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WGVL
WGVL (1440 AM) is a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. The station serves as Greenville's Black Information Network affiliate.
WMRC signed on at 1500 kHz on September 22, 1940, under the ownership of the Textile Broadcasting Company. The Mutual Broadcasting System affiliate moved to 1490 kHz with NARBA in 1941 and to 1440 in 1949, giving it a power increase to 5,000 watts. Jolley was the local Royal Crown Cola bottler, and the WMRC call letters stood for "We Make Royal Crown". WMRC targeted local textile communities through southern gospel, World Transcription Library programs, and live country through Mutual. WMRC's popularity began to increase via morning man Sid Tear, news reporter Martin Agronski, and Meeting House in Dixie, one of its first religious programs.
When the ban on phonograph records ended, popular local personalities began to emerge, like Bob Poole with "Poole's Party Line," and Frank Cope with "The Ole Lazy Man Show." Local university football games, Saturday afternoon's "The Metropolitan Opera," and the weekday special "The Breakfast Club" with Don McNeill were huge hits.
1953 was a year of change for WMRC. The station, which had changed networks to ABC and now had an outlet at 94.9 FM, shut down the FM outlet (whose Paris Mountain transmitter site was used to start WGVL TV channel 23 that August). However, Textile Broadcasting had its own television plans. When the Carolina, Blue Ridge and Textile Broadcasting Companies merged, the station went off the air: the new company was WFBC, Inc., and WFBC radio and television absorbed WMRC's staff. The merger took effect on November 15, 1953.
1440 AM was off the air until the sale to the Piedmont Broadcasting Company was completed at 5:45 p.m. on February 7, 1954. At that time, station WAKE, which had started up in 1950 after WMRC's frequency change, moved its operation from 1490 to 1440 (and a new licensee took over 1490 as WMRB), upgrading from 250 to 5,000 watts in the process. WAKE was a CBS affiliate.
On July 4, 1955, WAKE changed its call letters to WQOK, relaunching under the management of R. W. Rounsaville; in 1957, Dick Broadcasting—which also owned stations in Chattanooga and Knoxville—purchased WQOK from Speidel-Fisher Broadcasting, which had earlier in the year bought out the other interests in Piedmont. In 1958, WQOK became a Top 40 station programmed by veteran Greenville radio programmer Jerry Mosteller (1922–2013).
The station quickly became number one in the market with an endless stream of "rock and roll" as well as "rhythm and blues" music broadcast from the "Four Towers Of Power" on White Horse Road. WQOK found its place in Greenville's radio market with many business in the Upstate area advertising on "1440 Greenville". WQOK, often known as "The Big Q", was one of the first stations in the area to use fast talking, big voiced disc jockeys that would introduce the records with "jive talk" and take telephone requests from the listeners. The station also did live remotes for personal connections with its listeners.
WQOK had a stable of popular DJs from 1958 through the late 1960s. Personalities such as Ken Dee (Dockins), Lake Cely, John Hudson, Sonny Epps, Bo Sanders, Carl Stubbs, Mal Harrison, Lee Sims, Paul Gold, Wayne Seal (later to become Governor Robert McNair's press secretary), Rick Fight, Dan Ellis, Charlie "Byrd" Lindsey, "Wild" Bill West, Noel Belue, Andy Rector, Mike Jones, Jack Kirby (aka Milton Bagby), Teddy Vee (aka Ted Vigodsky), Don "Happy Hearts" Bagwell, Little Davey Dee (aka Dave Dannheisser), Jim McAlister, Pete Dawley, Dave Wild (aka Dave Scott at other stations and Scott Studios) and Eston Johnson. Bill Hudson, a mid-day DJ, was also program director in the mid 1960s.
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WGVL
WGVL (1440 AM) is a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. The station serves as Greenville's Black Information Network affiliate.
WMRC signed on at 1500 kHz on September 22, 1940, under the ownership of the Textile Broadcasting Company. The Mutual Broadcasting System affiliate moved to 1490 kHz with NARBA in 1941 and to 1440 in 1949, giving it a power increase to 5,000 watts. Jolley was the local Royal Crown Cola bottler, and the WMRC call letters stood for "We Make Royal Crown". WMRC targeted local textile communities through southern gospel, World Transcription Library programs, and live country through Mutual. WMRC's popularity began to increase via morning man Sid Tear, news reporter Martin Agronski, and Meeting House in Dixie, one of its first religious programs.
When the ban on phonograph records ended, popular local personalities began to emerge, like Bob Poole with "Poole's Party Line," and Frank Cope with "The Ole Lazy Man Show." Local university football games, Saturday afternoon's "The Metropolitan Opera," and the weekday special "The Breakfast Club" with Don McNeill were huge hits.
1953 was a year of change for WMRC. The station, which had changed networks to ABC and now had an outlet at 94.9 FM, shut down the FM outlet (whose Paris Mountain transmitter site was used to start WGVL TV channel 23 that August). However, Textile Broadcasting had its own television plans. When the Carolina, Blue Ridge and Textile Broadcasting Companies merged, the station went off the air: the new company was WFBC, Inc., and WFBC radio and television absorbed WMRC's staff. The merger took effect on November 15, 1953.
1440 AM was off the air until the sale to the Piedmont Broadcasting Company was completed at 5:45 p.m. on February 7, 1954. At that time, station WAKE, which had started up in 1950 after WMRC's frequency change, moved its operation from 1490 to 1440 (and a new licensee took over 1490 as WMRB), upgrading from 250 to 5,000 watts in the process. WAKE was a CBS affiliate.
On July 4, 1955, WAKE changed its call letters to WQOK, relaunching under the management of R. W. Rounsaville; in 1957, Dick Broadcasting—which also owned stations in Chattanooga and Knoxville—purchased WQOK from Speidel-Fisher Broadcasting, which had earlier in the year bought out the other interests in Piedmont. In 1958, WQOK became a Top 40 station programmed by veteran Greenville radio programmer Jerry Mosteller (1922–2013).
The station quickly became number one in the market with an endless stream of "rock and roll" as well as "rhythm and blues" music broadcast from the "Four Towers Of Power" on White Horse Road. WQOK found its place in Greenville's radio market with many business in the Upstate area advertising on "1440 Greenville". WQOK, often known as "The Big Q", was one of the first stations in the area to use fast talking, big voiced disc jockeys that would introduce the records with "jive talk" and take telephone requests from the listeners. The station also did live remotes for personal connections with its listeners.
WQOK had a stable of popular DJs from 1958 through the late 1960s. Personalities such as Ken Dee (Dockins), Lake Cely, John Hudson, Sonny Epps, Bo Sanders, Carl Stubbs, Mal Harrison, Lee Sims, Paul Gold, Wayne Seal (later to become Governor Robert McNair's press secretary), Rick Fight, Dan Ellis, Charlie "Byrd" Lindsey, "Wild" Bill West, Noel Belue, Andy Rector, Mike Jones, Jack Kirby (aka Milton Bagby), Teddy Vee (aka Ted Vigodsky), Don "Happy Hearts" Bagwell, Little Davey Dee (aka Dave Dannheisser), Jim McAlister, Pete Dawley, Dave Wild (aka Dave Scott at other stations and Scott Studios) and Eston Johnson. Bill Hudson, a mid-day DJ, was also program director in the mid 1960s.