HomeMy WebLinkAboutWTAW's Original License Transcript, WTAW First 100 YearsProject HOLD
WTAW Interview
Ben Downs | WTAW & Bryan Broadcasting General Manager
Tom Turbiville | WTAW Radio Host
Laura Quezada | Transcriber
00:00:00 Dick Bolin (DB)
[Music] College Station, Texas, April 24th, 1947, Dick Bolin talking. Here's the latest news from
the Associated Press…
00:00:07 Associated Press (AP)
He got a touchdown! Oh, doctor!
00:00:10 Speaker 3
… News and Talk, WTAW.
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00:00:12 Tom Turbiville (TT)
This is WTAW, the First 100 Years, I'm Tom Turbiville. Our station's actual 100th birthday,
October the 7th. We know that because general manager Ben Downs has the original license.
00:00:25 Ben Downs (BD)
Everything in radio starts with a license. You have to be licensed by the federal government
before you can say word one. I looked and, uh, the people at the National Archives kept a copy
of our license. It was issued October 7th, 1922, and there was no FCC at the time; it was the
Commerce Department. So, I have the Commerce Department in the unclassified section, a
license to the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. I am, um, fascinated by what they
said they would be broadcasting. They said they would be broadcasting entertainment and like
matter, and that a second-class operator or hire would be required and would always be there at
the radio station. The very first license is... fascinating the kind of information they thought was
necessary. They said that, um, our antenna would be 200 meters to 12,000 meters; that's kind of
long. It would have 4 wires and would be made of phosphor bronze. I have no idea what
phosphor bronze is, but it sounds like it would be just the kind of thing that a 1922 radio station
should have for its antenna. It was signed by Dr. Bolton, as in Bolton Hall in College Station at
Texas A&M, and the license itself was signed by Theodore Dyler, a U.S. radio inspector in New
Orleans.
00:01:54 (TT)
And that is a true archive of WTAW, the First 100 Years.