95.5 WSB was “born” on March 15, 1922.
The first radio station to broadcast in the south, WSB went on air that day in 1922 at a power of 100 watts.
The station was originally owned by The Atlanta Journal and broadcast from a makeshift studio on the fifth floor of The Journal building, off Forsyth Street in downtown Atlanta.
WSB—whose call letters are said to stand for “Welcome South, Brother”—moved from the Atlanta Journal building to the Biltmore Hotel in 1925, where it stayed for the next 30 years.
The first known recording of the station, featuring pioneering General Manager Lambdin Kay, also dates from 1925. WSB used a distinctive three-note “chime” (think of the tune “Over There” in reverse) as on-air identification. After being heard by a network executive on a WSB broadcast, this exact same sequence reportedly turned up several years later on the NBC network and is still in use today as the famous ‘NBC chimes’.
>>WSB Photos Through The Decades
Both The Journal and WSB were purchased by Governor James M. Cox of Ohio in 1939. WSB remained a property of Cox Broadcasting Corporation until 2019.
From late 1955 to 1998, WSB’s offices and studios were located at ‘White Columns’ on Peachtree Street. In June 1998, WSB moved into new facilities at the intersection of Beverly Road and Peachtree Street.
The station famously took four columns from ‘White Columns’ and placed them in the rear garden of the new buildings.
Hailed as the “Voice of the South,” 95.5 WSB is considered an innovative pioneer in radio. For example, WSB was the first radio station to carry ‘Voice of America’ programs in Spanish during the Cuban Missile Crisis. We have always strived to remain cutting edge and more importantly, relevant.
One hundred years later, WSB’s presence is still felt throughout Atlanta and across the U.S.
Read more about 95.5 WSB’s history here.
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