From the WPA guide - It is estimated that early in 1922 there were about 1,000 homemade radio receivers in Atlanta and its vicinity. At that time, however, there were no broadcasting stations in the South, and radio fans of the region had to content themselves with the reception of alternate whisperings and squawks which indicated that the broadcasts of some of the up-East seaboard stations had wandered within range of their makeshift tube and crystal sets.
Then, on the evening of March 15, 1922, these hopeful listeners were thrilled to hear the by no means overpowering strains of a jazz band rendition of the "Light Cavalry Overture" coming through their earphones and loud-speakers. This surprise broadcast was the initial program of the Atlanta Journal's radio station, a station just authorized by a telegram received that same afternoon from the acting Secretary of Commerce and operating under the call letters formerly assigned to a ship's wireless in the Pacific Ocean -- WSB.
With the broadcast WSB set the first of many precedents which were to establish it as one of the leading stations in the country. Even before entering the field of broadcasting the Journal had published many articles instructing amateurs how to build receiving sets. A sound truck equipped with receiving apparatus cruised the city, and loud-speakers were set up in Piedmont and Grant Parks.
With the inauguration of its own station, the Journal immediately began a series of important innovations. WSB was the first station in America to adopt a slogan, "The Voice of the South", and early in its career it originated a mechanical effect for station identification, the famed chimes intoning the first three notes of "Over There". A musical signature was later adopted by the National Broadcasting Company. Night programs were not given in those early days, but WSB took the initiative here by introducing a 10:45 P.M. transcontinental broadcast. The Journal's station also led the field in employing radio as an educational medium by effecting a city-wide installation of radio receivers in the public schools and transmitting daily programs as an integral part of school work and also by establishing "WSB's University of the Air" a daily schedule of broadcasts conducted by the faculties of Georgia Tech, Emory University, Agnes Scott College, and Cox College. Radio broadcasters and listeners were on more informal terms in 1922 than is the case today, and WSB, always alert to please its fans, organized radio's first fraternity of listeners, the "WSB Radiowls".
The fact that all of these "firsts" were originated before its initial year of broadcasting was completed is indicative of the progressive spirit of the station's general manager, Lambdin Kay, known as "The Little Colonel" throughout the world of radio. Kay persuaded many celebrities to make their first radio broadcasts over WSB microphones. Among these were Otis Skinner, Efrem Zimbalist, Alma Gluck, Rudolph Valentino, and Rosa Ponselle. Miss Ponselle, after singing two numbers during an informal broadcast, was so awed and excited by the new medium that she heartily joined the studio audience's applause, explaining that is was "the first time I have ever had the chance to applaud myself and not seem immodest." Henry Ford, Octavus Roy Cohen, and Roger W. Babson are a few of the other noted personages who made their acquaintance with radio at WSB in the early years of broadcasting.
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.
The amazing growth of WSB since its opening in 1922 in hastily constructed and cramped quarters on the roof of the Journal building to its present status in capacious studios in the Biltmore Hotel is marked by its increasing wattage. On March 15, 1922, its broadcasting power was a mere 100 watts; on June 13, 1922, this was raised to 500 watts; on July 13, 1925, to 1,000 watts; on February 8, 1930, to 5,000 watts; and on September 9, 1933, to 50,000 watts.
The station operates 18 hours a day on a regional frequency of 750 kilocycles and transmits its broadcasts via a 650-foot vertical antenna, the tallest man-made structure in the State, which is located near Atlanta at Tucker. Although know as "The Voice of the South", WSB's reception range extends far beyond the territory which gives it its slogan. Not only has WSB been heard in every part of the United States, but, because of occasional "freak" conditions of the atmosphere, it has been reported from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and numerous Central and South American countries. |