WGTM
Encyclopedia
WGTM is an AM radio station licensed to and located in Wilson, North Carolina
. Named for the World's Greatest Tobacco
Market, WGTM was founded in 1942 by the Wilson Tobacco Board of Trade. The station originally transmitted at 1340 kHz and now operates on 590 kHz with 5000 watts full time. 106.7 WGTM-FM was silenced by Hurricane Hazel
which destroyed the tower in October 1954.
Owned by Campbell Broadcasting in the 1960s until 1985, WGTM had a block
-type format, featuring local news, country
, AC, gospel
, & rock
. It was then sold to Willis Broadcasting and the format changed to black gospel and talk, with Red Hot Issues weekday mornings with host and owner Celestine Willis and Tawanna Fields.
The studios were located in the back of a church supply store on Hwy 42 West of Wilson. The transmitter site is near Rock Ridge and features a 4 tower array that covers a large part of eastern North Carolina.
Hosts from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s include Bill Bunn, Jim Rochelle, Buck Jones, Thomas Ward, Jim Apple, Vann Campbell, Tom Campbell, Mike McAllister, Mark Six, Mac McKee, Frank Silverthorne, Don Flowers, Golden Boy, W.Frank Neal, Isiaette McArn, Dan Wilkins, Jay Carter, Doretha Kent and Nick Rogers. Its sportscasters included Carlester Crumpler and Alton Britt. During the early 1980s, Greg Flowers was the news director and Ben Lovelace was the farm news director.
WGTM moved from its longtime studio on NC 42 West in mid 2009. The building has a 'For Sale' sign posted in front, and the decades-old STL tower has been removed. In November the station was forced from the air when the power was cut to the transmitter site by the local power company. WGTM returned to the air from a rented studio in December '09 and fell silent again on March 13, 2010.
Wilson, North Carolina
Wilson is a city and the county seat of Wilson County in the Coastal Plain region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. The 18th largest city in the state, Wilson had a population of 49,167 according to the 2010 census.- Geography :...
. Named for the World's Greatest Tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
Market, WGTM was founded in 1942 by the Wilson Tobacco Board of Trade. The station originally transmitted at 1340 kHz and now operates on 590 kHz with 5000 watts full time. 106.7 WGTM-FM was silenced by Hurricane Hazel
Hurricane Hazel
Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest and costliest hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed as many as 1,000 people in Haiti before striking the United States near the border between North and South Carolina, as a Category 4 hurricane...
which destroyed the tower in October 1954.
Owned by Campbell Broadcasting in the 1960s until 1985, WGTM had a block
Block programming
Block programming or television block is a strategy of broadcast programming and radio programmers. Block programming occurs when the television network schedules similar television programs back-to-back. The concept is to provide similar programming to keep the viewers. Radio stations use it...
-type format, featuring local news, country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, AC, gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
, & rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
. It was then sold to Willis Broadcasting and the format changed to black gospel and talk, with Red Hot Issues weekday mornings with host and owner Celestine Willis and Tawanna Fields.
The studios were located in the back of a church supply store on Hwy 42 West of Wilson. The transmitter site is near Rock Ridge and features a 4 tower array that covers a large part of eastern North Carolina.
Hosts from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s include Bill Bunn, Jim Rochelle, Buck Jones, Thomas Ward, Jim Apple, Vann Campbell, Tom Campbell, Mike McAllister, Mark Six, Mac McKee, Frank Silverthorne, Don Flowers, Golden Boy, W.Frank Neal, Isiaette McArn, Dan Wilkins, Jay Carter, Doretha Kent and Nick Rogers. Its sportscasters included Carlester Crumpler and Alton Britt. During the early 1980s, Greg Flowers was the news director and Ben Lovelace was the farm news director.
WGTM moved from its longtime studio on NC 42 West in mid 2009. The building has a 'For Sale' sign posted in front, and the decades-old STL tower has been removed. In November the station was forced from the air when the power was cut to the transmitter site by the local power company. WGTM returned to the air from a rented studio in December '09 and fell silent again on March 13, 2010.