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DAYTON AREA BROADCASTER’S HALL OF FAME

Pictures, Audio & Media Archives

WHIO AM FM & TV WHKO

This is the WHIO Radio control room (best as we can tell) from the late 1940's, perhaps early 1950's. The radio studios moved to the TV building after its completion. The control console seen in the forefront sits in what is today the radio engineering offices. The window to the right is (today) the K-99.1 FM (WHKO) studio, while the window to the left is the control room for WHIO AM/FM. (Courtesy: Cox Radio/Dayton.)

He was, without a doubt, Dayton's premier TV anchor for decades, but here, Don Wayne is seen at an early remote broadcast somewhere in downtown Dayton. (Courtesy: Cox Radio/Dayton)

A live broadcast of WHIO's mid-day talk program, "Conversation Piece". At far left, producer Toula Stamm. In the center, host Lou Emm. Beside him, "Fonzie"...actor Henry Winkler (Courtesy: Cox Radio/Dayton.)

Bob Crotinger was part of the original engineering staff that put WHIO-TV on the air. Some time back, he put memories of the early days of WHIO-TV to a taped radio program and sent it to the station. We are happy to present it to you here. (Courtesy: Bob Crotinger)

PART ONE - PART TWO

It was a sad day, indeed, when, days after celebrating his 25th anniversary with WHIO Radio, the station's first News Director, Winston Hoehner, passed away.

Here you see the man known as "Wins" hard at work in the days well before word processors and computers.

WHIO's Vice-President and General Manager remembered Winston Hoehner this way on the morning following his death.  (Compliments: Cox Radio/Dayton)

Another sad day in Dayton broadcasting history happened in 1982, when word came that popular WHIO-TV weathercaster Gil Whitney had passed away.
This is the way you heard the news reported by WONE-AM newscaster Teri Wesling. (Compliments: The Jim Barrett Collection)

You've seen her picture on other pages of this web site, now...just ahead of the first Dayton Broadcaster's Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in 2003, enjoy this visit with Hall Of Fame WHIO-TV personality Bette Rogge, and longtime WHIO "Conversation Piece" producer (and 2009 Hall Of Fame Inductee)Toula Stamm. The interview conducted by WHIO Radio News Director Jim Barrett.

PART ONE ---- PART TWO

(Compliments: Cox Radio Dayton)

1290 WHIO - "The Voice Of Dayton"

What the WING's, WONE's and later, WTUE's of the world were to young Dayton, WHIO was to their parents. WHIO was what was known as a "Full Service/Middle-Of-The-Road" station, contemporary (but not really rock and roll), along with some music for those with a taste for older tunes, news and information oriented with sports and a weather department as well, both for radio and with the use of weathercasters from WHIO Television.

WHIO continued in this format until the early 90's and the retirement of Lou Emm, the station's morning show host, who had been a fixture of WHIO Radio since the early 1940's. Today, the station offers a full-time News-Talk format.

Here, though are some audio memories of 1290/WHIO:

The Date: January 6, 1987: Bob Sweeney hosts his afternoon drive program. Here's a portion of what it sounded like.

The Date: January 6, 1987: Keith Wright hosts WHIO's "Music Magazine". Again, here's a portion of the hour.

As we mentioned, WHIO radio was (and still is today) well-known for its' news and information image. Since the 1960's, WHIO has employed a local news gathering organization. Even today.

Here, Barbara Compton gives the news on January 6, 1987.

On July 8, 1986, a railroad tanker derailed near suburban Miamisburg, leaking phosphorus gas over the Miami Valley. Residents were evacuated, and WHIO found itself covering a growing local emergency. Here's some of WHIO's coverage of that event. The voices are those of: Larry Hansgen (wrapping up his sports report), news anchor Charles Van Zant, reporter Jim Barrett, afternoon host Bob Sweeney and WHIO Air Scout traffic reporter Mark Bowron.

(Courtesy: Jim Barrett and Cox Radio/Dayton)

WHIO-FM "The Wonderful World Of Music"

For decades, WHIO-FM (99.1 MHz) was Dayton's place to relax. The story is told that when the station was first put on the air in the middle to late 1940's it was run virtually commercial-free. The reason? Governor James M. Cox (owner) didn't think many advertisers would line up to buy time, given the "infancy" of the new method of transmission known as FM.

It was a decision that would have made today's bottom-line oriented managers cringe. But, in a manner of thinking, the Governor was a programming genius! Daytonians soon discovered FM, and liked it! After all, WHIO-FM was almost commercial-free all the time! And, even when it did start to air advertising, the station maintained a strict code of commercial conduct. You'd hear no "screaming" car ads, no rapid-fire pitchmen on WHIO-FM.

So, how did a company sell a station as unique as WHIO-FM way back when? Compliments of Cox Radio/Dayton (and our thanks to Chief Engineer Benny Spitler), you may download this PDF file...a WHIO-FM sales kit dating back to around 1949! (and yes, note the page outlining the station's "commercial policy" )

WHKO-FM (K-99.1) Today's New Country And Your Familiar Favorites!

About the only thing you can count on in broadcasting is...  change.

By the late 1980's, the WHIO-FM "Wonderful World Of Music" was getting old. So, too...was its' audience. Though still a ratings dominator, the overall increasing age of the listeners had become a liability for selling the station to advertisers. Following an exhaustive research study, station managers decided to change the format...and let the station become Dayton's first full-signaled FM country music station. At 5 pm on March 17, 1989, the station bid farewell to "beautiful music" and put on it's cowboy hat.

Ever since, K-99.1 FM has dominated Dayton's airwaves and continues to be at or near the top of Dayton's radio ratings every time. Here's how the "new" station was presented to advertisers!

An Early Photo Of The WHIO-TV Studio

This photo, reportedly from 1955 shows the activity going on in the main WHIO-TV studio... which, today is still the main hub of the television operation.
Certainly, 1955 was a different day and this photo shows the several program "sets" needed to produce the local TV programming that was in far greater supply then, than local stations offer today.

Some WHIO Artifacts

Every radio station keeps what is known as a "program log". On it, you find the hour by hour schedule of programs, news and commercial matter aired by the station on that day and in that hour. These logs are normally signed by the "operators on duty" (the DJ's or the board operators.)

Not long ago, we found these single pages of the program logs of WHIO-AM and WHIO-FM from 1959. They are in PDF form.

WHIO-AM Log - WHIO-FM Log

Dayton Broadcasting Media Page