HomeMy WebLinkAboutPostage Due Transcript, WTAW First 100 YearsProject HOLD
WTAW Interview
Tom Turbiville | WTAW Radio Host
Daniel Hayes | Transcriber
Transcript
00:00:00 Dick Bolin (DB)
College Station, Texas, April 24th, 1947. Dick Bolin talking. Here's the latest news from the
Associated Press. Now, the big-
00:00:07 Speaker 2
WTAW joined with businesses from across the Brazos Valley.
00:00:11 Speaker 3
Aggies win 74-72! Here's your ride!
00:00:16 Speaker 4
16.20 WTAW.
00:00:19 Tom Turbiville (TT)
This is WTAW, the first 100 years. I'm Tom Turbiville. And then there was the time that too
little postage led to WTAW being cited by the FCC. Here's the story. The station was cited for
failing to comply with rules concerning personal attacks. As reported in the Bryan Eagle. Then
Bryan Mayor, Jack Zubik, and city commissioners, Joe Falk and Mary Ann Parker, filed the
complaint against the station because of a July 30th, 1970, broadcast about the commission and
the budget. The mayor and city commissioners alleged that the broadcast compared the
commission to the notorious convicted swindler Billy Saul Estes. FCC rules say that a copy of
the broadcast must be given to the complainant within a week of the broadcast. Well, the station
did mail a copy of the broadcast and an invitation to reply on air by certified mail and mailed it
in plenty of time. But one problem, it was mailed with postage due. The city commission had
instructed its staff to refuse delivery on any postage due mail, and it was returned to sender. But
by that time, the week was up. WTAW told the Eagle that the violation was a technicality and
should not threaten its license, which was soon up for renewal. And it didn't. The license was
renewed. And by the way, the FCC rules have changed since then, but it was still a less
glamorous story of WTAW the first 100 years.