Norfolk
THE HISTORY
But WTAR was a precocious infant. In a short time the voice had a large vocabulary and it seemed rather large for its age. In May 1924, Virginians heard their first remote control broadcast when WTAR carried a Norfolk church service. In June of the same year another milestone was reached. For the first time in history Virginians were able to hear firsthand how the political world functioned, when via shortwave rebroadcast WTAR brought the sounds of the Democratic National Convention in Madison Square Garden.
1935 broadcast trade advertisement
In the 1930's, radio began to reach fruition. Tidewater heard the sound of aerial bombs as U.S. Army pilots proved an airplane could sink a battleship. It heard President Hoover during the Cape Henry Pilgrimage, and the Wright Brothers Memorial dedication at Kitty Hawk. Famous aviator Wiley Post flew into Norfolk in the "Winnie Mae" for a broadcast from the WTAR studio, and the actual drone of Admiral Richard E. Byrd's airplane motors in his epochal flight to the South Pole was transmitted. FDR gave a fireside chat to the nation and some new names in the world of entertainment became household words...
Rudy Vallee, Jack Pearl, Amos 'n' Andy, Jack Benny and a fellow named Hope.
distant reception stamp 1930's
WTAR early 1940's logo
As the 1930's grew to a close, radio and WTAR were to find the next ten years to be the most successful and yet most trying up to that time. World War II loomed imminent in Europe and electronic engineers were trying to combine sound with moving pictures in a little glass tube.
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Blair Eubanks on D-Day 6 June 1944 (contributed by Joe Postove of Norfolk)
Blair Eubanks in 1941
the WTAR transmitting facility at Glen Rock in 1941
Early in 1946, WTAR commenced preparation for what was then an entirely new method of broadcasting... FM. On 12 May 1947 WTAR-FM went on the air with a power of three-thousand watts on the assigned frequency of 93.1 megacycles. Shortly thereafter this power was increased to five-thousand watts and the frequency changed to 97.3 megacycles. Daily FM programming consisted of simulcasting the AM schedule. The life of this innovation was cut short and was leap-frogged by the coming of television, and the first FM service was discontinued by 1955.
The 1940's were big years... radio was riding high. But the men in the laboratories had come a long way with their little glass picture tube.
May 1949
1950
the WTAR broadcast facility at 720 Boush Street Norfolk built 1949-50
March 1956
Fall 1958
1959 format and personalities
In the 1960's WTAR made strides to reaffirm its position. It was never satisfied to be the "first" radio station in Virginia, but maintained the term in the sense of responsible broadcasting which served the public first.
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Law Day promos 1 May 1962 (from WTAR audiodisc)
In 1961, WTAR continued to move further ahead when it revived the FM broadcast service it had discontinued in the mid-fifties. On 21 September 1961 WTAR-FM began sending its signal from the eight-hundred eighty-one foot level of the Driver TV tower. Nine months later, the station initiated full-time stereo multiplex broadcasting on its frequency of 95.7 megacycles. Its power output of forty-thousand watts sent out a signal covering an estimated radius of eighty miles from the Driver tower and reached counties in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. The FM call letters were changed twice, to WKEZ-FM in 1977 and to WLTY-FM in 1982. In the modern day, it's operating with the call letters WVKL-FM.
advertisements in the Norfolk "Virginian-Pilot" September 1961
Also from WTAR, the largest professional broadcasting news staff in Virginia broadcasted thirty-three scheduled newscasts each day and in affiliation with CBS, instituted the famous NetALERT system of instantaneous worldwide news reporting.
The WTAR - Atlantic Richfield helicopter in the skies over Tidewater 1963
sports time with Stan Garfin and Larry Bonko on WTAR in 1963
The station began its marine patrol service in 1964 with the introduction of the cabin cruiser "WTAR I" (pronounced "wee-tar"). In the years following there succeeded many "wee-tar" craft and they became a familiar and welcome sight to boaters in the Tidewater area, with either La Verne Watson or Jeff Dane aboard, offering fishing reports to WTAR listeners and assistance to small-craft in need.
1964
1952 WTAR lineup
October 1951 Radio-TV Mirror article (courtesy of OTRR)
George Crawford came down from northern Virginia to be the morning host in 1959 and stayed on thru the better part of 1960 before moving over to 1310 where he saw his greatest popularity. Jim Stanley was featured in this spot for a short while. And then there was Paul...
Paul Hennings obituary in 1990
Dottie Abbott aka "Dolly Holiday" for Holiday Inns overnights on WTAR 1967 thru 1971
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1970's air personality montege (contributed by Bruce from Gloucester VA)
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"Spirit of Tidewater" news sounder and promos 1980's featuring Dale Parsons (contributed by Jim Flummer of Virginia Beach)
Virginian Pilot article describing the Glenrock demolition 19 April 1984 (contributed by Dale Parsons "Aloha!")
The 1980's saw Tom Looney moving into the morning show spot, taking over for Paul Hennings who retired in 1982. In the mid-80's the transmitter site was moved from the Military Circle location in Norfolk to a state-of-the art installation south of Grandview on Hall Road in Hampton. Landmark Communications sold WTAR in February 1993 to Benchmark Communications, who changed the network affiliation from CBS to NBC.
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"News Authority" Tom Looney 7-8 am 28 July 1992 (16:10) (KNOWSTON audio archive)
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network switch Tom Looney show 1 February 1993 (KNOWSTON audio archive)
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"Keeping You In Touch" jingle 1992 (KNOWSTON audio archive)
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Tom Looney morning show 3 May 1993 (KNOWSTON audio archive)
Pat Murphy aired as the morning host after this time. Here's a promotional item publicizing him...
In May 1996 Benchmark sold WTAR to Sinclair Communications who in turn moved the call letters to the 850 spot on 17 July 1997, thus bringing an end to WTAR 790 Norfolk.
advertisement in the Newport News "Press" publicizing the odd move
see WTAR as it was in 1941 click graphic
THE PEOPLE . . .
Joe Collins has posted an entertaining recollection of his experience at WTAR on YouTube
access it here
WTAR personnel and logos 1962 (contributed by Fran Bowles of Virginia Beach)
FRAN BOWLES....RETIRED 1989.
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Jim Flummer at WTAR in 1996 (contributed by Jim Flummer)
these images contributed by Jim Flummer
In rememberence...
Bob West
1 February 2011
Dave Desler
18 September 2010
Joe Perkins
10 April 2010
Ray Honaker
20 August 2009
Marv Henry
16 February 2009
Bill Pulliam
14 February 2009
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