History of WBRW, Welch

This article appeared in The West Virginia Review in November 1945.

Service has ever been the by-word of radio - and the need for a broadcasting station to provide service for the rich coal-mining areas of McDowell and surrounding counties was fulfilled with the installation of radio station WBRW in Welch.

Early in 1940, John W. Blakely, L. E. Rogers, and J. R. Werness formed the McDowell Service Company, a corporation to engage in the business of operating a radio broadcasting station. Application was made to the Federal Communications Commission to construct a 250-watt station on a frequency of 1340 kilocycles. In due time, permission was granted and construction started. The studios and transmitter were installed at 10 Riverside Drive and a 180-foot transmitter tower was erected atop the Dor Building, just opposite that location.

Finally, during the last week in August, 1940, the last in a long series of equipment tests was completed, and at six o'clock on the morning of August 29, WBRW went on the air with its first scheduled program. It would be difficult to explain the feeling of excitement that attended that opening day. Practically every member of the staff was a seasoned veteran, yet there was that thrilling sensation which precedes events of importance. No matter what the feeling of the staff may have been, WBRW's first programs, carefully rehearsed, timed, and produced, were broadcast with the quality and characteristics of a veteran station.

Listeners were quick to realize that WBRW was on the air to serve them. Invitations were issued to civic and fraternal organizations, schools, and churches, to make use of this new instrument for the furtherance of civic, cultural, and social aims. This spirit of co-operation has always existed and no one who has a message of interest is ever refused the facilities of the station.

As time went on, the WBRW listening audience came to depend more and more on their radio station for service. With the fast-breaking developments on the war fronts making each and every newscast a separate chapter in history, WBRW became an important part of the daily lives of its listeners. Details of major events were broadcast at almost the very moment they occurred; regular programs were interrupted whenever necessary to keep listeners abreast of the news. From Pearl Harbor to V-J Day, and on up through the present, WBRW was, and is, a "news" station.

Located as it is in the hills of southern West Virginia, WBRW provides the greater portion of listening service for a large number of people. This is especially true in daytime. Consequently, it has always been the policy of those in charge of preparing the station's programs to maintain a balanced schedule of features. Music of various types is presented throughout the broadcast day, newscasts are given so as to fit in with the daily schedule of the individual, and light entertainment and comedy are interspersed so there is never a lack of variety. That this method of programming is serving its purpose was made apparent in the early days of WBRW's career, and the practice is still followed. [...]

On March 23, 1955, the Charleston Gazette reported that high winds toppled the transmitter tower of radio station WBRW yesterday. “Miraculously, it hit no persons or automobiles and no one was hurt.” Presumably this is the same incident described above.

WBRW On The Air

The new WBRW, Welch, West Va., authorized by the FCC May 15 to operate with 250 watts on 1310 kc., went on the air Aug. 25 and Harold McWhorter, general manager, has announced the addition of the following personnel: Joe Herget, formerly with the West Virginia Network, program director; David Fann, salesman; Harold Haught, formerly with WPAR, Parkersburg, West Va., announcer; Thomas Phillips and George Yazell, both from WBTH, Williamson, West Va., engineers. A 180-foot Union Metal Mfg. Co. vertical radiator has been erected atop the Dor Bldg., adjacent to the studios on Riverside Drive.

Comment from Johnny Moore

In the mid fifties, the tower came crashing down into the street below. Fortunately, it was in the early morning hours and no one was injured. I wasn’t living in the area at this time and never learned what failure brought the tower down. This was the demise of the station for it never went back on the air.

While the station was in operation, it received news from Trans Radio Press, which sent the news via international Morse code at 37 ½ words per minute. An ex-maritime radio operator was hired to copy the news off the air. Before the days of WBRW, the only stations that could be received in Welch were WHIS in Bluefield (about 30 plus straight line miles away) and WLW in Cincinnati (probably close to 250 miles distant). WLW was running 500 kw at the time with an experimental license.

I went on to get a First Class Radiotelephone ticket but never went into the BC business. I always thought it was interesting but not lucrative. The early days of FM were very interesting for me. I remember the expensive FM tuners, some with the low band (in the neighborhood of 40 mHz in addition to the current FM band. Also, recall some "high fi" am receivers which had wide band TRF circuitry and a 10 kHz whistle filter for taking the hetrodyne with the adjacent station. All very interesting.

Johnny Moore (Ocala, FL)

WMCD/WOVE/WXEE

A brief history of WXEE, provided by the station in the late 1980s, indicated the station was affiliated with the ABC Entertainment Network and MetroNews and featured a satellite country music format from Transtar. Personnel listed were: President: Tommy L. Kuhn; Vice President and General Manager: W. Dale Ellis; Program and News Director: James S Sassak; Chief Engineer: Jesse Faust.

In 2001, WXEE was reported to be dark.

The following is the FCC microfiche file on WXEE, covering the period 1955 to 1978, and provided to this page by Xen Scott.

From the FCC microfiche files, January 2, 1995.

                                  WXEE

 5/11/55  Application made for a new station on 1340kc with 100 watts,
          unlimited, at Welch, WV.

 8/31/55  Granted a C.P. for 1340kc, 100 watts, unlimited.

11/17/55  Date first licensed.  The licensee was Williamson Broadcasting
          Corp., Welch, WV.  The first listed call letters were WMCD.  They
          were granted 1340kc, 100 watts, unlimited.

 3/21/56  Granted a C.P. for 1340kc, 250 watts, unlimited.  License to cover
          the C.P. granted 6/20/56.

  9/3/58  Vol. relinquishment of pos. cont. of lic. corp. by Alice Shein
          through sale of stock to Phil Beinhorn, eff 6/26/58.

 9/10/58  Vol. assign. of lic. to Welch Broadcasters, Inc., eff. 10/9/58.

 9/16/58  Call letters changed to WOVE.

  9/2/59  Vol. assign. of lic. to South C. Bevins, tr/as McDowell County
          Broadcasting Co., eff. 10/5/59.

11/30/60  Granted a C.P. for 1340kc, 250 watts, 1kw LS, unlimited.  License
          to cover the C.P. granted 7/19/61.

 9/13/61  Vol. assign. of lic. to Raymond L. Anderson tr/as Community
          Broadcasting Co., eff. 10/23/61.

 4/12/62  Vol. assign. of lic. to South C. Bevins, tr/as McDowell County
          Broadcasting Co., eff. 5/19/62.

 5/18/62  Granted auth. to sign off at 7:45pm except for special events.

 9/12/62  Vol. mod. of lic. to change the hours of operation to specified
          hours (Mon.-Sat.-6am to 7:45pm; Sun.-7am to 7:45pm).

 3/20/63  Vol. mod. of lic. to change the hours of operation to unlimited.

12/19/63  Vol. assign. of lic. to WOVE, Inc., eff. 1/1/64.

 7/20/71  Vol. assign. of lic. to Davis-Major Communications Corp., eff.
          8/1/71.

  8/4/71  Call letters changed to WXEE.

  5/8/78  Vol. assign. of lic. to Mountaineer Broadcasting Corp., eff.
          6/1/78.