HomeMy WebLinkAboutBill Hicks on Localism Transcription, WTAW First 100 YearsProject HOLD
WTAW Interview
Bill Hicks | WTAW Owner
Tom Turbiville | WTAW Radio Host
Laura Quezada | Transcriber
00:00:01 Dick Bolin (DB)
College Station, Texas, April 24th, 1947…
00:00:04 Speaker 2
Now let's go to the bonfire site where WTAW's Tom Turpin….
00:00:07 Speaker 3
WTAW election night coverage. All 8 voting centers in Brazos County have been counted…
[Unintelligible sports broadcaster with crowd of screaming fans]
00:00:14 Speaker 4
Today on WTAW, we're joining with businesses from across the Brazos Valley to support our…
00:00:20 Speaker 5
…1620 WTAW.
-------------------------------
00:00:22 Tom Turbiville (TT)
This is WTAW, the First 100 Years, I'm Tom Turbiville. Consistent since 1922 has been WTAW's
commitment to let listeners know what affects them in this area called the Brazos Valley. Here's
how WTAW owner Bill Hicks describes it.
00:00:40 Bill Hicks (BH)
The most important thing about radio, I think, is localism. The word “localism” means that we
are trying our best to be as connected to this community as humanly possible. We want to
provide information to the listeners about what's going on in this community, whether it's
weather, whether it's news, whether it's traffic issues, whether it's elections. Uh, no matter what
the topic is, if it's of local interest, we need to be there directly providing that information to
listeners, and we're not constrained by having to print a newspaper once a day. We're not
constrained by a news broadcast in the evening block of 6 to 10 p.m. We can do it anytime
during the day and do so. If there's something going on in the community and it's really
important, we're going to be on top of that. And that- that's why radio works is because you're
providing information to people that are desperate for that information sometimes. If you're just a
jukebox playing music, that isn't necessarily going to be very local, and y- you have to do more
than that; you have to provide information that's local in nature, and that is your connection to
the community, and you know, that's why it works.
00:01:52 (TT)
It has always been about, and will be about, local on WTAW, the First 100 Years.