History of WCIR, Beckley, West Virginia WCIR-AM signed on the air as a daytime-only station on 1060 kHz at 7 a.m. on November 14, 1966. The original licensee was Christian Broadcasting Corporation, headed by Rev. Thomas M. Waldron, pastor of the First Assembly of God Church in Beckley. Waldron had previously conducted a daily 9:30 a.m. religious program, “Word of Life,” on WWNR, and he transferred the program to WCIR. He said the call letters were chosen to stand for “Christianity in radio” or “Christ is risen.” WCIR originally had a religious format from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and played secular music for the remainder of the day. Later call letters for the AM station were WJKK and WIWS. The WCIR transmitter was located at Crab Orchard. The original studio location was on Main Street, above Jan Campbell Music. The original general manager was Thomas K. Martin (who died at age 68 in 2002). The original announcers were Thomas K. Martin and Carlos Garten. Dan Sessler (later a sales representative for Harris Corporation) was heard on Sunday mornings; he later became chief engineer and manager of the station. John Sherrod was the original chief engineer. Sometime during the first year of operation, the station switched to a country music format (except for the midday religious programming). On October 27, 1969, WCIR switched frequencies from 1060 to 1070. The change allowed the station to operate with 10,000 watts sunrise to sunset; on 1060 kHz the station was required to decrease power to 1,000 watts during critical hours (the first and last two hours of the broadcast day). The staff of the station at that time consisted of Waldron; Martin; Lee Daugherty, program director; Roger Fox, chief engineer; Bob McKeehan, sales manager; Jerry Wickline, news director and announcer; Gene Ellison, account executive and announcer; Betty Elkins, bookkeeper; Dan Sessler, assistant engineer and announcer; Vickie Pringle, secretary. In an email, Steve Lineberry, who graduated from WWHS in 1969, recalled, “My first job was as a 'part-time' radio announcer for WCIR. I worked from 1968-1969, weekday afternoons from 3pm-6pm, Saturday afternoons and Sunday Afternoons. ... It was interesting how I started my radio career - I was in the Broadcasting Club at Woodrow Wilson High School and Gene Morehouse, then the General Manager of WJLS, heard me at an 'audition' and offered me a part time job. As you know, he was killed in the tragic Marshall University plane crash. The new General Manager rescinded the offer and I went over to WCIR.” WCIR-FM went on the air in the summer of 1971 with an easy listening format. The FM transmitter was originally located at the AM site in Crab Orchard. In November 1971, WCIR-AM switched to an oldies format and became a Mutual affiliate. The FM station continued its automated beautiful music format and also carried Mutual newscasts. In 1973 WCIR-FM began broadcasting in stereo. In 1976 Waldron Broadcasting Inc. sold WCIR to Southern-Carper Broadcasting Inc., headed by Ira Southern and Grady Carper, both of Princeton, for $450,000. That same year, the new owners changed the format of WCIR-FM from an beautiful music format to rock. The format was simulcast on AM and FM. The orgininal staff was Shane Randall (Southern) in the morning (6-10), Dan Robins middays (10-3), Bob Cannon afternoons (3-7), Jack Daniels evenings (7-12), and Jaque Bailey overnights (12-6). In January 1981 the studios were moved to 305 Reservoir Road, the same building from which WCFC had operated from 1946 to 1950. In 1985 the FM transmitter site was changed from Crab Orchard to Paint Mountain, near Kingston on the Raleigh-Fayette county line. This move increased the coverage area of the station. In 1988, studios were relocated to 21 Airport Industrial Park Road in Beaver. In 1990, WCIR-AM, which had been simulcasting with WCIR-FM, adopted a visitor information format. In July 1995 Southern Communications, the owner of WCIR, took over the operation of WMTD-FM in Hinton. At the time, the station manager was James Quesenberry. The comnpany later also took over the operation of WWNR in Beckley. In the late 1990s, the AM station on 1070 was using the call letters WIWS and featured an oldies format. In February 2000 Southern Communications took over operation of WTNJ and WAXS. In 2002 the studios of WCIR-FM, WTNJ-FM, WMTD-AM/FM, WAXS-FM, WWNR, and WIWS were moved to 306 South Kanawha Street in Beckley (the old Appalachian Power Company building). Beginning on Good Friday 2005, WIWS 1070-AM began broadcasting Catholic religious programming known as “Relevant Radio,” produced in Green Bay, Wis., and received by the station via satellite. In 2007, the station lineup showed Jerry Farley, 5am-10am; Kathy St John, 10am-3pm; Rick Rizer, 3pm-7pm; and Nate Dogg, 7pm-Mid.
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