Roanoke radio station marks a century on the air

One hundred years ago, a Roanoke electrical company convinced an employee to take his hobby to the next level. It was a move that would resonate throughout the Star City over the next century.

“In 100 years, we’ve told so many stories and we’ve amplified so many voices,” said WFIR morning reporter Clark Palmer. “It’s so cool to be a part of it.”

The idea to start Roanoke’s first commercial radio station was sparked as a way for Richardson-Wayland Electrical Corp. to sell more radios. Frank E. Maddox built the transmitter and made his first live broadcast on June 20, 1924. A fiddle and banjo duo were the first musical act. The pioneering station was only the second in the state at the time, following WTAR in Norfolk.

Back then, bands would play their music live from a small room at 106 Church Ave. in downtown Roanoke. The broadcasts were only a couple of hours long and only happened a few days a week.

By 1930, Hayden Huddleston became a household name, announcing for a barn dance program featuring string bands including the Roanoke Entertainers. His career would span six decades.

The call letters assigned to the station were WDBJ at its inception. “The WDBJ power was originally 20 watts, and that wouldn’t go very far during the day,” said Douglas Cannon, professor emeritus in the Virginia Tech College of Communications. “You could barely hear it 10 to 20 miles outside of where the transmitter was.”

But despite the station’s low power and sporadic programming, handmade radio sales grew exponentially, according to WFIR reporter Evan Jones, who helped celebrate 100 years of broadcast history by compiling a comprehensive historical report for the station.

Jones noted that as audiences grew, the station moved to a real studio on the second floor of Thurman & Boone Company on Campbell Avenue, then down the street to the Grand Piano Company, and later still to the American Theater building on South Jefferson Street in downtown Roanoke.

This era was known as the Golden Age of radio, and national variety shows and dramas were growing in popularity. By the end of the 1920s, the Roanoke station had joined the Columbia Broadcasting System. The CBS affiliation let Roanoke listeners experience programs such as  Orson Welles’ “The War of the Worlds,” which frightened audiences with its vivid news bulletins about a Martian invasion.

In 1931, Richardson-Wayland sold the station to the Times-World Publishing Co., which also owned The Roanoke Times.

During this time, Western themes in music and clothing were popular. WDBJ aired live country programs featuring local and regional bands including the Texas Troubadours, Billy Altizer’s String Band, and Roy Hall and the Blue Ridge Entertainers.

Over the next decade, radios became a central piece of furniture in homes throughout America. By 1939, 28 million homes had a radio, which had become smaller and more affordable.

Radio provided a way to communicate and unite people like never before. Families would sit around and listen to music and news. “Network news became an important part of that affiliation at the time when radio news was far and away the most important way to get information,” said Jones. “It became a gathering point, something for families to get together.”

Radio also became a real moneymaker. “When the networks came along, sponsors bought whole programs,” said Cannon. Now, local stations could be heard on the air for most of the day.

“The stations would flip a little switch, and they wouldn’t have to fill an entire day with local ads,” explained Jones.

WDBJ moved its frequency to 960 AM in 1941, where it remains today. Listeners heard bluegrass, country and adult standards through the 1960s.

The call letters remained WDBJ until 1969, when Times-World had to divest its radio and television stations in favor of keeping The Roanoke Times.

The Vodrey family, which owned a radio station in Canton, Ohio, bought it and changed the call letters, opting for a name that celebrated its origins: WFIR, for First in Roanoke.

The radio station switched from country to adult contemporary/light rock in the 1960s and ’70s. In 1979, WFIR was purchased by Jim Gibbons, a former announcer for the Washington Redskins, who added more news and sports to the programming.

But the biggest switch came in the late 1980s when WFIR became one of the first affiliates in the nation to carry the Rush Limbaugh Show and moved from a music format to news/talk. “This really turned Roanoke on its ear,” said former WFIR talk show host John Schreiner, who worked in Roanoke radio from 1984 to 1991.

Schreiner hosted a three-hour talk program that led into Limbaugh. The controversial talk show host was even a live guest on Schreiner’s program.

“He was on the Rush to Excellence tour, and he came to Roanoke and that was really something,” said Schreiner. Limbaugh entertained a packed house at a local high school and spoke with Schreiner live for an hour.

“I wanted people to get to know who he was and his background, and I think he had a great time,” said Schreiner.

While Limbaugh was popular in Roanoke, the change from music to talk was not immediately embraced. “One of the highlights was when WFIR did wall-to-wall coverage of the Persian Gulf War in 1991,” said Schreiner. “The reaction of some of the disgruntled listeners at first was, ‘We don’t want talk radio.’ But within a very short amount of time the format really took off.”

The station changed hands one more time, in 2002, when Mel Wheeler Inc. bought it and moved to its current building on Electric Road.

WFIR can now be heard on 107.3 FM and 94.5 FM in addition to 960 AM and streaming. The station’s news and talk shows cover issues of local government, education, crime and public safety, economic development, arts and sports.

WFIR airs a combination of syndicated and local programming, including a three-hour local show on weekdays. “We have a three-person full-time newsroom, and we can compete on a level with some stations in Richmond and some right outside D.C.,” said news director Ian Price.

“It’s local, it’s right here and we love the listeners,” said Joey Self, host of Roanoke Valley’s Morning News. “We appreciate the listeners and we’re just so glad that we’re able to be here this long, and we look forward to hopefully a hundred more.”

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