FIRST ANNIVERSARY 
WWNC Radio Station
Asheville, North Carolina (1926-1927)

ASHEVILLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, Daniel W. Hill, President.

The 1927-28 Radio Committee:

1.) Carl R. Bamford, Chairman ;

2.) L.B. Rogers ;

3.) A.G. Barnett

The 1926-27 Radio Committee:

4.) Frank A. Barber, Chairman ;

5.) E.A. Jackson, Jr. ' Frank Conder (No Photo) Chamber of Commerce Leaders:

6.) F. Roger Miller, Manager ;

7.) Daniel W. Hill, President

"In the Fall of 1926 the Chamber of Commerce appointed a special Radio Committee to purchase and erect a radio transmitter for the purpose of broadcasting programs for the benefit of Asheville and Western North Carolina. This committee consisted of Frank A. Barber, E. A. Jackson, Jr. and Frank L. Conder. 

After through investigation, the committee purchased from WSM, of Nashville, Tenn., their one thousand watt Western Electric transmitter which was dismantled and shipped to Asheville and installed on the top of the Flatiron Building, together with added equipment, towers, etc., necessary to operate a radio station.

This committee employed J. Dale Stentz as Managing Director and Announcer and A.W. Shropshire as Chief Operator.

After many hours of testing, we finally came on the air with our first official program February 21, 1927, and have been at it ever since, having sent out 1,696 hours of entertaining, educational and religious programs.

During these 12 months we have received more than 16,000 written comments and thousands of telephone calls on our programs. These letters have come from 48 states, every province but one in Canada, Cuba, Central America, Mexico, Panama Canal Zone and ships at sea.

The publicity we have received in local, state and national papers, also in radio magazines of national distinction, has been most gratifying and would in a large measure compensate for the entire cost of operation of the station for the year.

In this time we have presented thirty-one orchestras, hundreds of singers in solo, group and chorus singing and many instrumentalists in addition to those appearing with the various orchestras.

The station management has inaugurated [a] series of programs from Chambers of Commerce, camps and schools in Western North Carolina as well as from Tennessee.

Special programs have been inaugurated by firms, institutions and our civic clubs. Just now we are presenting a series of industrial talks, in an effort to tell the outside world that not only are we AMERICA'S YEAR ROUND PLAYGROUND, but that we have a real industrial background.

When Station WWNC was first licensed we were given a wave length of 254.9 meters, but in the course of a few months through the courtesy of the Federal Radio Commission, we were granted a much more favorable channel and are now operating with 1000 watts on 1010 K.C. or 296.9 meters with unlimited time on the air.

As we enter our second year of Radiophone broadcasting, we are counting on the continued co-operation of the many interests of Western North Carolina, and look forward to the second anniversary in 1929 with the hope that this station will bring even greater publicity and prestige to Wonderful Western North Carolina.

The highest broadcasting station in Eastern America. Altitude 2,496 feet."

1. A section of the Control Room ; A. W. Shropshire (left), Chief Technician J. M. Lorick, Asst.

2. J. Dale Stentz, Director and Chief Announcer.

3. WWNC , located on the top of the Flatiron Building

4. A corner of the main studio