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WSB AM ("NewsTalk 750") is a clear channel AM radio station located in Atlanta, Georgia with a frequency of 750 kHz. It uses the slogan "Atlanta's news/talk, weather, and traffic station." It is owned by, and is the flagship AM station of, Cox Radio. The station is the sister property of several area radio stations and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper.
History
WSB was the first radio station in the South, and the callsign stands for "Welcome South, Brother." Founded by the Atlanta Journal newspaper (once a competitor of the Atlanta Constitution, now merged), the station began broadcasting on March 15, 1922. The station was only authorized to broadcast weather bulletins at first, receiving its full license later that year. In 1927, WSB became an NBC radio affiliate; in fact, the trademark three-tone NBC chimes were first played in the WSB studios. In 1939, the Journal newspaper and WSB radio station were sold to James Middleton Cox, the founder of what would become Cox Enterprises.
Wright Bryan, a WSB news reporter as well as managing editor of the Atlanta Journal, was also a stringer for NBC during World War II. He was the first war correspondent to broadcast an eyewitness account of the D-Day invasion from London in the early hours of June 6, 1944.
Elmo Ellis, who programmed WSB in the 1950s and 1960s, is remembered fondly as an innovator among Southern broadcasters. He provided the on-air editorials for the station, and in the 1960s, consistently supported civil rights.
Currently
Two WSB talk-show hosts, "The Talkmaster" Neal Boortz and Clark Howard (consumer advice and travel), became so popular in the late 1990s that they received national syndication deals; Boortz and Howard can now be heard on talk stations across the U.S. Other on-air news and features personalities include Captain Herb Emory (traffic), Scott Slade (morning news), Kirk Mellish (weather), Walter Reeves (gardening), and Mike Kavanagh (financial).
Chris Krok presently hosts the 10 p.m.-2 a.m. slot. Born and raised in the Chicago area, Krok hosted radio and TV shows in Austin, Madison, Wis., Jefferson City, Mo., and Minneapolis before coming to WSB.
In addition to the local programs, WSB carries syndicated shows by Sean Hannity, Kim Komando (computing), Michael Savage, and Bill Handel (law).
Before syndication, Sean Hannity appeared locally on rival WGST in Atlanta and developed a strong local following before being hired by ABC Radio. As WGST is a Clear Channel owned-and-operated station, it, of course, did not pick up his syndicated show, running its own network and local programming. Instead, WSB picked up the show, and although it airs on a one-hour delay, Hannity's show on WSB now beats WGST in the Arbitron ratings by a 5:1 ratio. Both Neal Boortz's and Clark Howard's shows were also on WGST as well in the 1980s.
In a situation mirroring Hannity, now-syndicated host Phil Hendrie was a morning host on WSB before eventually getting a syndicated deal with Premiere Radio. Because Clear Channel handled Premiere's syndication, Hendrie's show was picked up by WGST. A third now-syndicated host, Mike Malloy, began his radio career at WSB in the early 1990s; the station has not picked up the local rights to Malloy's syndicated program, now distributed by the Air America Radio network, despite its being produced in nearby Decatur, Ga..
From 1925 to 1956, WSB radio, along with sisters WSB-FM and WSB-TV (Channel 2), operated out of the top floor of the Atlanta Biltmore Hotel in lower Midtown. Afterward, the WSB stations broadcast from a Colonial-style mansion specially built for broadcasting, informally known as White Columns, also located in Midtown, where Peachtree Street crosses West Peachtree Street near Ansley Park. In 1998, all three stations moved next door into a new, more technologically adequate facility.
Although WSB-AM itself is licensed, but is not currently broadcasting in HD RADIO, WSB-AM programming can be heard in high quality stereo HD RADIO on sister station 97.1 WSRV's HD-2 channel.
See also
External links
"WSB (AM)"