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WVIO 1510, Blowing Rock

B

b-turner

Jumping in the time machine, I was going through some radio notes and found a media kit for WVIO in the original envelope dated January 30, 1990. I had enjoyed about a 45 minute conversation with one of the owners. VIO stood for Visitors Information Outlet. The station was after the visitor. Ted Bell was the Operations Manager. It seems he won 'Personality of the Year" by Billboard in 1979.

The hourly clock was divided into 4 quarter hour modules. Sales was to sell a quarter hour for $30 ($55 per half hour; $100 per hour). The client got 3 mentions the day of the quarter hour and got an intro, outro and a 30 second spot. Buying 1 quarter hour a week ongoing and you'd get a discount on weather and calendar of events sponsorships as a Patron.

Let's talk hourly clock:
:00 90 second Calendar of Events (sponsored with a 30 or 60 second spot: 30 sec. $7 or $5; 60 sec. $10 or $8 for Patrons)
:02 or :02:30 Music: a mix of adult contemporary, country and southern gospel with an emphasis on playing regional artists
:10 30 second quarter hour sponsor ad
10:30 60 second weathercast with 30 second sponsor
:12 Music
:15 Calendar of Events
:17 or :17:30 Music
:20 Feature (this runs from history to storytelling and anything of interest to the visitor) 5 minutes
:25 30 second sponsor ad
:25:30 Music
:30 The second half hour has the same components as the first half hour

This was a very interesting format to me. I am not sure how it did or what the perception was among advertisers. I thought the quarter hour ad rate was a bit too high for most shops

Anybody remember the station? Know how it did as far as success with the format or how it did with advertisers?
 
b-turner said:
Jumping in the time machine, I was going through some radio notes and found a media kit for WVIO in the original envelope dated January 30, 1990. I had enjoyed about a 45 minute conversation with one of the owners. VIO stood for Visitors Information Outlet. The station was after the visitor. Ted Bell was the Operations Manager. It seems he won 'Personality of the Year" by Billboard in 1979.

The hourly clock was divided into 4 quarter hour modules. Sales was to sell a quarter hour for $30 ($55 per half hour; $100 per hour). The client got 3 mentions the day of the quarter hour and got an intro, outro and a 30 second spot. Buying 1 quarter hour a week ongoing and you'd get a discount on weather and calendar of events sponsorships as a Patron.

Let's talk hourly clock:
:00 90 second Calendar of Events (sponsored with a 30 or 60 second spot: 30 sec. $7 or $5; 60 sec. $10 or $8 for Patrons)
:02 or :02:30 Music: a mix of adult contemporary, country and southern gospel with an emphasis on playing regional artists
:10 30 second quarter hour sponsor ad
10:30 60 second weathercast with 30 second sponsor
:12 Music
:15 Calendar of Events
:17 or :17:30 Music
:20 Feature (this runs from history to storytelling and anything of interest to the visitor) 5 minutes
:25 30 second sponsor ad
:25:30 Music
:30 The second half hour has the same components as the first half hour

This was a very interesting format to me. I am not sure how it did or what the perception was among advertisers. I thought the quarter hour ad rate was a bit too high for most shops

Anybody remember the station? Know how it did as far as success with the format or how it did with advertisers?
Click to expand...
That is so cool, and I would love to know more myself! I definitely remember WVIO existing because I'm from Blowing Rock, but most of what I remember from 1510 (later 1200) was after it became WXIT.

My sister knew Ted Bell personally, and I actually got to see him do part of a live radio broadcast several years ago when he was at 94.9 WVCO (The Surf) in the Grand Strand. He had a golden voice for radio, and I hated it when she told me he passed away in 2018.
 
I worked at that station in the 80s when I was in school at App St. Had a front deck that looked out over the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was in a mobile home. Wonder how it got through Helene
 
MammothCabinet said:
That was the station founded by Sam Tate (on air as Sam The Sham) in 1983, back then it was WOIX. Heres a photo with Sam and Ted Bell

View attachment 8122
Click to expand...
Bill Fisher they 2nd guy pictured going left to right was a long time high country radio voice for many years. He is retired now but had a longstanding morning show on WATA. Got to work with him for a short while and he was a phenomenal person. Made a not so great place a good place to come and chat with him.
 
b-turner said:
Jumping in the time machine, I was going through some radio notes and found a media kit for WVIO in the original envelope dated January 30, 1990. I had enjoyed about a 45 minute conversation with one of the owners. VIO stood for Visitors Information Outlet. The station was after the visitor. Ted Bell was the Operations Manager. It seems he won 'Personality of the Year" by Billboard in 1979.

The hourly clock was divided into 4 quarter hour modules. Sales was to sell a quarter hour for $30 ($55 per half hour; $100 per hour). The client got 3 mentions the day of the quarter hour and got an intro, outro and a 30 second spot. Buying 1 quarter hour a week ongoing and you'd get a discount on weather and calendar of events sponsorships as a Patron.

Let's talk hourly clock:
:00 90 second Calendar of Events (sponsored with a 30 or 60 second spot: 30 sec. $7 or $5; 60 sec. $10 or $8 for Patrons)
:02 or :02:30 Music: a mix of adult contemporary, country and southern gospel with an emphasis on playing regional artists
:10 30 second quarter hour sponsor ad
10:30 60 second weathercast with 30 second sponsor
:12 Music
:15 Calendar of Events
:17 or :17:30 Music
:20 Feature (this runs from history to storytelling and anything of interest to the visitor) 5 minutes
:25 30 second sponsor ad
:25:30 Music
:30 The second half hour has the same components as the first half hour

This was a very interesting format to me. I am not sure how it did or what the perception was among advertisers. I thought the quarter hour ad rate was a bit too high for most shops

Anybody remember the station? Know how it did as far as success with the format or how it did with advertisers?
Click to expand...
I had kinfolk all through that area, Blowing Rock, Boone, Todd, etc. I remember it vaguely on the visitor's side, even before that on the Rock (or whatever kind of old 45 I heard on there once) maybe a different callsign, but mostly, I remember WVIO standing for Where Victory Is Ours, with Ted Bell still as OM, but Blake Pace doing most of the DJing. They still had some of the visitor's stuff, like features, calendar, etc, but when they were concentrating on the Gospel format, they';d always play a Gospel song after the feature. I.E., I distinctly remember a feature on Tweetsy (sp) Railroad, then them playing a current (at the time) single from The Sullivan Family, a Bluegrass Gospel group from MS/AL entitled, The Gospel Train. I also remember them having a Tip Of The Week-type feature, where the person who called in the best news tip of the week, got payed for it. I remember one such clip being played on a promo, must have been called in from an early cellphone of the day, pretty clear, as I remember. The station went Talk later, then moved to 1200 and changed to WXTK, I believe it is. As my momma (who lived there in her mid-late teen and early college years) used to say, they're taking away all the reasons the tourists come, to attract the tourists. They aired local preachers on Sunday morning, after one of Jim Loudermilk's shows, can't remember which one of his shows it was, but I digress. After I started working in radio, the LORD allowed my path to cross with an Evangelist (at the time) from Lenoir, who went on with us and was there until his death, some twenty-three years later. Shortly after him coming on with us, he and I were talking one day and I asked him (after I recognized his voice), You pastored in Blowing Rock, back in the early '90s, didn't you! He said, in his layed back fashion, Yeah, I did. I told him I remembered hearing him one Sunday morning on 'VIO and it pleased him real good. Thanks for the memories.

Romans 11:33-36 KJB

Josh

Church Podcast: Pleasant View Baptist Church | SermonAudio
Personal Podcast: Back To The Old Paths
TIBPF Podcast: https://www.tibpf.sermon.net
 
mcy919 said:
That is so cool, and I would love to know more myself! I definitely remember WVIO existing because I'm from Blowing Rock, but most of what I remember from 1510 (later 1200) was after it became WXIT.

My sister knew Ted Bell personally, and I actually got to see him do part of a live radio broadcast several years ago when he was at 94.9 WVCO (The Surf) in the Grand Strand. He had a golden voice for radio, and I hated it when she told me he passed away in 2018.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I meant WXIT. Yeah, Ted Bell had a voice for radio, for sure. WKEW, Greensboro, used to air his Music Machine on Saturday afternoons.

Romans 11:33-36 KJB

Josh

Church Podcast: Pleasant View Baptist Church | SermonAudio
Personal Podcast: Back To The Old Paths
TIBPF Podcast: https://www.tibpf.sermon.net
 
MammothCabinet said:
That was the station founded by Sam Tate (on air as Sam The Sham) in 1983, back then it was WOIX. Heres a photo with Sam and Ted Bell

View attachment 8122
Click to expand...
Thanks for the history lesson. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I remember that callsign and yes, that'd be my first memory of it, a scratchy 45 on a Friday afternoon and the DJ giving out their 295 phone number. They've always had an I in there and even an O for two out of three callsigns LOL.

Romans 11:33-36 KJB

Josh

Church Podcast: Pleasant View Baptist Church | SermonAudio
Personal Podcast: Back To The Old Paths
TIBPF Podcast: https://www.tibpf.sermon.net
 


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