Captin Herb,is a great traffic reporter,if there was a Mt. Rushmore for traffic reporters he would be on it with Jim Van,Art "Mad" Man Mehearing,Mark Airum and Greg Tallamadge. He is supports our military and our first responders.
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WSB - 90 Years Old in March
- Thread starter trusty
- Start date
If you are going into the Mt. Rushmore mode, do not forget Keith Kalland.
Thank you for reminding me,Keith Kallhand was a great traffic reporter and human being. he started the Miriacle League in Rockdale County,so disabled kids could play tee ball.
The SB in WSB stands for "Southern Broadcasting." I have the original 1922 news article from a radio magazine with the DJ sitting in the WSB studios. The studio looks like the size of a closet. I have the article in PDF format if anyone wants me to email it to them. The magazine listed all of the current stations in the USA at that time with WSB belonging to NBC and WGST (Georgia School of Technology) belonging to CBS. Both stations were not on the same frequencies they are on now.
There was a thread that covered the historic network affiliations a while back. I don't remember the details, except for WSB being NBC (Red) the whole time. IIRC the CBS affiliation later went to WAGA 590 (not the original frequency either), WGST then affiliated with Mutual, and someone else affiliated with NBC Blue/ABC.RadioDoogie said:
Also, wasn't WGST on a different frequency before they moved to 920 for so many years?
.RadioDoogie said:
Are you sure about the date of 1922? Or do you have.two seperare articles? I think CBS and NBC launched around 1927, and of course NBC became two networks (Red & Blue) with one of those two networks becoming ABC around 1943. I am typing on my phone so can't look it up right now, that's all from memory. There's a great series of three volumes of books that covered early broadcast history in the US from the beginning through the early 70s when it was published, when I can look up the title I will.
In 1972, WSB published a book about its first 50 years. The book said that "Welcome South Brother" came from a contest that the station ran for people to submit what they thought the call letters should stand for. IIRC, the WSB calls were assigned to the station by the FCC and originally did not mean anything.
WSB (Atlanta Journal) did indeed launch in March 1922 with Lambdin Kay in charge. In 1928, he hired Marcus Bartlett, a mentor of mine, because Marc could play clarinet, piano and talk on the radio — Kay got three skills for the price of one.
The FCC assigned WSB during its original round of call letter assignments (WSM, WGY, WLW, etc.) after a ship that originally carried the call sign foundered in the Atlantic. What is now WGST (owned by Georgia Power) signed on two days later.
WSB was a charter NBC affiliate. Interesting to note that WGST originally applied for a TV frequency and there was a small studio built for it in Alexander Memorial Coliseum. At one point, the story goes, WGST was offered 50kw but the Board of Regents didn't see the wisdom in paying the larger power bill since the signal covered Atlanta. Also interesting to note that WAGA's roots are with the Atlanta Journal as are 'SB's. WSB was NBC Red and WAGA was NBC Blue.
As for Elmo Ellis (Mr. Ellis): he was always respectful of me. I never experienced his wrath but heard stories from others. He listened to the station constantly and was both feared and admired. As a kid, it was clear to me that WSB understood how to reach families through contests, "safe" music, community involvement and well defined personalities. In the '50s and '60s, it worked well.
I remember as a kid during the ice storm of 1969, Mr. Ellis ordered that programming be switched to recorded comedy routines in between news updates — people wanted to be talked to and calmed as pine trees crashed around their darkened houses. It was a brilliant tactic.
He and I had a falling out at one point, and I count it as a blessing that I could tell him how much I respected him (and recalled that ice storm story) before he passed away.
The FCC assigned WSB during its original round of call letter assignments (WSM, WGY, WLW, etc.) after a ship that originally carried the call sign foundered in the Atlantic. What is now WGST (owned by Georgia Power) signed on two days later.
WSB was a charter NBC affiliate. Interesting to note that WGST originally applied for a TV frequency and there was a small studio built for it in Alexander Memorial Coliseum. At one point, the story goes, WGST was offered 50kw but the Board of Regents didn't see the wisdom in paying the larger power bill since the signal covered Atlanta. Also interesting to note that WAGA's roots are with the Atlanta Journal as are 'SB's. WSB was NBC Red and WAGA was NBC Blue.
As for Elmo Ellis (Mr. Ellis): he was always respectful of me. I never experienced his wrath but heard stories from others. He listened to the station constantly and was both feared and admired. As a kid, it was clear to me that WSB understood how to reach families through contests, "safe" music, community involvement and well defined personalities. In the '50s and '60s, it worked well.
I remember as a kid during the ice storm of 1969, Mr. Ellis ordered that programming be switched to recorded comedy routines in between news updates — people wanted to be talked to and calmed as pine trees crashed around their darkened houses. It was a brilliant tactic.
He and I had a falling out at one point, and I count it as a blessing that I could tell him how much I respected him (and recalled that ice storm story) before he passed away.
Interesting history, Richard. But WGST was owned by Georgia Power and turned down 50KW because they didn't want to pay a larger power bill? LOL. I guess you meant Georgia Tech.
No, Roddy...WGST was put on the air by Georgia Power and donated to Georgia Tech!
In my research of Atlanta radio stations, I have never found anything that mentioned WGST being owned by Georgia Power. All official reports have it as being put on the air by The Atlanta Constitution as WGM and given to Georgia Tech 1-2 years later.
Please provide proof of WGST being owned by Georgia Power, or your story, while very interesting, is not credible. Thank you.
There was an old story on this subject that was rattling around in my brain until I did a little research and found out that it was true.
Both The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution wanted to have the first radio broadcast station in Atlanta. Both applied to the Department of Commerce for licenses.
The Constitution had equipment in place and no license. The Atlanta Journal received it's license but had no equipment.
So they went to a ham operator in Rome Georgia named Gordon Hight (4BQ) and borrowed his equipment. My father (4LG) was a friend of Gordon's and that's how I heard the story.
The transmitter was brought to Atlanta, modified to operate in the Broadcast band and voila......
http://www.w4vo.org/history.html
Both The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution wanted to have the first radio broadcast station in Atlanta. Both applied to the Department of Commerce for licenses.
The Constitution had equipment in place and no license. The Atlanta Journal received it's license but had no equipment.
So they went to a ham operator in Rome Georgia named Gordon Hight (4BQ) and borrowed his equipment. My father (4LG) was a friend of Gordon's and that's how I heard the story.
The transmitter was brought to Atlanta, modified to operate in the Broadcast band and voila......
http://www.w4vo.org/history.html
WSB was one of seven AM stations and two commercial shortwave stations "loaned" (read commandeered) in 1962 by the USIA to carry Voice of America Spanish language programming aimed at Cuba during the missile crisis. Each night starting October 21, at "sunset" the signal cut over to VOA after the id (phonetically now, "Double Uve Ese Beh"). Ran until sunup the following day.
WSB also carried the programming of the Cox station in Miamia during Hurricane Andrew, on the theory that the local station was off the air because of no power, but the people could hear the 50KW signal. WSM did the same thing during the floods in the Mississippi Valley in the late 20's and early 30's.
WSB also carried the programming of the Cox station in Miamia during Hurricane Andrew, on the theory that the local station was off the air because of no power, but the people could hear the 50KW signal. WSM did the same thing during the floods in the Mississippi Valley in the late 20's and early 30's.
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