Memories
A Good Neighbor Is Born
As the New Year of 1947 approached, rural Rutherford County had a dramatically different feel than that of today. Approximately 8,000 persons populated the entire county. Getting its first radio station was a big thing! Word is that on the night of December 31, 1946, throughout the county people were tuning their radio dials. At 10:00 o’clock the static suddenly vanished and a strong new signal appeared. WGNS rang in the New Year of 1947, and was the area’s first radio station. In the 40’s verses in a popular song included the music goes round and round and comes out here. (left photo) Glenn Snoddy was one of WGNS’ first engineers. Here Glenn tweaks the controls that are in racks of equipment along the walls and makes everything come out clearly here! In the early days of radio there were no miniature transistors or solid-state circuits. Large tubes that generated much heat caused all of the equipment to be large and complex. With the innovation of transistors and miniaturization, equipment in today’s radio studios is much smaller, more dependable and reproduces sound with perfect life-like fidelity. WGNS continues to broadcast on AM 1450, but in 1995 expanded to include the Good Neighbor programs on TV channel 11. WETV’s antenna is on top of the WGNS’ tower in the Murfree Spring Wetlands. This Class A television station broadcast the same sounds you hear on the radio, but you can see the host talking with various community leaders. In March, 2007 WGNS put its hometown focused broadcasts on FM 100.5 and FM 101.9. When you add to that this internet site, there are five places to connect with Murfreesboro through your Good Neighbor Station.
Just like today, local sports was extremely popular on WGNS. This 1947 basketball broadcast is from the gym at Central High School. (L-R photo) WGNS’ first play-by-play announcer was Ray Duffey. His thick Boston accent made him really stand out. Ray became so popular that he became the first Director of the Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation Department. Beside him is Hollis Harris and Harris’ mother. That same year, Mr. Harris started the free Movies Under The Stars as the first function of this city’s parks department. Hollis was the first employee of the parks department. Iit was several years before Ray Duffey left WGNS to become the first director of Murfreesboro’s Parks and Recreation Department. Over the years, WGNS has devoted much of its airtime to sports. We were the only source of Blue Raider sports for many years. Now, since MTSU has grown to have this state’s largest undergraduate enrollment, MTSU games are heard on a network of stations in other mid-state cities. WGNS continues to be the Heart of Tennessee’s Blue Raider affiliate. Since 1947 WGNS has included live play-by-play of the local high school games. Through the efforts of Sports Director Jeff Jordan that has expanded dramatically to include some elementary and middle school sports. And of course, since 1981 WGNS continues to be your Atlanta Braves station.
The Smyrna Air Base was once a major source of employment in Rutherford County. It was created by a War Department order issued on December 22, 1941. That was just a few months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This 3,325 acre air base was mainly used by B-24 bombers. It became the home of the U.S. Air Force’s 314th Troop Carrier Wing. In 1949 the 463rd Troop Carrier Wing took over, and then in 1966 the 64th Troop Carrier Wing/Tactical Airlift Wing called the base home. On March 25, 1950, the Smyrna Air Base was renamed to honor fallen native Nashvillian Allan J. Sewart, Jr. On that date the massive air base became known as Sewart Air Force Base. To entertain the troops, some of the most popular musicians did shows there. WGNS broadcast these programs “live” over the Liberty Radio Network. Although that network is not around today, it was the largest network of radio stations in the nation at that time. Here Johnny Long’s big band plays their big hit A Shanty In Old Shanty Town.
John Hood (upper left corner of photo) served as the emcee of these nationwide broadcasts that were originated by WGNS. Sewart Air Force Base was a vibrant part of this community for almost 3-decades. It was a sad day on May 31, 1971 when Sewart Air Force Base became a memory. The complex was transferred to the Army Corps of Engineers. It later was run by the Nashville Metro Airport Authority, and then a newly formed Smyrna-Rutherford County Airport Authority took control. An industrial park was developed where the former air base once stood, and firms that needed air transportation moved to Smyrna. This massive airport remains the third largest in Tennessee. Only Nashville and Memphis International Airports are larger, and that by a very small margin. The huge airport helped to attract the Nissan Motor Manufacturing plant to Rutherford County in 1982. The rest is history…Rutherford County is now the fastest growing county in Tennessee and one of the fastest growing in the nation.
The Really Early Days
WGNS came on the air at 10:00 o’clock Tuesday night, December 31, 1946. Initially, offices, studio and transmitter were in a small two-story block building that was near the station’s giant self-supporting 328-foot tower. Once on-the-air, engineers focused on constructing the main studio on the Historic Murfreesboro square. Since Cecil Elrod was the station’s first owner, the studio was located in the mezzanine of that family’s business. Elrod’s French Shoppe, an elegant lady’s apparel store on the east side of the square, soon became the radio station’s home. In this 1947 photo, Bob Holland is at the control board. He was a student at David Lipscomb in Nashville. We don’t know the name of his guest. If you recognize him, let us know. The Elrod’s owned WGNS until 1960. At that time Bill Vogel and Monte Hale became the Good Neighbors. In 1971 a group of investors from Nashville operated AM 1450. In 1984 Bart Walker brought local ownership and operation back to WGNS. It has been a family-run broadcast business since that time. In fact, they have owned and operated WGNS almost as long as the combined ownership of the Elrod’s coupled with Vogel and Hale.
What Goes Around
Ironically, the man who gave Bart his first job in radio got his start at WGNS. This picture shows Bill Barry when the studios were on the square. The year was 1947, and the Good Neighbor Station was playing Woody Herman, Harry James, and Tommy Dorsey, along with soap operas, and remote broadcasts from businesses around the square. In fact, at that time the majority of businesses in Murfreesboro were located on the square. There are stories of how people would come to town on Saturdays and meet friends, shop and stroll until midnight. Many of the merchants remained open until then to service the customers. During this period of time, the Good Neighbor Station had some well-known persons get a start here. Community leader and retired State Representative John Hood, Carl P. Mayfield who has a nationwide following on satellite radio, Mr. Boots, Boots, Boots Jerry Brown, well-known local musician Carl Tipton,nationally known announcer John Young who still loves WGNS so much that you hear him on various program introductions, sportscaster Monte Hale who has a local street and the basketball arena at MTSU named in his honor, along with an endless list of many other leaders who went on to become well-known lawyers, school superintendents, and other positions. Walker recalls, “When I first took over management of WGNS, people would stop me and say they used to work here. It almost became comical. It seemed like everyone used to work at WGNS.”
In 1957 Bill Barry (above left photo) bought the first
of many Nashville radio stations that he would own. In the summer of 1958, a kid about to enter high school came by for any kind of job. Bart started playing easy listening music and Broadway shows every Saturday night on WFMB (Bart age 14 at WFMB). That was the only FM station on the air in Nashville at that time. It was on the fifth floor of the old Third National Bank Building. The Nashville Public Library had a Sunday classical music program on this station. There were very few FM radios, and the library would check-out small table model FM radios just like they did books. Those were interesting times. Back to the thought of everyone must have worked at WGNS. The radio station must have been like a magnet, because even Bart worked here in 1965 while he was a student at Middle Tennessee State University. Bill Vogel and the legendary Monte Hale ran the station at that time. In those days WGNS was the rock’n roll station that Murfreesboro’s baby boomers grew-up listening to. Those were the days of the Fun Land below Jackson Heights Shopping Center, Frost Top Root Beer, the rock’n roll’n canopies at Shoney’s where everyone would cruise, Starlite and Marbro Drive-In Theatres, James K. Polk Hotel, Goldstein’s Department Store, Don’s Kitchen Korner, Ole Taylor’s Candy Kitchen, Roscoe’s Hot Dogs and so much more. Share your favorite memories of Murfreesboro. E-mail them to memories@WGNSradio.com, and if you have old photographs–please send them too.
WGNS…a part of our community’s life for many generations
(L-R) WGNS’ first owner Cecil Elrod, Jr. talks with the station’s first General Manager Bill Pepper. This is in the studio that was located on the Murfreesboro square. The Good Neighbor Station was on the mezzanine of Elrod’s French Shoppe.
WGNS has a history of doing “live” broadcasts from local businesses and from special events in this community. In those days the equipment used to broadcast away from the studio was large and very heavy. In the 1960’s WGNS carried this equipment in a VW van, and you know how popular those vehicles were then. The Good Neighbor Station took listeners everywhere (and still does). Jerry Brown (holding microphone) did mornings on WGNS for almost 40-years. Watching is local radio sales legend and motivational Dale Carnegie instructor Neil Lancaster.
The Tennessee Plowboy Eddy Arnold (above) does a live radio show on WGNS (circa 1955) from a Murfreesboro record shop.
WGNS is “live” all around the Heart of Tennessee. This 1965 photo shows (L-R) WGNS announcers Phil Stanley and Jerry Pee Wee Brown. They are broadcasting from the Historic Rutherford County Courthouse on the Murfreesboro square.
For a radio station to truly serve a community, it must be a mirror of the life and opinions of that area. This photo shows WGNS announcer John Hood (center) broadcasting from the Murfreesboro square. The Man On The Street program is still very popular today. John is getting opinions from Slick Davidson (left) and John Nelson.
In the sixties Carl Tipton and the Mid-State Playboys did a “live” radio show from a different local business every day over WGNS. This 1963 photo (below) shows his WGNS radio show taking place at a Murfreesboro Mobil Oil gas station.
In the 1950’s most WGNS listeners remember Paul Howell. During that time he had a very popular country music show each afternoon on the Good Neighbor Station. In fact, Paul was named the Grand Ole Opry’s D.J. of the Month. Howell was also very technically savvy. He served as one of the engineers at WGNS during this time frame.
And here’s another WGNS broadcast from a remote location. This one is on the corner of College and Maple Streets. It was during a Greater Murfreesboro Business Days, a promotion encouraging people to shop with local merchants. (L-R) A very young pistol pack’n cowgirl Karen Elrod, popular WGNS personality and musician Carl Tipton, DJ and guitar picker Jerry Brown, Eugene Leonard on fiddle, and a very young Floyd Leonard on bass fiddle, cowgirl Susan Elrod and radio sales legend Neil Lancaster. 
More ‘Boro Memories
The Princess Theatre on College at Maple Streets (where the Pinnacle Bank is now located) was our avenue to adventure. We would ride our bikes to the Princess and park them in the racks out front. Mr. Blue would greet us and also make certain that we all behaved. Can you believe…Cokes were a dime and a Sugar Daddy that lasted the entire show was only a nickel. There was a fire at the Princess Theatre in the early 1950’s. This was how it looked after it was repaired.
Prior to the fire, the front of the Princess Theatre was decorated with colorful orange, green and white tiles. This 1944 photo was made during World War II when there was a shortage of rubber, gasoline, aluminum foil and other items. The car parked in front of the theatre is promoting saving fuel. You guess the gas mileage of the vehicle and win a free ticket to the Princess Theatre.
Heavy Traffic Is Nothing New In Murfreesboro
This is the corner of College and Maple Streets during a 1930’s afternoon. You can see the Princess Theatre on the left side of the photo. That is a gas station on the corner. See the two Murfreesboro Police motorcycles checking the traffic.
Long before ROVER, Murfreesboro had public buses
Did you realize the Murfreesboro had city bus service from 1945 to 1953. Nelson Smotherman came across this bus schedule and picture. There were four buses, however in this photo one was out making a run. These three were parked at the transfer station on East Main at Church Street (next to A. L. Smith Drugstore, see sign on wall). The Murfreesboro Coach Lines was owned by E. L. Baskin. Its drivers were F. R. Goodwin, Jesse Harrell and Ramon Harrell
The route changing point was the A. L. Smith Drugstore
on the corner of E. Main Street and the Eastside of the
Historic Murfreesboro square. Oh yes, it was the Smith
family who owned and operated these early city buses.
In addition to the A. L. Smith Drugstore sign, you can also see where Andrews Cafe was, A.N. Miller Insurance; we can’t make out what was on the next sign. It had the Coca Cola logo and above that it looks like W. C. something? Do you know? Look to the top of the utility pole on right side of photo…that’s the top of the James K. Polk Hotel you see in the background. E-mail comments to MEMORIES@wgnsradio.com
The 1913 tornado devastated many areas of Murfreesboro. This photograph shows the East side of the town square. Even back then business diversity must have been important. Notice the combination furniture store and undertaker.
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