A History of Radio Broadcasting in Georgia
Exploring Georgia Radio

1940s: The War Years

Man at typewriter in WSB control room
Station control rooms held an array of electronic devices, all of which performed a specific function.

With the onset of American involvement in World War II, federal broadcasting policies restricted what radio stations could and could not broadcast. Equipment shortages limited the availability of some necessary items, especially transmitters and vacuum tubes. Station engineers were forced to make do with what they had and come up with creative solutions to their problems. As the war ended in 1945, Georgia saw a boom in the creation of new radio stations. Just two years later, the city of Rome had four stations, leading to the nickname “Radio City of the South.”

The postwar years were also a time of experimentation in radio. In 1947 WEAS (Decatur) became one of the first radio stations in the country to play “race music,” blues and jazz songs by African-American artists and performers, and WERD became the first Atlanta station to target an African-American audience in 1948. FM radio, which WSB first experimented with in 1944, became increasingly popular during the 1940s as Georgia got its first commercial FM station and first official public broadcasting station.

Bob Van Camp playing organ in WSB studios
Bob Van Camp (seated) began his 27-year career at WSB in the 1940s as host of the Morning Merry-Go-Round.
Breakfast with Bill WRBL (Columbus)
WRBL (Columbus) was the first commercial FM station in Georgia, broadcasting shows like “Breakfast with Bill” using frequency modulation.
Boy using School of the Air radio receiver
Before beginning WABE, the Atlanta Public Schools partnered with WSB to broadcast spelling matches, lectures, and storytelling to students as the “School of the Air.”
WERD Program Guide
Stations like WERD (Atlanta) and WEAS (Decatur) focused on African-American listening audiences, playing songs known as “race music.”