WSB Radio 100 Years

WSB (750 AM) is a commercial radio station in Atlanta, Georgia. It airs a news/talk radio format, simulcast on co-owned 95.5 WSB-FM. Atlanta, Georgia’s first radio station fired up its 100 watts and began broadcasting on March 15, 1922.

The original station was owned by The Atlanta Journal newspaper and was located in a studio on the fifth floor of The Journal building on Forsyth Street in downtown Atlanta. The new station was randomly assigned the call letters of WSB and aired on 360 meters (833 kHz). Later, people would say that it stood for “Welcome South Brother” but this was just by chance.

The Constitution’s station, WGM, debuted two days later on March 17. Because it also was transmitting on 360 meters, the two newspapers had to set up a time-sharing agreement allocating broadcast hours. The competition was so fierce between the two that WSB’s manager, Lambdin “The Little Colonel” Kay, banned any person who had previously appeared on WGM from broadcasting over WSB.

In September of that year, The Department of Commerce set aside the wavelength of 400 meters (750 kHz) which both WSB and WGM were assigned. In May 1923 they were both reassigned to 700 kHz, but in July WGM ceased operations. In the summer of 1927, WSB began transmitting on 630 kHz.

By early 1923, it became obvious that two entertainment frequencies were not going to be enough, and a conference was called by the Secretary of Commerce (later to be President), Herbert Hoover. The conference that year issued a report recommending an expansion of the band. On May 15, 1923, the government started assigning different frequencies to different stations, at 10khz intervals.

In 1924, Lambdin Kay referred to Art Gillham as “The Whispering Pianist” while performing on WSB, a name he used in billing on Columbia Records, radio, and theatre. Gillham returned to WSB in 1937 for regular programs. In 1924, WSB became an NBC Red Network affiliate. The trademark three-tone NBC chimes were first played in the WSB studios.

WSB spread southern gospel music throughout the listening area with regular programming hosted by Charles Davis Tillman. Dan Hornsby was the first morning show announcer for the station. Kay referred to him as “90% of the local talent on WSB.” n 1939, the Journal newspaper and WSB radio station were sold to James Middleton Cox, the founder of what would become Cox Enterprises.

Wright Bryan, a WSB news reporter as well as managing editor of the Atlanta Journal, was also a stringer for NBC during World War II. He was the first war correspondent to broadcast an eyewitness account of the D-Day invasion, reporting from London in the early hours of June 6, 1944. Elmo Ellis, who programmed WSB in the 1950s and 1960s, is remembered as an innovator among Southern broadcasters. He provided the on-air editorials for the station, and in the 1960s, consistently supported civil rights. WSB grew rapidly from its opening in 1922 and hastily constructed and cramped quarters on the roof of the Journal building to capacious studios in the Biltmore Hotel in 1925.

The station also grew in power increasing wattage from a mere 100 watts to 500 watts on June 13, 1922. WSB entered the field of commercial broadcasting when it became affiliated with the National Broadcasting Company in 1927. This was a definite recognition of the stations’ accomplishments in the radio world, and WSB is now regarded as one of the most important links in this national chain of stations. On September 9, 1933, WSB increased its power to 1,000 watts.

On June 29, 1934, NBC broadcasts a special program originating on WSB saluting Admiral Richard Byrd. The program was rebroadcast to the South Pole via shortwave and featured a 25 piece dance band playing “The Byrd Expedition”, written by Lambdin Kay and Ernie Rogers.

In October 1940 WSB launches a series of half-hour programs saluting each of Georgia’s 159 counties. The programs, recorded and live, originated from the county being honored and featured local talent. On November 16, 1940, WSB Barn Dance, featuring hillbilly stars, went on the air. In 1944 WSB, in anticipation of the invasion of Europe, broadcasted 24 hours a day for two weeks.

During the 1950s, The Kitchen Klub was one of the most popular shows on WSB. Panelists, including George Crumbley, Bett Johnson, and Lee Morris, rated records, drank coffee, and chatted with guests. December 29, 1955, WSB signed on from its new studios at White Columns on Peachtree. The first broadcast was done by Mike McDougald.

In the 1960s I remember WSB broadcasting the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart hits. I used to catch my Dad singing along to songs like “Windy” by the Association and when I would say “I didn’t think you liked rock”, he would respond, “It’s not rock, it’s WSB”.

WSB has long served as the flagship radio station for the University of Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network, carrying its football and basketball games. Larry Munson was the voice of the Bulldogs from 1966 until 2008. He also handled play-by-play for the Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Falcons, and many sports-talk shows. He was also on the first Atlanta Braves broadcast team.

WSB was the Atlanta Braves station, from the first day in Atlanta in 1966, with Milo Hamilton exclaiming, “Big-league baseball has come to the South”, until 1991. WSB picked them back up in 1995, the season in which the Braves won the World Series, and dropped them again in 2004. WSB also carried the Atlanta Falcons football and the Atlanta Hawks basketball some years. Skip Carey called the Hawks and Braves games for many years.