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WBIE

B

BarryATL

I saw WBIE mentioned in another thread and it brought back some memories. I never new the man that owned the station. His voice was on 24/7. I assume they had a cart automation because he announced the name and artist at the end of every single song. I remember a couple of people who worked there saying they were not allowed to touch his chair in the control room.

It was quite unusual. A class C signal with a transmitter in the middle of Atlanta and this owner did not seem to care about money. The station was never sold until after his death. I even remember when he was in the hospital they had someone fill in on the owner's morning show and the owner was on the air via phone from his hospital bed.

I will say this... he had a very destinctive voice. You knew what station you were listening to as soon as his voice came on the air.... and since his voice was there 24/7 it became a trademark of sorts.
 
Was his last name, Wilder? He was an engineer by trade. He had great equipment with signal to match.
I think he was part owner of a station I worked for in Cartersville, WKRW (Kordecki, Ruff and Wilder). Too long ago for my memory to work properly. Somebody help me out here.
WBIE (and WCHK) were the only stations my dad listened to.
 
BarryATL said:
I saw WBIE mentioned in another thread and it brought back some memories. I never new the man that owned the station. His voice was on 24/7. I assume they had a cart automation because he announced the name and artist at the end of every single song. I remember a couple of people who worked there saying they were not allowed to touch his chair in the control room.

It was quite unusual. A class C signal with a transmitter in the middle of Atlanta and this owner did not seem to care about money. The station was never sold until after his death. I even remember when he was in the hospital they had someone fill in on the owner's morning show and the owner was on the air via phone from his hospital bed.

I will say this... he had a very destinctive voice. You knew what station you were listening to as soon as his voice came on the air.... and since his voice was there 24/7 it became a trademark of sorts.
Click to expand...
I remember his voice...real low and gravelly as if abused by years of cigs. My dad used to listen to WBIE after he discovered FM, and consequently quit getting his country from WPLO. Little did he know that his future granddaughter would also like 590.

I also remember WBIE having a REALLY low spot load considering its size and location, and heavy on smaller advertisers, as if they were a rimshot. Were advertisers turned off by a Marietta-licensed station? Or had FM still not hit its stride yet?

"WBIE--Georgia's Country Giant!"
 
jabba17, that was what made WBIE unique. It was an FM that had the best or equal to the best signal in metro Atlanta but it was run as if it was a small Marietta station.
 
We still saw the ghost of Jim Wilder out at Sheppards Tower occasionally......holding that cup of coffee and dirty black Q-tip.......
Back when you had to be a real broadcaster to own a radio station there were many characters. Jim Wilder was one.......
I do remember listening to Jim back on WBIE. No.....the equipment was NOT very good. For an engineer owned station it was not a very good sounding station either - I'm told he absolutely hated buying new tape or pads for carts - but then......there were plenty of FMs that sounded worse back in those days. The country was "gut bucket" country - none of those new fangled electric guitars and certainly no strings.....it was whatever Wilder happened to take a liking to and it was usually raw and rural......
I think he was most famous for breaking Loretta Lynn's record, "The Pill." And I don't mean "breaking" like being the first to play it. He literally took it off the turntable, with the mic open, and broke it into pieces on the air. Said he'd never play "that garbage" again.(I think that was the record. It was one of those controversial 1960's records) He also never played a record with as much as a "hell" or "damn" in the lyrics......he was old school and just didn't approve of that kinda' language on the air.
I wish we had more characters in radio today like the owners of yesteryear. The Jim Wilders, Eathel Holleys, and Dee Rivers were what made radio magic - they were people that themselves were larger than life. It was showbiz!
Joe Webber has promise - 1690 is certainly different than your typical cookie cutter radio station - and Webber is certainly a character.
Too bad I can't think of anyone else........
 
Correct me if I wrong, and I’m sure somebody on this board will, but I Think that WBIE was on the same tower as a couple of Atlanta FM stations were back in the 1970’s. I also believe they leased their SCA to some kind of store back round music service so the station expenses were not an issue. Was it Muszak?
 
On the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame website I found this great article on Jim Wilder. From the looks of the layout of the article and the framing, it is probably from the Marietta Daily Journal in the mid- to late-1970s.

http://www.georgiaradiohalloffame.org/AJC WILDER.jpg

The WBIE page on the GRHOF is located at:

http://www.georgiaradiohalloffame.org/MARIETTA.htm

The automation system can be seen in the background on one of the pictures. Is that a Gates automation? I know nothing about the automations of that era other than I was a pic of a Gates automation on a brochure that was donated to GROH by Jay Braswell. The WBIE automation looked similar.
 
secondchoice said:
Correct me if I wrong, and I’m sure somebody on this board will, but I Think that WBIE was on the same tower as a couple of Atlanta FM stations were back in the 1970’s. I also believe they leased their SCA to some kind of store back round music service so the station expenses were not an issue. Was it Muszak?
Click to expand...

Yes - WBIE was on Sheppard's Tower, off Braircliff Rd. And WKHX is now on the tower just a few hundred feet away owned by the Richland company.
WBIE, WKLS, and WPCH were the FM's on that tower. Chs 30, 36, and 46 were the TV's up at the top on the three seperate "arms."
I don't know who was the Muzak SCA station back in those days. I don't remember WKHX having a SCA until the early 90's. WKLS and WPCH did have SCA's back in those days from time to time.
 
I always thought it was interesting that WCOB was live sign on to sign off and WBIE was only live for the morning show. When WCOB signed off at sun down there would be some kid watching the WBIE automation. I remember talking to one of those kids. He had clear instructions. Do not touch the automation and do not move or sit in Jim's chair in the control room.
 
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