The Good Neighbor arrived in Murfreesboro around 10:00 o'clock Tuesday night, December 31, 1946. When the midnight hour arrived, not only did 1947 roll-in--but the county's first radio station signed-on. WGNS' studios were originally at the tower site, overlooking a wetland area off South Church 

Murfreesboro was much smaller than. Although the tower is still in the same location, four blocks from the town square brought farmland and cows grazing around the tower. 

(Above photo) Murfreesboro resident Glenn Snoddy was one of the first engineers at WGNS, before heading to Nashville where he started a major recording studio that engineered some of the classic country hits. 

 The studio was small, but excitement was huges as musicians lined-up in the driveway awaiting their time to go on-the-air. Cecil Elrod put the station on, and within that first-year the studio was moved to the mezannine of the family's French Shop on the Murfreesboro square. That's where the Guidance Center is now located. It remained there until 1960, when Bill Vogel and Monte Hale purchased the station. A new two-story building on South Church Street was constructed to be the station's new home. A group of Nashville investors purchased WGNS in the 70s, and local ownership returned in 1984. Bart Walker commented, "That was a dream come true for me, and you never know how long a dream can last. 

John Hood (center) does a "man on the street" type interview in the 1950's with Tom and Sterling Farmer. Hood enjoyed radio broadcasting for several years, later was a banking and university executive, along with being a state representative. 

The Elrod's owned WGNS for 13-years, Vogel and Hale were here for 15, the Nashville group tallied 9-years and with the New Year, Walker has 28-years with the Good Neighbor Station. If you haven't figured it out, that's what the G N S in the call sign means.

Although the original tower was destroyed by a twister on Easter Sunday, 2001, a new stronger, state-of-the-art tower was rebuilt in the same location. The new tower is the same height of the original:  328-feet. 

Local broadcast legend Jerry Brown (center, holding microphone) does a broadcast from the WGNS' remote van in the 1960's while marketing master Neil Lancaster (right) talk with two veterans.