WINF carts in this building.
Who/when were WABV co-owned? Where did the transmitter originally come from???
WABV was placed on the air in March 1956 by J A Gallimore of Seneca, SC. Mr. Gallimore was owner of the weekly Seneca newspaper and was founder of WSNW(AM) and WBFM(FM) in Seneca. WSNW went on the air in 1949 and still serves Seneca and WBFM went on the air the same year. WBFM is now WHZT 98.1.
Mr Gallimore went on to own several small market radio stations across South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. His plan seemed to be to build a station then sell it to the manager and that's what happened to WABV. Manager George Settles bought it. Settles owned WABV into the 1970s. He is credited with being the visionary who spearheaded Abbeville's efforts to become a weekend tourist destination. It had all those beautiful historic buildings on the square downtown and homes but they weren't in the best of shape and they weren't showcased. He sold WABV and then became head of the local tourism commission which he led pretty much until his death.
There have been several owners since that time. A group of radio folks out of Greenwood owned the station at one time. WGSW (1350) engineer Jim Warren lead a group that also included Allan Quarles who later was announcer at WSCZ (96.7) and is now a methodist minister in Union, SC. Afterwards a professor at UGA bought the station thinking his soon to graduate journalism degree daughter would make a go of WABV. At this point, WZLA had come on the air and that made the road harder to hoe for WABV.
I am not aware that the AM station at Winnsboro, 500 watts on 1250, ever had common ownership with WABV. B L Williamson, a Georgia small town group operator in the 1960s and 70s....also a country music singer, one time owned the Winnsboro SC station but it has long been dark. Williamson owed the AM/FM in Louisville, GA; the AM/FM in Washington, GA, WJGA AM/FM in Jackson, GA and was the founder of WBLW 810 in Royston, GA and it's sister FM WBIC, which is now WPUP 103.7. I seem to recall that WBIC may have first began on 103.9 since that was a Class A channel and 103.7 was a C channel. While not the case now, at one point the FCC would only allow certain class stations on specific channels. Now, if it works, it doesn't matter which class operates on the channel. Same thing with AM power levels. At one point 250 watts, 500 watts, 1000 watts, 5000 watts, 10,000 watts, 25,000 watts or 50,000 watts. If you were on a regional channel you had to have a minimum of 500 watts at night. Now it doesn't matter if you have 653 watts...if it works, you can request any power level.
