History
WADE radio station, located in Wadesboro, North Carolina, was constructed by Risden Allen Lyon with the help of his father, Robert Phillip Lyon. It began broadcasting in 1947 as a 1,000 watt daytime radio station, operating at 1210 on the dial. The station had a 308 foot tower. At that time, with far fewer radio stations in the United States, the station's signal carried quite far. In the summer it was not unusual for station DJ's to advise listeners at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 125 miles away, that it was time to "turn so you don't burn."
During construction of the station Lyon was determined to obtain the call letters WADE. He found that they were in use by a commercial ship. He successfully negotiated with the ship's owner for release of the call letters. Ruth Allen Lyon, Risden's mother, came up with a station slogan that was a play on the call letters, "We Advertise Dependable Enterprise."
WADE added an FM operation in the 1950s. Lyon gave up the FM license after several years due to the fact that the equipment, especially the power tubes, was quite expensive and there were few FM receivers (thus listeners) at that point in time. Lyon later expressed mild regret for that decision.
In 1956 Lyon added sister station WKDX (1250 AM) in Hamlet, North Carolina, and in 1964 he added WRPL (1540 AM) in Charlotte, North Carolina.
WADE was sold to Long Pine Broadcasting in 1985, with the Lyon family owner financing the transaction. In 1992 Long Pine (Clark Ratliffe) defaulted on the loan with the Lyon family. Essex Communications, a Virginia company, paid off the loan, took ownership of the station, and sold the station to the current owner, Inspirational Deliverance Center.
In the late 1980s WADE received authorization to change their frequency to 1340 AM, allowing for nighttime broadcasting.
Read more about this topic: WADE (AM)
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