History
WNAX signed on the air in 1922. The call-letters represented "North American radio eXperiment." The station was purchased by Gurney's Seed and Nursery Company in 1926 and became known as "WNAX - Voice of the House of Gurney in Yankton." The station was used to promote Gurney products and services, making Gurney’s a household name.
The radio station launched the careers of many stars, both local and national. Starting in the late 1920s, Lawrence Welk spent a decade performing daily without pay on WNAX. In 1939, Wynn Hubler Speece started her radio program and became known regionally as "Your Neighbor Lady." Speece was still continuing to do her Marconi Award winning broadcast more than sixty years later when WNAX celebrated its eightieth anniversary in 2002. Other well-known regional radio personalities from WNAX have included Norm Hilson, Whitney Larson, "Happy" Jack O'Malley, Bob Hill, Ed Nelson, Steve (Mike) Wallick, George B. German and the hillbilly performers on the WNAX Missouri Valley Barn Dance show.
In October 2005 Speece announced her retirement after almost 66 years of continuous broadcasting. She died on October 22, 2007, at 90 years of age.
In 1983 a fire destroyed the main WNAX building. All of the station's historic live recordings as well as thousands of records were also destroyed. The staff of WNAX went to the station's transmitter site and continued broadcasting. Eventually, the station recovered when a new building was constructed on Highway 50 in Yankton.
In 1942 the station built a 283.2 meter tower at Yankton, which was the tallest radio broadcasting tower at the time.*
The current tower is 911 feet tall.
Although WNAX's glory days were before the time of television, the radio station continues to broadcast during the 21st century in spite of competition from both television and the internet.
Today WNAX continues many of the traditions started in 1922 with frequent news, sports, weather and farm market updates.
The station continues to be affiliated with CBS Radio, an association that began in the late 1920s.
WNAX is also the flagship for South Dakota State University sports. WNAX also carries Minnesota Twins baseball and Minnesota Vikings football.
Read more about this topic: WNAX (AM)
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