WBTM is a Full Service

Full service

Full service is a term that has many different uses. In general the term implies that the customer will receive as much service as is reasonably possible.-Gas station:...

 formatted broadcast

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...

 radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 licensed to Danville, Virginia

Danville, Virginia

Danville is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Caswell County, North Carolina. It was the last capital of the Confederate States of America. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Danville with Pittsylvania county for...

, serving Danville

Danville, Virginia

Danville is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Caswell County, North Carolina. It was the last capital of the Confederate States of America. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Danville with Pittsylvania county for...

 and Southern Pittsylvania County, Virginia

Pittsylvania County, Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 61,745 people, 24,684 households, and 18,216 families residing in the county. The population density was 64 people per square mile . There were 28,011 housing units at an average density of 29 per square mile...

. WBTM is owned and operated by Piedmont Broadcasting Corporation.

History

WBTM was the 10th radio station in the Commonwealth of Virginia, having signed on May 24, 1930. Founder Clarke Electric Company selected the call letters WBTM to simultaneously promote Danville as the World's Best Tobacco Market and home to the World's Biggest Textile Mill. Originally at 1370 on the dial, WBTM moved to 1400 in 1939 and finally 1330.

On April 1, 1932, Pastor R.J. Barber began airing "Tabernacle Time" on the station. Nearly thirty years later in 1962, his son, R.J. "Brother Bob" Barber, Jr. assumed the daily broadcast. Still airing today on WBTM and FM sister station WAKG

WAKG

WAKG is a country formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Danville, Virginia, serving the Southside area. WAKG is owned and operated by Piedmont Broadcasting Corporation....

, "Tabernacle Time" is the nation's longest running radio ministry.

WBTM also operated an early UHF television station, WBTM-TV 24, which signed on February 21, 1954, but left the air December 31 of that same year. Channel 24 is now occupied by unrelated independent station

Independent station

An independent station is in the category of television terminology used to describe a television station broadcasting in the United States or Canada that is not affiliated with any television network....

 WDRL-TV

WDRL-TV

WDRL-TV, is an independent television station licensed to Danville, Virginia and serving the Roanoke/Lynchburg, Virginia market.WDRL-TV broadcasts its digital signal on channel 24 from a tower on Smith Mountain, giving predicted city grade coverage of Lynchburg and Roanoke, New River Valley and all...

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