Monday, March 10, 2025

The Life and Times of The Big 99

The station went on the air in 1921 as WNAV. It was Tennessee's first radio station and one of the first ten in the USA.

In 1925 the effort was on to change the call letters to KNOX. That plan morphed in to becoming WNOX...The Voice of the Smokies!

In 1927 power erupted via WNOX strengthening to 2500 watts, second in TN only to WSM Nashville...it was noted that with the boost, the station could be heard in Cuba! 

1930 saw the studios being moved to the Andrew Johnson Hotel, the seventeenth floor to be exact.

Scripps-Howard became the owner in 1935, and the station really took off with shows like the Midday Merry Go Round and the Saturday Night Barn Dance.

Many careers were launched at WNOX including Chet Atkins, Archie Campbell and Flatt & Scruggs.

Through the decades many voices boomed through the dial position...Lowell Blanchard, Ron Ashburn, Johnny Pirkle, Dave Young, and Phil Williams, just to name a few.

In 2010 I finally got to have my voice vibrate thru WNOX...at that time it was as NewsTalk 100.3 and featured the Ed and Bob Show in the morning. I visited them and like every other guest on their morning show, I brought hot donuts, ha. 

These days the call letters are housed at Classic Rock 93.1.

6-10 Ray Gee and Kobe
10-3 MJ
3-7 Ricky Aaron
7-12 Phil Thompson