When Radio Was King
- Old Brooksville
- Jan 12
- 10 min read
Updated: Apr 3
Try to imagine a life without radio, TV, internet or your smart phone. That's the way it was before the 1920s. How exciting it must have been to hear a program from far away, a big band or a star-studded show from a big hotel in a big city, or just a man or woman's voice like they are in the same room with you, right here in Brooksville on the radio. These were the exciting early years of radio. We hope we captured that early excitement and how it changed us forever.
Thanks to the following for their contributions
John White
WWJB Radio
George Allen Jr.
John Richbourg - WLAC
A Most Dramatic Change in our Lives
By Robert Martinez
Before the 1920s in Brooksville and throughout the world, most folks never listened to music unless they were prosperous enough to own a Victrola or console. Music sounded like it was coming from a small horn unless they had talent and played a piano or guitar. The only news they received was through a newspaper, usually yesterday's news, or through the grapevine from acquaintances or at the local post office or market. People could go through their entire lives without ever hearing a sporting event, news report, music and so many other things we now take for granted. Life as a rule was all hard work and no play.
The invention of radio began in 1891 by Guillermo Marconi, but there were others who claimed that title including Lee DeForest and Reginald Fessenden. By 1906, sound was being transmitted from Massachusetts to as far away as Ireland. In 1910 an opera was broadcast in New York, and in 1919 boxing and baseball events were aired. However, these were special one-time programs and more of a test than anything else. The first commercial radio station began in 1920 at KDKA in Pittsburg when they broadcast the results of the Harding-Cox presidential race. The floodgates would soon open. Radio was the new rage in the early 1920s and were sold in Brooksville by Roger's Department Store and J.L. Law Appliances.
The first radio station in Florida, WDAE, began in May 1922 in Tampa. Many others would follow. By 1926, 60% of American homes had a radio, and there was no looking back. Now folks could hear an orchestra or ball game from New York or variety shows from Hollywood, weather reports and, of course, their favorite weekly programs. It was an exciting time that brought Americans together as we shared the laughter of comedy shows, music from big cities, the thrill of sporting events and the shock from news bulletins.
Audio Courtesy of Nikola Tesla Wireless Radio - https://www.youtube.com/@nikolateslawirelessradio
Brooksville Residents of the Past Recall the Early Days of Radio
Frasier Mountain (born 1923) - "My uncle, Albert Mountain, lived on Brooksville Avenue and had one of the first radios in Brooksville. I remember it was a large cabinet and he would make me take a long wire antenna and extend it down the hall to the other end of the house to pick up the Grand Ole Opry at night back around 1929. We also listened to Amos 'n Andy, Lum and Abner and stations like WLW Cincinnati, WSM Nashville and WWL New Orleans."
Margaret "Weenie" Rogers (born 1916) - "My dad owned Rogers Department Store on Main Street and I remember that 1927 prize fight with Jack Dempsey versus Gene Tunney. There must have been a hundred men gathered in front of the store to listen to that broadcast. They would do that for World Series games too or Amos 'n Andy."
Eddie McIntyre (born 1920) "We had a radio in our home on Mondon Hill Road and Dad would put it on the window and folks would come from all around the neighborhood who didn't have radios to listen to that Dempsey-Tunney fight of 1927 or a ball game. It really drew a crowd."
Alfred McKethan (born 1908) - "My Dad had one of the first radios in town. We listed to variety and comedy shows, and remember hearing the famous bandleader Paul Whiteman along with Amos 'n Andy, baseball games and boxing matches."
Roving news reported on a Tampa street heading to a big story for radio station WDAE (1926)
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Brooksville area's first radio stations
WDAE - Tampa - May 1922
WFLA - Tampa - 1924
WDBO - Orlando - May 1924
WRUF - Gainesville - 1928
WSUN - St. Petersburg - 1927
WJAX - Jacksonville - 1925
WQAM - Miami - 1922
Stations received at night in Brooksville
WWL - New Orleans - 1922
WSB - Atlanta - 1923
WBT - Charlotte - 1922
WSM - Nashville - 1925
KMOX - St. Louis - 1925
WLS - Chicago - 1924
WLAC - Nashville - 1926
KDKA - Pittsburgh - 1920
WNBC - New York
Before 1966 and the move by today's Atlanta Braves from Milwaukee, most baseball fans from the south, including this area, were largely St. Louis Cardinal fans. Fans in Brooksville would pick up the games from the 30s through the 70s on KMOX. David Whitehead recalled "My brother Don and I would take our car down to the railroad tracks on Jefferson Street during the 50s to listen to Cardinal games with Harry Carey because reception was better there. Stan Musial was the man."
The Grand Ole Opry was a staple on Saturday nights from WSM Nashville and John R. Blues records on WLAC Nashville.
During the early days of radio, many broadcasts were live music shows. This is WDAE in Tampa in 1924. It was Florida's first radio station beginning in 1922 and was one of the stations Brooksville listened to during radio's early days. By the late 1920s there were more national broadcasts. It was here that bluegrass legends Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs recorded twelve of their classics in 1950. The duo was later featured in the classic film Bonnie & Clyde and television's Beverly Hillbillies theme song.
Ad found in a Brooksville newspaper announcing the legendary September 22, 1927 "long count" heavyweight championship fight between Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey. This was the fight that drew crowds to radios all over the city. It was the first major sports event to bring folks together from very small towns or cities throughout America. Dempsey, the favorite, was champ from 1919 - 1926. Tunney was champ from 1926 - 1928.
Another 1927 ad in Brooksville featured J.D. Law in the Jennings Building selling radios. Atwater-Kent radios were of high quality and more expensive. By 1931, they had sold 3 millions radios, but by 1936 was shut down by the Depression. Philco would buy their building.
Inside Rogers Department Store on North Main Street (1929). A new radio awaits you.
Most Popular Radio Shows in Brooksville 1928 - 1950
Amos N Andy (1928- 1950)
The Jack Benny Show (1932 - 1945)
The Green Hornet (1936 - 1950) originated at WXYZ Detroit
Fibber McGee & Molly (1939 - 1950)
Bing Crosby Kraft Music Hour (1932 - 1946)
Ma Perkins (1933 - 1950)
Little Orphan Annie (1931 - 1942)
Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy (1936 - 1946)
The Shadow (1930 -1950)
Major Bowe's Amateur Hour (1935 - 1945)
George Burns & Gracie Allen (1934 - 1950)
Duffy's Tavern (1939 - 1950)
Tom Mix Ralston Purina Hour (1933 - 1950)
Bob Hope's Pepsodent Show (1938 - 1948)
The Lone Ranger (1933 - 1950) originated at WXYZ Detroit
Easy Aces (1930 - 1945)
Lum and Abner (1931 - 1950)
I Love a Mystery (1939 - 1949)
Stella Dallas (1937 - 1950)
The Fred Allen Show (under different names) (1934 - 1950)
Terry & The Pirates (1937 - 1948)
Gene Autry's Melody Ranch (1939 - 1950)
President Roosevelt gave Americans hope over fear during the turbulent years of the Great Depression and World War II. It was the first time a president was able to reach all Americans at one time.
"I heard it on the radio"
Brooksville's most Shocking News Bulletins (1927-1963)
May 21, 1927 - Lindburgh arrives in Paris
March 1, 1932 - Lindburgh baby is kidnapped
May 6, 1937 - The Hindenburg zeppelin explodes
December 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor
April 12, 1945 - President Roosevelt dies
May 7, 1945 - V-E Day - War ends in Europe
August 6, 1945 - Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
August 15, 1945 - Japanese surrender
November 31, 1948 - Truman defeats Dewey
September 30, 1955 - Movie star James Dean dies in accident
October 4, 1957 - Soviets launch Sputnik beginning space race
February 20, 1962 - John Glenn orbits Earth
August 4, 1962 - Marilyn Monroe dies
October 22, 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis
November 22, 1963 - President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas
November 24, 1963 - Assassin Lee Harvey Oswald killed
*****
Confessions of a Radio Nerd
by Robert Martinez
I admit it. I'm a Radio Nerd. I remember as far back as 1949, I was four years old and on Saturday morning running with my big sister to the big console radio we had and amazed that we were picking up Richmond, Virginia from New York City. We moved to Brooksville in 1957 but the radio bug had already bit me. As a kid in New York City, I listened to big powerful stations like WINS, WNEW, WMGM that all played rock and roll music. It didn't change when we moved here either. I was soon hanging out at the local radio station from 1958 to 1961 reading radio broadcasting magazines in their nice clean antiseptic lobby that smelled like Pine-Sol. Even thought Chuck Grant, the station manager, would throw me out, I kept coming back day after day until he finally gave up. I started doing errands like bringing them UPI reports from the back. I made friends with the DJs like Joe Gall, Woody Garcia and Bob Hermann, a six foot four DJ from Baltimore who drove down in a red VW Bug and stayed for a while at the motel my parents owned. I listened to stations during the day as far as Miami or Jacksonville, but at night the whole nation was at your fingertips and I listened in bed to ballgames on my transistor radio. My dad had a big Zenith shortwave that we used. In late 1959 I wrote a radio program for Mr. Hermann which he featured on the air with the top 30 hits for the year 1959.
I was fortunate to own all the hit 45 records and lend them for use on Mr. Hermann's show. He congratulated me for doing a good job and I was on cloud nine. I figured what a great way to make a living until I found out how much money altogetherthey made and how often they moved from station to station. Later on my old friend, Tedd Webb, who I met at WFSO in St. Petersburg, explained to me how iffy a job was in radio. He too had worked in eight stations before finally settling down at WFLA. I knew this job was too good to be true.
*****
Brooksville gets a Radio Station
The Rise and Fall of WKTS and the Birth of WWJB
Hard to believe, but Brooksville and Hernando County did not have a radio station until 1957. In 1956, Elmo Kitts was awarded a permit by the FCC to operate a station in Brooksville on 1450 AM. The station would go on the air on May 2, 1957 as WKTS. WKTS was located on Mondon Hill Road just north of US 41. Brooksville had listened to radio since the 1920s but relied on Tampa, Orlando and Gaineville stations for their news or music during the day. At night, radio stations were all over the dial from as far as Chicago and New York. But it was a cause célèbre in Brooksville when WKTS went on the air. The station was not very powerful at 250 watts but finally provided Brooksville and Hernando County residents with local news, weather, sports, and special events. Early programming contained a wide variety from teen pop to classical. As was the tendency in those days, there was a lot of live programming with local entertainers, glee clubs, school groups etc. Management consisted of Elmo Kitts, owner, Chuck Grant, general manager and sales manager, Larry Lane and Jerry Psenka, announcers. The excitement was short lived as WKTS was gutted by fire on March 3, 1958. A passing truck driver noticed the flames around 1:50 am and reported it to the night policeman, Jack Hart, who called the alarm. Local firemen were called in but the fire had gained too much headway and quickly exhausted the fire truck's supply of 350 gallons of water. The firemen could not connect to the city's supply because the fire was about 2,000 feet away from the nearest fire hydrant and not enough hose was available. It was believed it was an electrical short that was responsible for the fire. Only the walls were left as the entire interior was gutted, destroying all equipment and some 5,000 records. The loss was estimated at $50,000 to $60,000. A new station was soon proposed. On October 11, 1958, the new station, WWJB, and a new owner, William Johnson, went on the air. WWJB moved their location to Liberty Street and Brooksville Avenue. The station is still with us today, known as "The Boot" and also on 103.9 FM.
It was a sad day when Brooksville's first radio station WKTS burned down on March 2, 1958 on Mondon Hill Road. A new station, WWJB, would replace it on October 11th. Its offices moved to Liberty Street and Brooksville Avenue.
Newly discovered photo of the new WWJB radio as it opened in October 1958 at the corner of Liberty Street and Brooksville Avenue. The two gentlemen in the photo are very likely William Johnson, owner, and Chuck Grant, manager.
The Top 40 Explosion!
Radio stays alive after the threat of television!
By Robert Martinez
The threat of television to radio was expected. By the late 1940s radio was seeking ways to re-invent itself before the flood of televisions replaced radio as a form of home entertainment. By 1955, most old-time radio programs had converted to TV or just disappeared altogether. But a new phenomenon swept across America in the mid-1950s - Rock and Roll. By 1956 with Elvis, Fats Domino, Little Richard and Chuck Berry leading the pack, rock music had replaced the Eddie Fisher records heard on the radio. It was the beginning of the baby boomer influence. These were the kids born after the war who were now shaping musical tastes and culture in general with movies, clothing, etc., giving birth to Top 40 radio, a format that played the top 40 songs in the nation with a sprinkle of local favorites as well. The first stations in Florida to feature this new format were WQAM Miami, WALT and WDAE in Tampa, WPDQ, WIVY and WAPE in Jacksonville, WLOF and WHOO in Orlando and many others in the state. Locally, WKTS and then WWJB would also feature "teen time" in the afternoon for the new market. It was assumed back then that it would fail because it was the adults who bought insurance policies, homes and cars, but those older folks were out of touch with the youth buying market and the new format succeeded with flying colors. In 1960, WLCY Tampa-St. Pete would join the fray and become Brooksville's most popular station.
Another popular top 40 station heard in Brooksville was WLOF, Orlando. It is interesting to note that this was the same day Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Richie Valens perished in a plane crash. "The day the music died."
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