WDDQ Adel/Valdosta

[fwillis]

WBBK isn't gone. It has been a simulcast of WSEM for quite a few years. The studios are now in Bainbridge with WBGE AND WGMK.

 

[kyscott]

Financially WMES always did better than WOGA in Sylvester. Probably because Sylvester was too close to Albany while Ashburn was further away from outside AM signals. Another big station in that area which is no more was WSIZ in Ocilla. They were 5000 watts on 1380 with a tall half wave tower that sat in the middle of a pond behind the station. They were the Top 40 station for that entire area..the station that had Kasey Kasem's American Top Four. The most bizzare program on WSIZ was their classified ads show. The announcer would take callers and then the caller would either begin the conversation or say "off the air." With that caller, you only heard the announcer's side of the phone call and he had to repeat whatever the caller said.

When did WSIZ go off the air? As a teen fresh out of high school, I worked for WKAA in Ocilla and had an apartment in Fitzgerald. I would drive past WSIZ's studio every day. Intrigued by the tower in a pond I stopped to talk to the owner one day (can't remember his name) and struck up a friendship with his son that worked at the station (can't remember his name either). While most stations sound like crap cause there is not anyone at the station that can properly set up a processor, I remember that WSIZ sounded really good and fat. Of course this is before the NSRC decided to choke our audio bandwidth back to make room for more stations.

WBHB was a killer back then too in nearby Fitzgerald. Not as slick as WSIZ, WBHB was a real jewel of a station when it came to local news and sports. Charlie Ridgeway was everywhere doing live sports coverage. I even remember hearing a wrestling match on the station. All of it was sold of course. WBHB also aired the location of fires in Fitzgerald. In those days, small towns would sound a fire alarm to alert volunteers of a fire. WBHB would come on the air "The Fire Alarm has sounded in Fitzgerald. 12-40 WBHB will bring you the location of the call after this message from Ben Hill Insurance Agency. Ad. Then the announcer came on to describe the call. Then the close would go....whenever the fire alarm sounds in Fitzgerald, tune to 12-40 WBHB for details. These reports made possible by"

I worked for WBHB for a week. Liked the station and owners, the programming was interesting, that was for sure. However it was about this time I was discovering I was not going to make it as a jock so I moved back in with my parents in Vienna and started attending South Georgia Tech in Americus to eventually re-enter broadcasting as an engineer based on some advice from Jolly Charlie Hill from Hawkinsville.

 

[fwillis]

1992. WSIZ had an FM CP for 98.5. They sold the cp, and tried to sell the AM without luck. You could have bought it for a song, after it went dark. WSIZ had some really ancient equipment, a very old inefficient collins transmitter. I'm sure that Georgia Power misses the revenue from that box.

 

[jovialjay]

WMES, WOGA, WSIZ, WWGS, WNGA, WGAF, WMGA, WDEC, WCLB, WACL, WMJM, WBBK, WDWD and WAZA..all gone.

Hush, dammit...you're gonna make me cry.

As I think another caller pointed out, WBBK is still kickin', such as it is, and I think 910 still operates in some sort of fashion.

 

[jovialjay]

WSIZ had some really ancient equipment, a very old inefficient collins transmitter

Freddie, WSIZ had a Collins 21-E, which is the same transmitter that kept WVOP rockin' for many a year. While it may have been inefficient (as were all boxes manufactured in that era), toward the end, it may have been suffering from neglect.

I'm nostalgic, and I admit it. I sorely miss those days when someone sat behind the boards in every small town station, and most of 'em were on-site with their transmitter. When it was a big 'un like the 21-E, there was just a whole lot of magic in the air.

By the way, WSIZ actually began it's life in Douglas on 1310 (with a kilowatt) in 1957. In 1960, Brodie Timm (WDMG) bought out Marshall Rowland (of WQIK/WQYK fame, and later in Waycross and Albany) to make the competition go away (which you could do in those days). It resurfaced in Ocilla in 1961 on 1380 with 5kw. Meanwhile, 1310 in Douglas didn't stay quiet for very long, as WOKA took to the air in 1962 "at the 13-10 spot on your radio dial."

 

[fwillis]

Near the end WSIZ was operating with a 1 kw.backup transmitter. The AM in Alma bought the backup. It shorted out, and almost burned the building down. A fortune teller rented the WSIZ studios in the late 90s. Joe, the local radio shack owner was the last owner. I can't recall his last name.

 

[wayx1230]

1470 WAAG

I worked Sat and Sun afternoon's 1968-1969 at WAAG 1470 in Adel. I know I'm not crazy and I don't have any pay stubs from there but the station calls were WAAG. Fell in love many times while there.

 

[kyscott]

WSIZ had some really ancient equipment, a very old inefficient collins transmitter
Freddie, WSIZ had a Collins 21-E, which is the same transmitter that kept WVOP rockin' for many a year. While it may have been inefficient (as were all boxes manufactured in that era), toward the end, it may have been suffering from neglect.
I'm nostalgic, and I admit it. I sorely miss those days when someone sat behind the boards in every small town station, and most of 'em were on-site with their transmitter. When it was a big 'un like the 21-E, there was just a whole lot of magic in the air.

It may have been inefficient, but damn it sounded good. As I recall WSIZ had a Gates SA-40 console, or a reasonably facsimile there of, which I remember from WMJM in Cordele.

 

[brickbat]

Ron Hester was/is a great person.....is he still with us? He worked in Adel for a long time, but I think also in Valdosta and Moultrie and maybe one or two more places. But I remember him....he had a great voice and everybody said he was super nice to work with. Just wondering if anybody's seen him. thanks