WNEX

Infobox Radio station
name = WNEX


city = Macon, Georgia
area = Macon
branding =
slogan =
airdate =
frequency = 1400 kHz
format = Children's Radio
power = 1,000 watts unlimited
erp =
haat =
class = C
facility_id = 54034
coordinates = coord|32|51|7.00|N|83|39|11.00|W|region:GB_type:city
callsign_meaning =
former_callsigns =
owner = Register Communications
licensee = Radio Peach, Inc.
sister_stations =
webcast =
website = [http://radio.disney.go.com/index.html official website]
affiliations = Radio Disney

WNEX is a radio station in Macon, Georgia, owned by Register Communications. WNEX operates on an assigned frequency of 1400 kHz. It is the area's local affiliate for Radio Disney.

History

The radio station signed on the air April 20, 1945, as an affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System. In addition to Mutual programming, the station's format included country music, local personalities and newscasts. Charles "Peanut" Faircloth was one of the first announcers. Faircloth hosted "Farm Frolics", a show for the early morning risers. He would also entertain listeners on "Hillbilly Hit Parade" airing daily at 12:15pm. On Saturday nights, he could be heard on a show called "Heaps of Corn". Another early announcer was Marion Bragg, who said in a 1980 interview that he was on air when the station signed on in 1945. The story goes that shortly before the station was to sign on, the FCC asked owner Al Lowe Sr. if he had call letters in mind, he looked down at a partially-covered box of Kleenex on his desk and said, yes, "WNEX."

In 1953, WNEX and Douglas, Georgia radio station WOKA combined to invest in one of the south's first UHF TV stations, WETV channel 47. They hoped that, by signing with the NBC network, central Georgians would buy the set-top adaptors required to watch the station. The two locally-owned stations planned to use profits from the operation of their AM radio outlets to keep the TV station going until it could turn a profit.

WETV operated out of a new building on Macon's Pio Nono Avenue and placed advertising in Atlanta's "TV Digest," the precursor to TV Guide, and in the trade industry magazine Broadcasting in hopes of attracting national advertising. In a matter of weeks, the expense of running the station (particularly the power bill; UHF transmitters were very inefficient) caused the owners to rethink their investment in the blossoming television industry.

WETV soon changed call letters to WOKA, then briefly to WNEX. In turning the station off, WNEX asked that Macon's channel 47 not be deleted from the FCC database while the owner tried to find a way to return to the air. The station never did. The combination of few potential viewers, the expense of running the station, and crushing competition from crosstown CBS affiliate WMAZ TV 13 (whose signal could be received on all TV sets) made UHF impractical for decades.

Several years after WETV left the air, the WETV call letters were reassigned to Atlanta's first educational TV station operating on Channel 30. NBC didn't get a middle Georgia affiliate until 1968 when channel 41 WCWB TV signed on the air.

In the 1960s, when WNEX became affiliated with ABC, it began airing Don McNeill's popular "Breakfast Club," "Paul Harvey News," and "Howard Cosell's "Speaking of Sports." The station switched to Top 40 music and like many stations in small and medium markets, almost immediately became a favorite with area teen agers. Disc jockeys such as Tom Healy, Tommy Goodwin, Larry O'Neal, Ted Clark, Paul Peyton (Paul Beliveau) and Johnny Hayes were well known personalities. In the 70s, WNEX was extremely popular especially among teenagers and young adults even though it had only 1000 watts of daytime power and 250 at night. Aubrey Hammock,Terry Taylor, Lamar Studstill, Meridith Buddy Wheeler, Dennis Hayes, Sid Ingram, Jim Pryor,Bill Elder, Ben Sandifer, Dave "King Kong" Kelly,Greg Rice and others kept a successful format going. Aubrey Hammock and Lamar Studstill(Jerry Walker) did the play by play high school football games for WNEX, as well as basketball games for Macon area. In the 70s. Hammock also worked for Macon's WBML AM, WDEN FM,Perry's WPGA AM/FM, Forsyth's WFNE FM as well as hosting his own television show on Macon's WCOX TV Cable for 8 years and also did a monthly mental health program on WSFT AM in Thomaston, Ga for 6 years. Later, Dennis Hayes (no relation to Johnny Hayes) would do play by play. Hayes was on the air when Macon's Southwest High School won a national championship in boy's basketball. Pryor, Sandifer and Elder went on to work for another local radio station, WMAZ-AM/FM. In the early 80's, hampered by FM competition, a weak 1000 watt daytime signal and an even weaker 250 watts at night, WNEX gave up on music, began broadcasting sports around the clock. That format lasted but a short time before the station changed hands and aired a "travelers' radio", format. For a time, WNEX went dark. The studio, off Rogers Place in Macon burned to the ground but the transmitter survived the fire. Purchased by Register Communications, the station went back on the air, first with all sports programming and later "Radio Disney".

External links

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