#QSLfriday The Committee to Preserve Radio Verifications' extensive collection is part of the Library of American Broadcasting. Many years ago, Michael Henry, our Reference Specialist, produced a four-panel display on CPRV's QSLs for a Broadcast Education Association convention.
#QSLfriday WDAN in Danville, Illinois, went on the air in October 1938, with studios in the basement of the Hotel Welford. WDAN programming included CBS Radio and locally produced programs. One such local program was the first job for a young Dick Van Dyke. #otr
#QSLfriday WMBH (now KQYX) was initially licensed in January 1927. The station adopted the slogan "Where Memories Bring Happiness" based on its call sign.
#QSLfriday KFTI in Wichita is one of the oldest stations in Kansas, dating to 1923, when it was founded as KFKB by the notorious "goat gland doctor," J. R. Brinkley. In late 1929, Radio Digest reported that "The Sunshine Station in the Heart of the Nation" was KFKB's new slogan.
#QSLfriday KOMO (now KNWN) first broadcast on December 31, 1926. The studios moved to Downtown Seattle in 1927. The station began a long-running affiliation with NBC Radio that year, primarily with the Red Network, as well as with the short-lived West Coast NBC Orange Network from 1931 to 1933.
#QSLfriday This Cleveland, Ohio, radio station was known as WKYC from 1965 to 1972. The station first carried the call letters WTAM from 1923 to 1956. The station re-adopted the WTAM call letters in 1996 to reinforce the station's position on the AM band. #otr
#QSLfriday In 1965, WINS underwent a radical (at the time) format change. It became the third radio station in the United States to adopt all-news programming, implementing the new format around the clock.
#QSLfriday In March 1968, KMOX-AM and TV moved into the pictured Gateway Tower building — "in the shadow of the dramatic 630-foot Gateway to the West arch." The radio station had offices and studios on the promenade level. This QSL card was sent to a DX-er in Örebro, Sweden, in February 1971.
#QSLfriday WBT made its first broadcast in March 1922. The next day's Charlotte Observer described, "the first station that has been erected and put in active operating condition in the Carolinas."
This QSL card was sent to a DX-er in Waterloo, Iowa, in October 1954
#QSLfriday Founded in 1924 by Sears, Roebuck and Company, with the call sign an abbreviation for Sears' "World's Largest Store" slogan. The station's contemporary hit radio era from 1960 until 1989 saw WLS at a creative and ratings pinnacle. Since 1989, WLS has been a full-time talk radio outlet.
#QSLfriday WSBB (AM) is a radio station licensed to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, which began broadcasting on February 1, 1952. The call sign stands for "World's Safest Bathing Beach," a promotional slogan for the area at the time. It was owned by the Beach Broadcasting Company. #otr
#QSLfriday WCAU (now WPHT), Philadelphia's third-oldest radio station, began broadcasting in 1922. The station began its long association with CBS in 1927, as one of 16 charter network affiliates of the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System, airing its first network program in September 1927.
#QSLfriday WRVA is one of Virginia's oldest radio stations. In the 1960s, when this postcard was sent, "Capitol Squirrel" imparted wisdom to listeners and occasionally tossed a snowball at lawmakers and local government officials, using a voice created by speeding up the recording.
#QSLfriday The Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company established its second broadcasting station, WBZ, in Boston in 1921. WBZ ended its affiliation with NBC Radio in 1956 and adopted a music programming format with local disc jockeys, eventually transitioning to a full-time top 40 format.
#QSLfriday WGGG (now WRBD) signed on in February 1948. It started with 250 watts of power. Alachua County Broadcasting Company owned the station. The studios, transmitter, and tower were located near the Gainesville Regional Airport, northeast of town. WGGG sent this card to a DXer in Dubuque, Iowa.
#QSLfriday WRUF (AM) signed on the air in October 1928, making it the fifth-oldest radio station in the state. The station operates from the University of Florida's main campus in Gainesville. The card is undated, but it must be from before 1941, when WRUF moved to 850 AM. #OTR
#QSLfriday KUTA-AM (now KNRS) signed on the air in August 1938 and was then headed by Utah broadcasting pioneer Frank Carman. The station was an affiliate of the NBC-Blue network (later separated and renamed the American Broadcasting System).
#QSLfriday WLAP first broadcast in September 1922. William Virgil Jordan of Louisville founded the station from his "Big Six Auto Repair Shop." WLAP later became noted for its remote broadcasts, including the 1929 Kentucky State Fair. New owners moved the station to Lexington in 1934. #OTR
#QSLfriday WWVA began broadcasting in December 1926. The call letters are derived from the words Wheeling, West Virginia (WWVA). Through the years, WWVA has been granted several power increases. In May 1941, WWVA became the most powerful AM station in West Virginia. #OTR
#QSLfriday WRBL (now WRCG), Columbus, Georgia's first radio station, began broadcasting in 1928. Although the call letters were randomly assigned, over the years WRBL was said to stand for "Wireless Radio's Bill Lewis", the broadcast engineer who put the station on the air, and "Wee-Rebel Radio.
#QSLfriday WJR traces its history to 1922. In 1927, WJR adopted the slogan "The Goodwill Station" and began carrying programs from the recently formed NBC Blue Network. The station switched its affiliation to CBS in 1935 and formally dedicated WJR's new 50,000-watt transmitter at the same time.
#QSLfriday WAPI in Birmingham, the second radio station in Alabama, signed on the air in April 1922 as WSY. In 1925, the broadcast facilities were donated to Alabama Polytechnic Institute at Auburn, and the station's call letters were changed to WAPI. In 1932, the station was sold to investors.
#QSLfriday Bridgeport, Connecticut's third radio station, WLIZ, owned by the Bridgeport Broadcasting Company, went on the air on October 13, 1947. In November 1951, the Bridgeport Broadcasting Company bought rival station WICC instead, and WLIZ ceased operations. #OTR
#qslfriday WHBC is the oldest radio station in Canton, Ohio. It first went on the air in March 1925. The station was not part of any network until 1940 or 1941, when it became a Mutual Broadcasting System network affiliate. Later in the 1940s, it became an ABC affiliate. #otr
#QSLfriday WHO began broadcasting in 1924. During its early years, the station was an affiliate of the NBC Red Network. The station used an owl as its mascot, a play on its call letters pronounced like an owl's call. #OTR
#QSLfriday KGLN in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, first went on the air in May 1950 as an affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System. The owners were Rex and Charles Howell, of Western Slope Broadcasting, which also owned KFXJ in Grand Junction. #OTR
#QSLFriday Youngstown's oldest continuously operating radio station, signing on in 1926. WKBN was first authorized to the Radio Electric Service Co. (W. P. Williamson, Jr.), and the studios were in the basement of Williamson's home. WKBN Broadcasting Corporation later held the license. #OTR
