On the radio
All day today, Feb. 9, WHIO Radio will commemorate its 75th anniversary with old news clips, jingles and some surprises from the past, along with the usual staples of news, weather and traffic.
From 1935 to the present and beyond ... Dayton’s weather, traffic and news station, AM 1290 and 95.7FM, News Talk Radio WHIO.
DAYTON — In a time when so many of our old favorites are closing, downsizing or moving out of town, it’s good to have an old friend we can count on.
WHIO Radio has been with us for 75 years and it is still thriving.
On this date, Feb. 9, 1935, WHIO Radio signed on for the first time at 4 p.m. with a prayer. Later, a dinner attended by the likes of Orville Wright recognized the day’s importance.
Former Gov. James M. Cox, founder of WHIO Radio, gave a brief address called “The Soul of Radio.” The station would add to his media holdings, including the Dayton Daily News.
“May I express this christening sentiment — that the voice of this Miami Valley empire will always be an instrument of dignity, culture and practical service,” he started.
In closing, he said, “In brief, may WHIO in its long watches of the night and in its endless days be conscious of its duty to God and humanity.”
Humble, yet ambitious beginnings
WHIO began broadcasting on 1,000 watts, but in 1936 it jumped to its current power of 5,000 watts.
Further updates came in 1941 when a new tower system was installed on Hempstead Road (now East David Road). The tower — updated many times since — is still there.
The studios were appropriately next to the Dayton Daily News building, the governor’s newspaper.
“To me, WHIO is more than a radio company. It’s a symbol of Cox’s first step toward diversification,” said Alex Taylor, group vice president Cox Media Group, and the great-grandson of Cox. “Prior to that it was all newspapers. So it represents a willingness to change and take risks, and it sure paid off. I’ll bet Gov. Cox never imagined how successful a bet it would become — that it would be transmitted on AM and FM, and now iPods and over the Internet.”
Before that risk was realized, there were the firsts. WHIO was the first to invite listeners to the court system by employing microphones in Judge Null M. Hodapp’s traffic court. A Montgomery County basketball tournament was broadcast live as were remote broadcasts of big bands performing at Indian Lake.
WHIO added many signature voices to the radio landscape, with the arguably the biggest being Lou Emm. For six decades, from 1941 to 1992, he interviewed visiting celebrities, read news and informed and aided listeners during events such as the Xenia tornado.
He was so popular that at the height of Jackie Gleason’s “The Honeymooners,” Gleason recorded a promotional recording touting Emm.
“Unlike other cities where you had AM and FM radio, Dayton had AM, FM and Lou Emm,” said Jason Michaels, a WHIO mid-day anchor and WHIO’s honorary 75th anniversary historian.
When Emm died just few years into his retirement, all Dayton radio stations observed a moment of silence.
Phil Donahue, who went on to become a broadcasting icon, started his career at WHIO with “Conversation Piece” in the 1960s. He left the station for a competitor and then went on to have a long-running, syndicated talk show.
High points in broadcasting
The station is the home for news, traffic and weather updates and the voice of University of Dayton football and basketball. With a range like that, there are bound to be a few good stories over the years. And there are.
In 1963, shortly after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Donahue arranged to have the mother of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald on his show.
“In what was then a technological breakthrough, callers to the program were able to ask her questions,” said Larry Hansgen, a morning host on WHIO.
In 1979, newsman Bill Roysters reported on the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran from his desk in Dayton. First, he called the embassy and an Iranian student speaking Farsi hung up on him.
Roysters realized French was the most-popular second language in Iran then, so he re-dialed and interviewed the hostage takers in French.
“The State Department learns about it, brings in a UD student from Iran to translate and the line of communication was kept open for several hours,” Hansgen remembered.
On the lighter side, Lou Emm and Jim Manley were scheduled to interview Linda McCartney in 1991 about a cookbook she wrote. When it came time for her to call in, Manley answered the phone and was greeted by Paul McCartney.
He asked how things were going in Dayton, was told about a school bus accident and asked about the welfare of the kids.
Then there was 1984 when the UD basketball team upset No. 3 DePaul on Ed Young’s buzzer shot. The game was nationally televised and commentator Don Criqui erroneously reported the shot only tied, instead of winning the game. When UD went on to the NCAA tournament, broadcasters used Hansgen’s correct call of the shot instead of Criqui’s.
Today’s WHIO Radio
Donna Hall grew up in Preble County, listening to Emm tell her if her school had a snow day. When she grew up and was offered jobs in radio the decision was easy.
“There was no question where I would go,” she said. “This is a destination.”
Hall had been the radio station general manager for 12 years and now is senior vice president of Marketing and Client Solutions in Cox Media Group.
The station is consistently in the top five stations in Dayton and reaches about 161,000 listeners weekly. It has a strong foundation in local news along with popular syndicated offerings from Rush Limbaugh, Neil Boortz, Glenn Beck and others.
Hall is also proud of something else. During the windstorm in 2008, WHIO was on the air offering information to those without power, listening by battery-operated radios. The station backed up the ideals in Gov. Cox’s 1935 address about a station and its “long watches of the night.”
“Radio was still there as a beacon,” she said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2216 or kmargolis@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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