WGRM (AM)
Encyclopedia
WGRM is an American radio station
licensed
to serve Greenwood, Mississippi
, USA. Established in 1938 by P.K. Ewing, the station was owned by the Ewing family for 60 years. WGRM is currently owned by Christian Broadcasting of Greenwood, Inc.
WGRM broadcasts a Gospel music
format
to the northwestern central region of Mississippi. In the 1940s, the station aired live gospel performances by the Famous St. John's Quartet of Inverness, Mississippi
, whose young guitarist would later find fame as B.B. King.
. The station, broadcasting at 1240 kilohertz with 250 watt
s of power, was assigned the call sign
"WGRM" by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC). In 1939, the station relocated to the second floor of a building at 222 Howard Street in Greenwood, Mississippi
, where it would remain for a decade. The station launched under the ownership of P.K. Ewing, Sr., with Fayette C. Ewing as general manager.
By 1943, with the Ewing family in control, Herb Abramson was named the station's program director
. The station derived much of its programming from the Blue Network
but also aired local music programs daily plus blocks of local religious programming on Sundays. By 1945, Lorene Wood was named program director and the station added programming from the Keystone Broadcasting System. The next year, with the sale of the Blue Network, WGRM switched affiliations to remain with NBC
and Shelton Morgan became the program director. By the end of the 1940s, Grace Harris took over the program director role.
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In the early twentieth century, the voices of African Americans were rarely heard on the radio in the Southern United States. A notable exception to this rule was live broadcasts of gospel music
. In the 1940s, WGRM aired live performances by gospel groups on Sunday afternoons, including the Famous St. John's Quartet of Inverness, Mississippi. Some sources place the first appearance of the quartet on WGRM in 1940 and some in 1943, but all agree that the group featured young Riley King on guitar in his broadcast debut. After several years, Riley King moved to Memphis where he took on the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy" which was in turn shortened to B.B. King. In the early 1950s, pianist Bobby Hines, bluesman Matt Cockrell, and L.C. "Lonnie the Cat" Cation all recorded songs in these studios. The Mississippi Blues Commission has placed a historical marker
at the (now former) WGRM studios and they were the third stop added to the Mississippi Blues Trail
, highlighting locations critical in the development of blues music.
to new studios at 600 Walnut Street. The station's programming remained steady through the early 1950s with Lew Sadler becoming program director by 1955. Later that year, however, station founder P.K. Ewing, Sr., died and his wife, Myrtle M. Ewing (listed initially as simply "Mrs. P.K. Ewing"), took both ownership and operational control of the station as executrix of his estate. By 1958, Myrtle Ewing had direct ownership of WGRM and named Ed Smith program director. By 1961, Myrtle Ewing had joined her late husband and control of WGRM passed to Fayette Ewing as the executor of her estate. In 1963, the station upgraded its daytime signal to 1,000 watts while maintaining a nighttime power of 250 watts.
Fayette Ewing retained his position as the station's general manager throughout the 1960s and into the late 1970s. By 1966 Clay Ewing was named WGRM's commercial manager. Thomas E. Ewing took on a variety of roles with the station in the late 1960s including promotions manager, program director, news director, and chief engineer at various times.
were transferred from personal ownership by Fayette Ewing to a new company named Twelve-Forty, Inc., still wholly owned by him. By 1976, the station's format was reported as a mix of oldies music, country & western, and middle of the road with specialty blocks of farm news and classical music
. At the same time, Clay Ewing began to assume some of the general manager duties for the station. In 1979, the music shifted back to just middle of the road, retaining the classic and farm specialty programs, and Thomas E. Ewing took on new responsibilities as president of the corporation.
After the death of Fayette Ewing, control of license holder Twelve-Forty, Inc., was passed involuntarily to his estate with his widow, Frances Groover Ewing, as executor. In May 1979, the FCC formally approved the transfer of control from the estate to Frances G. Ewing directly.
in 1980 and dropped the classical music programs. The shift was short-lived as by 1982 the station's format was back to middle of the road. A more significant change took place in 1987 as the station went to "unlimited" 24-hour 1,000 watt
broadcasting, maintaining the daytime power but quadrupling the station's power output at night. The station also made the move to a modern adult contemporary music format.
In 1988, Clay Ewing took sole custody of the general manager title in addition to his general sales manager role. The station also increased its farm programming to 12 hours per week. In November 1988, Frances G. Ewing applied to the FCC to voluntarily transfer control of Twelve-Forty, Inc., to Clay Ewing. The FCC accepted this application on December 1, 1988, approved the transfer on January 13, 1989, and the transaction was formally consummated on February 20, 1989.
In May 1989, as station ownership was working to put new sister station
WGRM-FM
on the air, WGRM applied to the FCC for a construction permit
to simultaneously raise the height of its broadcast antenna
and lower the wattage output of the transmitter. These changes would allow the station to share a single, taller broadcast tower with the new FM station and maintain its restricted broadcast coverage area. The FCC granted the permit on September 5, 1989, with an 18-month deadline expiring on March 5, 1991. In October 1990, the station notified the FCC that construction on the new tower was complete and the FCC granted WGRM a license to cover
the changes on December 11, 1990.
WGRM-FM
to Willis Broadcasting Corporation, based in Norfolk, Virginia. Willis Broadcasting Corporation was wholly owned by Levi E. Willis, Sr. The FCC approved the deal on February 22, 1999, and the transaction was formally consummated on March 31, 1999.
When Willis Broadcasting Corporation acquired WGRM and WGRM-FM, it owned only one other radio station: WIZK
in Bay Springs, Mississippi
. Although it would later sell WIZK, by mid-2005 the company held the broadcast licenses for eight radio stations across Louisiana and Mississippi. In July 2005, owner Levi Willis applied to the FCC to transfer the licenses for WGRM and WGRM-FM to a new company called Christian Broadcasting of Greenwood, Inc. These would be the only two stations held by this new company. The FCC swiftly approved the transfer on July 29, 2005, and the transaction was formally consummated on January 1, 2006.
Christian Broadcasting of Greenwood's sole shareholder, Levi E. Willis, Sr., died on February 20, 2009, at the age of 79. In March 2009, his estate notified the FCC of the involuntary transfer of control of the license holder. The FCC approved the transfer of control to the Estate of Levi E. Willis, Sr., with Joseph L. Lindsey as executor, on May 13, 2009.
while her husband Clay Ewing owned the stations in the 1980s and 1990s. Rose Ewing died of heart failure in May 2006 at the age of 66. Clay Ewing died six months later on November 23, 2006, at the age of 67. In addition to his role with the radio stations, Clay Ewing served one term as mayor of Greenwood from 1973 to 1977.
In December 2007, WGRM was announced as one of five nominees in the "Radio Station of the Year, Small Markets" category for the 2008 Stellar Gospel Music Awards. The awards ceremony was held January 12, 2008, at the Acuff Theater in Nashville, Tennessee
.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed
City of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....
to serve Greenwood, Mississippi
Greenwood, Mississippi
Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta approximately 96 miles north of Jackson, Mississippi, and 130 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. The population was 15,205 at the 2010 census. It is the...
, USA. Established in 1938 by P.K. Ewing, the station was owned by the Ewing family for 60 years. WGRM is currently owned by Christian Broadcasting of Greenwood, Inc.
WGRM broadcasts a Gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
format
Radio format
A radio format or programming format not to be confused with broadcast programming describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. Radio formats are frequently employed as a marketing tool, and constantly evolve...
to the northwestern central region of Mississippi. In the 1940s, the station aired live gospel performances by the Famous St. John's Quartet of Inverness, Mississippi
Inverness, Mississippi
Inverness is a town in Sunflower County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,153 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Inverness is located at ....
, whose young guitarist would later find fame as B.B. King.
Early days
This station first signed on the air in 1938 with studios in Grenada, MississippiGrenada, Mississippi
Grenada is a city in Grenada County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,879 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Grenada County.-History:...
. The station, broadcasting at 1240 kilohertz with 250 watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
s of power, was assigned the call sign
Call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...
"WGRM" by the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC). In 1939, the station relocated to the second floor of a building at 222 Howard Street in Greenwood, Mississippi
Greenwood, Mississippi
Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta approximately 96 miles north of Jackson, Mississippi, and 130 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. The population was 15,205 at the 2010 census. It is the...
, where it would remain for a decade. The station launched under the ownership of P.K. Ewing, Sr., with Fayette C. Ewing as general manager.
By 1943, with the Ewing family in control, Herb Abramson was named the station's program director
Program director
In service industries, such as education, a program director or programme director researches, plans, develops and implements one or more of the firm's professional services...
. The station derived much of its programming from the Blue Network
Blue Network
The Blue Network, and its immediate predecessor, the NBC Blue Network, were the on-air names of an American radio production and distribution service from 1927 to 1945...
but also aired local music programs daily plus blocks of local religious programming on Sundays. By 1945, Lorene Wood was named program director and the station added programming from the Keystone Broadcasting System. The next year, with the sale of the Blue Network, WGRM switched affiliations to remain with NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and Shelton Morgan became the program director. By the end of the 1940s, Grace Harris took over the program director role.
Blues history
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
. In the 1940s, WGRM aired live performances by gospel groups on Sunday afternoons, including the Famous St. John's Quartet of Inverness, Mississippi. Some sources place the first appearance of the quartet on WGRM in 1940 and some in 1943, but all agree that the group featured young Riley King on guitar in his broadcast debut. After several years, Riley King moved to Memphis where he took on the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy" which was in turn shortened to B.B. King. In the early 1950s, pianist Bobby Hines, bluesman Matt Cockrell, and L.C. "Lonnie the Cat" Cation all recorded songs in these studios. The Mississippi Blues Commission has placed a historical marker
Historical marker
A historical marker or historic marker is an indicator such as a plaque or sign to commemorate an event or person of historic interest and to associate that point of interest with a specific locale one can visit.-Description:...
at the (now former) WGRM studios and they were the third stop added to the Mississippi Blues Trail
Mississippi Blues Trail
The Mississippi Blues Trail, created by the Mississippi Blues Commission, is a project to place interpretive markers at the most notable historical sites related to the growth of the blues throughout the state of Mississippi. The trail extends from the border of Louisiana in southern Mississippi...
, highlighting locations critical in the development of blues music.
New studios
In 1950, the station relocated north of the Tallahatchie RiverTallahatchie River
The Tallahatchie River flows from Tippah County, Mississippi to Leflore County, Mississippi, where it joins the Yalobusha River to form the Yazoo River.-History:Tallahatchie is a Choctaw name meaning "rock of waters"....
to new studios at 600 Walnut Street. The station's programming remained steady through the early 1950s with Lew Sadler becoming program director by 1955. Later that year, however, station founder P.K. Ewing, Sr., died and his wife, Myrtle M. Ewing (listed initially as simply "Mrs. P.K. Ewing"), took both ownership and operational control of the station as executrix of his estate. By 1958, Myrtle Ewing had direct ownership of WGRM and named Ed Smith program director. By 1961, Myrtle Ewing had joined her late husband and control of WGRM passed to Fayette Ewing as the executor of her estate. In 1963, the station upgraded its daytime signal to 1,000 watts while maintaining a nighttime power of 250 watts.
Fayette Ewing retained his position as the station's general manager throughout the 1960s and into the late 1970s. By 1966 Clay Ewing was named WGRM's commercial manager. Thomas E. Ewing took on a variety of roles with the station in the late 1960s including promotions manager, program director, news director, and chief engineer at various times.
1970s
In 1971, the station described its musical format as middle of the road" with some programming provided by the NBC Radio network. Clay Ewing was drawn away from the station for a few years when he was elected mayor of Greenwood, Mississippi, in 1973. He would serve in that role until 1977. In 1974, the ownership of the station and broadcast licenseBroadcast license
A broadcast license or broadcast license is a specific type of spectrum license that grants the licensee the privilege to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses are generally straddled with additional restrictions that...
were transferred from personal ownership by Fayette Ewing to a new company named Twelve-Forty, Inc., still wholly owned by him. By 1976, the station's format was reported as a mix of oldies music, country & western, and middle of the road with specialty blocks of farm news and classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
. At the same time, Clay Ewing began to assume some of the general manager duties for the station. In 1979, the music shifted back to just middle of the road, retaining the classic and farm specialty programs, and Thomas E. Ewing took on new responsibilities as president of the corporation.
After the death of Fayette Ewing, control of license holder Twelve-Forty, Inc., was passed involuntarily to his estate with his widow, Frances Groover Ewing, as executor. In May 1979, the FCC formally approved the transfer of control from the estate to Frances G. Ewing directly.
New generation
WGRM programming took a subtle shift to contemporary beautiful musicBeautiful music
Beautiful music is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in American radio from the 1960s through the 1980s...
in 1980 and dropped the classical music programs. The shift was short-lived as by 1982 the station's format was back to middle of the road. A more significant change took place in 1987 as the station went to "unlimited" 24-hour 1,000 watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
broadcasting, maintaining the daytime power but quadrupling the station's power output at night. The station also made the move to a modern adult contemporary music format.
In 1988, Clay Ewing took sole custody of the general manager title in addition to his general sales manager role. The station also increased its farm programming to 12 hours per week. In November 1988, Frances G. Ewing applied to the FCC to voluntarily transfer control of Twelve-Forty, Inc., to Clay Ewing. The FCC accepted this application on December 1, 1988, approved the transfer on January 13, 1989, and the transaction was formally consummated on February 20, 1989.
In May 1989, as station ownership was working to put new sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
WGRM-FM
WGRM-FM
WGRM-FM is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Greenwood, Mississippi, USA. The station, established in 1989 by Clay Ewing, is owned and operated by Christian Broadcasters of Greenwood, Inc...
on the air, WGRM applied to the FCC for a construction permit
Construction permit
A construction permit or building permit is a permit required in most jurisdictions for new construction, or adding on to pre-existing structures, and in some cases for major renovations. Generally, the new construction must be inspected during construction and after completion to ensure compliance...
to simultaneously raise the height of its broadcast antenna
Antenna (radio)
An antenna is an electrical device which converts electric currents into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver...
and lower the wattage output of the transmitter. These changes would allow the station to share a single, taller broadcast tower with the new FM station and maintain its restricted broadcast coverage area. The FCC granted the permit on September 5, 1989, with an 18-month deadline expiring on March 5, 1991. In October 1990, the station notified the FCC that construction on the new tower was complete and the FCC granted WGRM a license to cover
Broadcast license
A broadcast license or broadcast license is a specific type of spectrum license that grants the licensee the privilege to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses are generally straddled with additional restrictions that...
the changes on December 11, 1990.
Willis era
In December 1998, after six decades of Ewing-family ownership, Clay Ewing and Twelve-Forty, Inc., reached an agreement to sell WGRM and sister stationSister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
WGRM-FM
WGRM-FM
WGRM-FM is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Greenwood, Mississippi, USA. The station, established in 1989 by Clay Ewing, is owned and operated by Christian Broadcasters of Greenwood, Inc...
to Willis Broadcasting Corporation, based in Norfolk, Virginia. Willis Broadcasting Corporation was wholly owned by Levi E. Willis, Sr. The FCC approved the deal on February 22, 1999, and the transaction was formally consummated on March 31, 1999.
When Willis Broadcasting Corporation acquired WGRM and WGRM-FM, it owned only one other radio station: WIZK
WIZK
WIZK is a radio station licensed to serve Bay Springs, Mississippi. The station is owned by M. Jerome Huey. It airs a country music format. The station was assigned the WIZK call letters by the Federal Communications Commission in 1987....
in Bay Springs, Mississippi
Bay Springs, Mississippi
Bay Springs is a city in Jasper County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 2,097 at the 2000 census. It is located at the intersection of state highways 15 and 18. The area was settled in the 1880s by Joe Blankenship, who built the saw mill that became the town's industrial base...
. Although it would later sell WIZK, by mid-2005 the company held the broadcast licenses for eight radio stations across Louisiana and Mississippi. In July 2005, owner Levi Willis applied to the FCC to transfer the licenses for WGRM and WGRM-FM to a new company called Christian Broadcasting of Greenwood, Inc. These would be the only two stations held by this new company. The FCC swiftly approved the transfer on July 29, 2005, and the transaction was formally consummated on January 1, 2006.
Christian Broadcasting of Greenwood's sole shareholder, Levi E. Willis, Sr., died on February 20, 2009, at the age of 79. In March 2009, his estate notified the FCC of the involuntary transfer of control of the license holder. The FCC approved the transfer of control to the Estate of Levi E. Willis, Sr., with Joseph L. Lindsey as executor, on May 13, 2009.
Former personalities
Past on-air personalities on WGRM include Rose Mathews Ewing, known as the "Weather Lady", who read weather forecasts on WGRM and WGRM-FMWGRM-FM
WGRM-FM is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Greenwood, Mississippi, USA. The station, established in 1989 by Clay Ewing, is owned and operated by Christian Broadcasters of Greenwood, Inc...
while her husband Clay Ewing owned the stations in the 1980s and 1990s. Rose Ewing died of heart failure in May 2006 at the age of 66. Clay Ewing died six months later on November 23, 2006, at the age of 67. In addition to his role with the radio stations, Clay Ewing served one term as mayor of Greenwood from 1973 to 1977.
Awards and honors
In 2005, WGRM air personality Gwendolyn Riley was one of six nominees in the "Mississippi Gospel Radio Announcer of The Year" category at the 27th Annual Cingular Wireless Mississippi Gospel Music Awards. Riley began her WGRM career in 1991.In December 2007, WGRM was announced as one of five nominees in the "Radio Station of the Year, Small Markets" category for the 2008 Stellar Gospel Music Awards. The awards ceremony was held January 12, 2008, at the Acuff Theater in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
.