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| Broadcast area | Atlanta metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 750kHz |
| Branding | 95.5 WSB |
| Programming | |
| Format | News/talk |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | March 15, 1922 (103 years ago) (1922-03-15) |
Former frequencies |
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Call sign meaning | Randomly assigned;backronymed to mean "Welcome South, Brother" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 73977 |
| Class | A |
| Power | 50,000 watts (unlimited) |
Transmitter coordinates | 33°50′38.37″N84°15′11.72″W / 33.8439917°N 84.2532556°W /33.8439917; -84.2532556 |
| Repeater(s) |
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| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast |
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| Website | www |
WSB (750kHz) is acommercial AM radio station inAtlanta, Georgia. Itsimulcasts anews/talk radio format with 95.5WSBB-FM. WSB and WSBB-FM are theflagship stations forCox Media Group which also owns three other Atlanta radio stations andWSB-TV. WSB is among the highest billing stations in the U.S.[2] The station's studios and offices are in the WSB Television and Radio Group Building onWest Peachtree Street inMidtown Atlanta.
WSB is powered at 50,000 watts, the maximum for commercial AM stations. WSB is aclear-channel class A station and uses anon-directional antenna. The station'stransmitter andradiating tower are seven miles (11 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta at the Northlake Tower Festival Shopping Center, off Lavista Road inTucker, Georgia. Its daytime coverage area is not as large as 50,000-watt AM stations in other parts of the country due to Georgia's poor ground conductivity; as such, a number of outer Atlanta suburbs only receive a grade B signal. At night, when radio waves travel farther, WSB can be heard with a good radio across much of the Southeastern United States,Gulf of Mexico andCaribbean Sea. Though the station is licensed forHD Radio operations, like many stations, it shut off the capability due toRF interference, a lack of demand for AM stations in the format, and the establishment of WSBB-FM to address audio quality concerns.[3]
WSB was one of the first radio stations in the South.[5] In early 1922, there was a tremendous public interest in the then-new technology of radio broadcasting.[6] By the end of the year, the number of authorized stations exceeded 500. In many communities, a race broke out to see who would be the first to get a station on the air. In Atlanta, the primary contenders were the two major newspapers, theAtlanta Journal and theAtlanta Constitution.[7] TheJournal established a makeshift studio on the fifth floor of its building at 7 Forsyth Street. A transmitter had been ordered, but facing a delay, the newspaper arranged for the equipment used by Gordon Heidt for his amateur station to be temporarily installed. A broadcasting license was normally needed before a station could go on the air, but it was arranged to have an initial telegraphed authorization, which was sent by the Department of Commerce on the evening of March 15, 1922. The station's debut broadcast took place that evening.[8][9] The transmitter had only 100 watts of power and ice was used to cool the batteries.[10]
TheJournal's new station was issued the randomly assignedcall letters WSB.[11] Station management would claim the call letters stood for "Welcome South, Brother", even though theJournal did not specifically request those call letters.[12] TheConstitution'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. 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.[8]
In September 1922, the Department of Commerce set aside a second entertainment wavelength, 400 meters (750 kHz) for "Class B" stations that had quality equipment and programming.[13] Both WSB and WGM were assigned to this new wavelength. In May 1923, additional "Class B" frequencies were made available, and Atlanta was assigned the use of 700 kHz.[14] Once again, both WSB and WGM were assigned to this new frequency.[15] However, at the end of July, WGM permanently ceased operations, which gave WSB exclusive use of the assignment.
In 1927, WSB became anaffiliate of theNBC Red Network.[16] The station carried NBC's dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "Golden Age of Radio". The trademark three-toneNBC chimes were first played in the WSB studios.
In the summer of 1927, WSB began transmitting on 630 kHz.[17] On November 11, 1928, under the provisions of theFederal Radio Commission'sGeneral Order 40, WSB was reassigned to a "clear channel" frequency of 740 kHz.[18] WSB was the dominant station nationally on this frequency. In March 1941, as part of the implementation of theNorth American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), WSB moved to 750 kHz, where it has been heard ever since.
Part of WSB's programming wassouthern gospel music, gaining popularity throughout the region, with shows hosted byCharles Davis Tillman. TheShelby Star newspaper, in an issue dated November 1985, wrote that the talentedDan Hornsby, after the1929 crash of the stock market, found himself working no longer forColumbia Records. He got work as the first morning show announcer for WSB. Lambdin Kay called Hornsby "90% of the local talent on WSB".
In 1939, theJournal newspaper and WSB radio station were sold toJames Middleton Cox, the founder of what would becomeCox Enterprises. Wright Bryan, a WSB news reporter as well as managing editor of theAtlanta Journal, was also astringer for NBC duringWorld War II. He was the first war correspondent to broadcast an eyewitness account of theD-Day invasion. Bryan reported 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 supportedcivil rights.
WSB won a 1946 Special Citation of HonorPeabody Award. It was awarded for its program "The Harbor We Seek".[19]
From 1925 to 1956, WSB radio, along with later co-owned stationsWSB-FM andWSB-TV, operated out of the top floor of theAtlanta Biltmore Hotel inMidtown Atlanta. Afterward, the WSB stations were housed in a Colonial-style mansion with its interior specially built for broadcasting, informally known as "White Columns".[20] That location was wherePeachtree Street crosses West Peachtree Street nearAnsley Park. In 1998, all of the Cox's Atlanta radio stations, as well as WSB-TV, moved into a new "Digital White Columns" on the same property. The original White Columns was demolished afterward.
In 1948, WSB added an FMsister station, WSB-FM, originally broadcasting on 104.5 MHz.[21] TheAtlanta Constitution had also been experimenting with FM radio, putting WCON-FM on the air the year before. When the two newspapers merged under Cox ownership in 1952, WCON-FM and WSB-FM wentsilent. WSB-FM returned to the air in 1955 on WCON-FM's dial position, 98.5 FM. While it has the call letters of WSB-FM, the station traces its founding to when WCON-FM firstsigned on.
During its early years, when few people had FM radio receivers, WSB-FM mostlysimulcast the programming on WSB. That included programs from the NBC Red Network, as well as local shows. As network programming moved from radio to television in the 1950s, WSB-AM-FM began airing afull service,middle of the road format of popular music, news, sports and information. By the late 1960s, WSB-FM was separately programmed with abeautiful music format.
Also in 1948, WSB-TV first signed on the air on September 29. It originally broadcast on Channel 8. It is the second-oldest TV station south of Washington, D.C., afterWTVR-TV inRichmond, Virginia. Just as WSB aired NBC Red Network radio programming, WSB-TV was originally a primaryNBC-TV affiliate. WSB-TV also carried someABC shows. While Channel 8 was assigned toThe Atlanta Journal, Channel 2 was assigned toThe Atlanta Constitution, although theConstitution never got its TV station on the air. After the two newspapers came under Cox ownership, WSB-TV moved to Channel 2. The station switched networks withWXIA-TV in 1980 to become an ABC affiliate.
WSB formerly broadcast inAM stereo using theMotorolaC-QUAM system during the 1980s, a period when music could still be heard on the station. The on-air talent in this era included morning hosts Russ Spooner and Dick Hemby, as well as longtimeAtlanta Braves baseball announcerSkip Caray presenting morning sportscasts. As WSB's format progressed to a full-timenews-talkradio format by 1987, the AM stereo system was turned off, as it was superfluous since music had been discontinued.
Also in the 1980s, WSB discontinued its NBC affiliation. Its own news staff delivered all the newscasts, with sound and actualities supplied byAP Radio. In 2018, WSB affiliated withABC News Radio for its world and national news coverage. Co-owned WSB-TV has been an ABC television affiliate since 1980.[22] In 2020, the station switched toCBS News Radio.[23]
On August 16, 2010, WSB began a full-time simulcast on co-owned WBTS 95.5 FM, which previously playedrhythmic contemporary music under the branding "95.5 The Beat".[24] That October 1, WBTS's call letters were changed toWSBB-FM; the extra "B" was added to the FM call letters because Cox already owns a station with the WSB-FM call sign on 98.5. On July 31, 2019, WSB and WSBB-FM began calling themselves "95.5 WSB". Despite the AM station's wide coverage, 750 is now mentioned, along with WSBB-FM's true call letters, during the hourlyFCC-mandatedstation identification in a rushed form.[25]
Cox Enterprises sold majority control of Cox Media Group toApollo Global Management on December 17, 2019.[26] While Cox Enterprises retains a minority stake in the company, the sale effectively separated the WSB stations from theAtlanta Journal-Constitution, which remains wholly owned by Cox Enterprises.[27]
WSB's Scott Slade hostedAtlanta's Morning News until February 2023, when he stepped back from full-time hosting. He was succeeded by evening news anchor Chris Chandler, and remains semi-retired as a fill-in host. In April 2023, 31-year morning news host Marcy Williams retired from WSB.[28] She calculated she wrote more than 300,000 radio news stories.
WSB and WSBB-FM mostly air local news and talk shows. Weekdays begin at 5 am withAtlanta's Morning News, anchored by Chris Chandler, Judd Hickinbotham and Cheryl Castro. Traffic reports and weather forecasts are featured every six minutes. The WSB Skycopter covered traffic from the air from 1965 to 2024, when parent company Total Traffic allowed the contract to expire.[29] After retiring from his longtime daily radio show in 2020,Clark Howard now provides consumer reports. In middays, afternoons and early evenings, local talk hosts includeErick Erickson, Mark Arum,Eric Von Haessler and Shelley Wynter.[30] At 9 pm, WSB carriesThe Sean Hannity Show recorded that afternoon. Overnight, repeats of local weekday shows are heard.
Weekends feature shows on gardening, home repair, cars, real estate, health and money, some of which are paidbrokered programming. Syndicated weekend shows includeBill Handel on the Law,The Kim Komando Show,Eye on Travel with Peter Greenberg andFace The Nation. WSB and WSBB-FM areaffiliates ofCBS News Radio, and carry twice-hourly news updates in overnight hours. The stations have a news sharing agreement withWSB-TV.
WSB has long served as theflagship radio station for theUniversity of GeorgiaBulldogs Radio Network, carrying itsfootball andbasketball games. In past years, WSB also served as the flagship station forAtlanta Bravesbaseball,Atlanta Falconsfootball andAtlanta Hawksbasketball. WSB carried Braves baseball coverage from 1966, the year theMilwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta, until 1991. Braves games moved to 640WGST from 1992 until 1994.
In 1995, the team returned to WSB, the season in which the Braves won theWorld Series. That same year, Atlanta Hawks game coverage was also picked up by the station. From 1995 until 2004, WSB branded itself as the "Sports Voice of the South", carrying play-by-play game coverage of Braves baseball, Hawks basketball and Bulldogs football and basketball. In 2019, Braves baseball moved to 680WCNN. The Falcons and Hawks are now heard on 92.9WZGC.
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