| People of the 1950s K through P |
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| At the microphone of his network show Big Band Jump. |
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Don is best known of course for his pioneering work on WSB-TV as host of the popular children's TV show - The Popeye Club. That utterly magnificent voice did find a home on WSB Radio though - as Don worked for the radio network show Monitor in 1955. He returned as a part time talk show host on WSB in 1983 after a long stint running a statewide radio network.
YEARS AT WSB: 1955 and 1983
PRIOR: ?
AFTER: Don made his mark in radio history for many years after WSB Radio and TV by operating a statewide radio network. That network would later succumb to the pressure of competition and costs and force Don to look for a new path in his career. He was to find that path in one of his true loves - the music of the big band era.
TODAY: Don is host of the enormously popular syndicated radio show Big Band Jump Not only is the show great, he is helping to preserve giant chunks of music and broadcast history in this stage of his incredible career. |
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Mrs. Wilda Lindsey worked in the business office of WSB Radio for 44 years!! We include her in our listings because for over four decades everyone who worked at WSB Radio got their paycheck thanks to her tireless work.
YEARS AT WSB: 1929 to 1973!! |
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Dick says he may have only worked four years at WSB, but it is an experience that is a highlight of his life. Dick wrote the following to us in 2004: "After working vacation relief - all shifts - during the summer of 1957, I was assigned to the morning shift, first hosting the Merry-Go-Round and mid-morning and early afternoon music shows. I switched to the morning news shift and was working that when I left in 1961. I was already on board when Aubrey Morris was hired, which led to our stellar live report of a wedding atop Stone Mountain. There were some serious stories, also, such as integration of the University of Georgia and Georgia State. One of my most memorial reports was when I went to the Warm Springs Institute in January of 1958 to cover the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. I got to interview Eleanor Roosevelt and Dr. Jonas Salk, developer of the Salk Polio Vaccine. That one aired on NBC's Monitor. "
YEARS AT WSB: 1957 to 1961
PRIOR: WDAK and WRBL Radio and TV in Columbus, WLAG in LaGrange and WBML in Macon.
AFTER: After leaving WSB in 1961, Dick returned to Columbus as program manager for three Jim Woodruff radio stations. From that heI morphed into a TV anchorman and reporter which he did for the rest of his broadcasting career, working at WRBL-TV in Columbus, WAGA-TV in Atlanta, WIS-TV in Columbia, South Carolina and finally at WTVM-TV in Columbus.
(2004) Dick writes the following: "I retired in 2000, live in Midland, Georgia and still do some documentary work for WTVM-TV. My latest, which has aired once this year, 2004, and will air again soon, What's A Powder Monkey?, is the story of the Port Columbus National Civil War Naval Museum. If you are a history buff, you'll love the relatively new museum and I heartily recommend it if you are ever in the Columbus area."
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Ray is a legend in Atlanta TV, but it is a little known fact that he began his career as an announcer at the Biltmore for WSB Radio. He stayed for a year before he decided to try his hand at "radio with pictures" in the basement of the Biltmore – WSB TV. He stayed with Channel 2 from 1952 to 1969. He was both news director and news anchor during the 1960s.
YEARS AT WSB: 1951
PRIOR: I started in radio during WWII when my 10th Armored Division was stationed in Augusta - and we did a morning show for the community. After the war, I went to Columbia University because that school offered courses at Rockefeller Plaza taught by NBC professionals. My first job was at WETB in Johnson City, TN - 1,000 watt daytime only where I did news, a hillbilly (sic) music show, pop deejay in late afternoon and Music of the Masters at close of day.
AFTER: I resigned as Director of News and Local Programming in 1969, spent five years at TV 5, and then left TV to become Vice President for Shenandoah Development, building a New Town outside Newnan. After the real estate market killed us, I became Director of Research Communications for Georgia Tech. During the 1980's WSB-TV brought me out of the closet to co-anchor the Noon News. I was still working at Georgia Tech so, in a sense, I was "noonlighting".
(2004) Retired in 1991. In 1995, he was inducted into the GAB Hall of Fame. |
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| Mr. and Mrs. Aubrey Morris |
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Aubrey Morris is one of the most dominant figures in the history of WSB. He is considered perhaps the finest reporter ever and was responsible for teaching scores of great reporters who went on to great careers in network radio and TV. Read the full story of Aubrey Morris on our tribute page.
YEARS AT WSB: 1958 to 1988
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Lee Morris rose from announcer to assistant general manager of WSB Radio. More on his career to come. Check back.
YEARS AT WSB: Details to come, but Lee worked from the 50's through the early 70's!
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Bob was a news reporter for the "Nightbeat" show. He is immortalized in the book WELCOME SOUTH BROTHER pictured atop a circus elephant while doing a live broadcast. (See picture to the left!) We caught up with Bob in 2005 and he wrote us the following note:
From almost falling off an elephant at the last Ringling Bros Circus performance "under canvas" (see picture to the left) to almost falling off Stone Mountain in an open jeep during a thunderstorm, my WSB memories are centered around the many reports I prepared for the on-the-town evening broadcasts of "NIGHTBEAT."
Whether it was "hard news" from a major fire, reporting from the emergency room of Grady Hospital or interviewing celebrities from show business, my battery operated tape recorder was always nearby. With splicing tape and a handy single-edge razor blade edits were done "the ole fashion way." Those were the days when reporting the news was truly creative and exciting. |
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| Bob Noble today. Courtesy of his web site. Click here for more details. |
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YEARS AT WSB: 1950 to 1954
AFTER: After returning to Savannah from my stint with WSB Radio, I joined the radio staff of the CBS affiliate in Savannah WTOC. On Valentine's day 1954, WTOC radio was joined by WTOC-TV and I was dealt a "dual hand" . . . move over to TV and serve as the on-the-air weatherman & behind-the-camera News Director. It was "Nightbeat" all over again but with a camera instead of a microphone.
In 1965, with a wife and two small kids, we headed to Hollywood, California for seven years of free-lance acting, voice-over work with many of the major film studios and designing swimming pools for such celebrities as Bill Shatner of "Star Trek" and Dan Blocker of "Bonanza." After surviving the February earthquake of 1971 we packed up and headed to Orlando, Florida arriving just six weeks before the opening of Disney World. The first six years in Orlando were spent as the anchorman for Channel Nine's "Eyewitness News" with on-camera anchor duties at six and eleven each evening, Monday thru Friday.
With the kids actively involved in scouting, sports and band I decided it was time to become a more "active" Dad. So I left the staff position at Channel Nine and returned to free-lancing and swimming pool design and sales which gave me more control over my schedule and more time for attending the kids sports activities.
(2005) Today, Marie and I are firmly "anchored" in Orlando going on 34-years. I'm still designing swimming pools, free-lancing in motion pictures, television and commercials and serving as the "voice" of the tram at Orlando International Airport. Marie is a church secretary and together we own Noble Sales and Marketing, which represents AmeriPlan USA, the nation's largest provider of "discount for services" health care. You're invited to visit "Bob Noble's Place" which is an extensive website highlighting my 50+ years in "showbiz." Click on my head shot to the left to link to that web site. |
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| In 1931 John joined the station as “commercial manager” and in later years went on to become General Manager of both WSB Radio and WSB-TV. He retired in 1957. |
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| Bob had a great voice and in his final years at WSB in the 1980's he served as afternoon news anchor and WSB's business reporter. The latter role reflected his expertise - as he had run a successful investment business for many years while he was out of radio. Bob was universally liked and a solid anchor in the afternoons.
YEARS AT WSB: 1955 to 1957 and 1980 to 1985
PRIOR: Bob worked in Minnesota before landing a job in 1955 at WSB.
DIED: Sadly, Bob passed away in December 1985 in his sleep. His death was sudden and unexpected - hitting all of the WSB family hard. He was only 57 years old. |
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Vic was the promotions director of WSB Radio for over a decade from 1940 to 1953. More on his career to come.
(2005) He and his wife Louise live in retirement in Sautee-Nacoochee, GA |
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