Q: When did WSB Radio AM750 switch from music/news and information format to talk? I remember listening to Elmo Ellis and others hosting the "Morning Merry-Go-Round," where local news was reported. Popular music was the mainstay, and NBC Radio was the network affiliation. The only political/partisan programming at that time was Paul Harvey’s commentary.
—David Matheny, Rome
A: Current assistant program director Condace Pressley also has fond memories listening to the "Morning Merry-Go-Round" in the 1970s, when the station had a format with a beat. She emailed me a brief recent history of Atlanta's iconic station, providing a carousel of names and dates. Long before Clark Howard and Neal Boortz, WSB listeners tuned in to hear music and popular DJ "Skinny" Bobby Harper, who Pressley said was the inspiration for the character of Dr. Johnny Fever on TV show "WKRP in Cincinnati" in the '70s. Harper had an afternoon show, but he and co-host Kathy Fischman, moved to the morning drive time in the mid-80s to replace Dick Hemby, who had succeeded Jim Howell and John Moore on the "Morning Merry-Go-Round." The station continued to play music in the a.m., but gradually decreased from six songs an hour to four to two to none from 1986-91, and officially converted to a news, talk and information format in January 1991, when the first Gulf War began. WSB Radio and WSB-TV were NBC affiliates until Jan. 1, 1981, when both stations changed to ABC. Paul Harvey was aired until either 1987 or '88, which also was when WSB dropped ABC for CNN Radio. When it folded, WSB went with the CBS Radio Network. And as Harvey used to say, "And now you know the rest of the story."
Q: Why is Dodge County referred to as the “Candy Capital of Georgia?”
A: Anyone who has ever driven through Georgia has seen the signs promoting Stuckey's and its famous Pecan Log Rolls. The company got its start in Eastman, where pecan farmer Williamson S. Stuckey Sr. was faced with a sweet problem in the 1930s. He had too many pecans, thanks to great harvests, so he opened a roadside stand and named it, appropriately enough, Stuckey's. His wife Ethel began turning some of the surplus pecans into candy, and as the business got rolling, her kitchen was replaced by a candy plant in Eastman in 1948. Stuckey's exploded into a chain of more than 350 stores and restaurants at its peak, and left a legacy in Eastman.
What do you want to know about Georgia?
If you’re new in town or have questions about this special place we call home, ask us! E-mail Andy Johnston at q&a@ajc.com.
About the Author
