WTOX

Infobox Radio station
name = WTOX


city = Glen Allen, Virginia
area = Richmond
branding =
slogan = La Equis / The X
airdate =
frequency = 1480 kHz
format = hispanic
power = 6300 Watts
erp =
haat =
class = B
facility_id =
coordinates = coord|37|40|56|N|77|33|50|W
callsign_meaning =
former_callsigns = WLEE / WBBL
owner = Davidson Media
licensee =
sister_stations =
webcast =
website = http://www.radiorichmond.com/
affiliations =

WTOX (1480 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a hispanic format. Licensed to Glen Allen, Virginia, USA, it serves the Richmond area. The station is currently owned by Davidson Media Station Wtox Licensee, LLC.

From 1948 to 1989 this station was known as WLEE. The calls were inspired by Local civil war hero Robert E. Lee.

History

Story
date=September 2008During the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, this frequency was the original home to legendary Top 40 station WLEE-AM.

Early life as a neighborhood radio station

The station actually started in the 1940s as part time low power station owned by Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church , WBBL , which the church only used from 11:00am to 12:15 on Sunday Morning, and 8p to 9p on Sunday night.The station started at 1240, then 1320, 1450, and finally on 1480.

The WLEE Years - 1948 to 1989

In the late 1940s Thomas Tinsley was looking for a vacant AM frequency in Richmond but none were available, so deal was worked out with the church to allow Tinsely to use 1480 except for the two time periods on Sunday when WBBL would retain its use. But the advantage to the church would be that it would use the full powered 5000 watt transmitter Tinsely planned to use for his new station. ( This arrangement would last all the way to the sign off of WLEE in 1989. WLEE / WBBL were one of the few "shared" frequencies in the United States )

WLEE signed on in 1948 by then owner Thomas Tinsley and led by former WRVA personalities Irving G. Abeloff & Harvey Hudson, who also became the station's morning man and pretty much was in charge of the station during the 40s, 50s, 60s, and early 70s . In 1958, at the advice of a local record shop owner, Hudson switched WLEE to the increasingly popular "Top 40" format, which was gaining favor in the industry. The format at that time was to play the most popular songs of the day, at that time mostly rock & roll records, every 30 minutes. The station became the Top station in Richmond, battling it out with Legendary WRVA.

WLEE-FM

In the late 1950s , WLEE had an FM , WLEE-FM, at 106.5 , which simulcasted the AM format. The frequency was later donated to The Union Theological Seminary so they could sign on non-commercial WRFK-FM, which stayed on the air until 1988 ( see WBTJ ). It was said that the decision to unload the FM ( which had been assigned to WLEE-AM by the FCC, a common practice at the time ) was made by Hudson, who was quoted at the time as saying, " FM will never make it ! "

WLEE'S 1960s Golden Age Of Top 40

The mid & late 1960s were considered the best years for WLEE and other AM Top 40 stations around the country . After going through a "dry period" in the early sixties, Top 40 radio got many new listeners after 1964 as a result of such fresh sound as the British Invasion , led by The Beatles & The Rolling Stones, and new product from pioneering soul music labels like Motown , Stax , and Atlantic, as well as the hits from the progressive west coast sound of such bands as Jefferson Airplane & Jimi Hendrix, and because FM had not become a viable listener option until the mid 70s.

Some of the more popular DJs on WLEE during their 1960s period were not only Hudson, who was the only morning man WLEE had in the 1960s, as well as the driving force behind WLEE in the sixties and the early seventies, but also Bob Scott, George Prescott, Bill Adams, Jess Duboy, Donnie Brook , Chuck Deel, Mike Miller, Don Keller, Jeff Lee, Bill Sanders, Lee Arbuckle, The Flying Dutchman, Randy Scott, Dick Reus, Ron Brandon, The late Lud Sterling, Don Wright, Joe Nuckols, and Shane. ( In the late 1960s, WLEE also had a nighttime newsman named Norman Freedlander, who later became a major Richmond radio personality in the 1980s as Program Director and Morning and Afternoon drive host at WRVQ as " Bob 'Bob-A-Lou' Louis " )

WBBL's Jeff Kellam era

The still-required Sunday 8p to 9p broadcast of shared station religious station WBBL eventually was adjusted to fit in with WLEE's Top 40 format , and in 1967 , "Showcase" with minister-to-be Jeff Kellam was born. At first Kellam was just playing the same Top 40 records WLEE played interspersing religious commentary , but Kellam was later able to break out of the Top 40 framework and eventually changed the show's name to "Celebration Rock" and include more rock album cuts , and in 1970, generated some local controversy when he played the soundtrack of a new little known British musical called "Jesus Christ Superstar". During the seventies, " Celebration Rock " became a popular program, and Kellam was later able to expand it into a syndicated radio show, although the show came to an end in the late 80s when Kellam accepted a job as church minister in New England. Bob Somers, who worked at WLEE's direct competitor WRVQ in the 1970s, was a member of the church that owned WBBL, and was an occasional " behind the scenes " contributor to the operations of WBBL.

Local News Coverage

The station also was known for its full time news department , with a fleet of cars called "The WLEE Mobile News Liners" . Some of WLEE's newscasters included Tom Roland, Mickey Kahn, George Clark, Rich Landrum, John Alexander, James Banzer, Henry Schmidt, Mike Cavanaugh, Nikki Granberry, Randy Davis, Pat Scales, and Dennis Crowley. Interestingly, Rich Landrum later joined the announcing and news staff of sister station, WXEX-TV. In 1978, he became the voice of the nationally syndicated professional wrestling TV show, World Wide Wrestling.

tunts & Promotions

WLEE was also famous for its annual Easter Egg Hunts at Bryan Park through the 1960s and early 1970s. The long running "Anniversary Club" , The nightly "Phone A Vote" survey, The nightly 9:00 o'clock "Sound Wave" Request & Dedication Show, the "Tuesday Night Bath Club", their " Freakish Five " DJ Basketball Team , and their annual "Richmond Revisited" Halloween show, which dealt with several local haunted houses in the Richmond area. The station also produced 2 oldies compilation LPs , one in 1968 and another in 1971. In a 1970 on air stunt, the station played the song "Rubber Duckie" by Jim Henson ( a popular 45 at the time ) non stop for 30 minutes.in 1976, in what was later revealed to be a publicity stunt that backfired, Morning Man "Gentleman" Jim King and the station got some unwanted publicity and protests from the local Polish community when King told a Polish joke on the air...in Polish. Also, in the mid seventies , night jock Terry Young did a whole radio show in the nude.

1967 - 1982: The Nationwide Years

In 1967, WLEE (and its sister TV station WXEX TV Channel 8 ) were sold to Nationwide Communications.

1969: Shane

In 1969, WLEE hired Max Gibson , known on the air as Shane, to do nights. Shane's presentation was somewhat different from the normal uptempo Top 40 delivery of the other station jocks. Shane's delivery was more in the direction of the laid back, introspective "progressive" FM jocks that were popular in other radio markets at the time,. Although Shane played the same Top 40 music that the rest of his fellow announcer's played, he would occasionally sneak in LP cuts late at night from time to time. Shane eventually became one of WLEE's most popular & best remembered DJs. He left the station in 1973 to go to WKBW in Buffalo NY. ( In 1995 Shane returned briefly as Morning Jock on a second version of WLEE-FM, at 96.5 )

1971:Enter Jack Alix

In 1971, a new sales promotion manager was hired at WLEE from Washington named Jack Alix. Alix had been a very popular air personality in Washington in the 1960s ( where he co-hosted the first American concert by The Beatles in 1964 ) , and in the late 70s created the locally popular "Rock & Roll Roots" Program, as well as signing on two oldies stations, WGOE-AM as "Go 16 " in 1980, and WBBT-FM as " Oldies 1073 "in 2004.. In addition to his sales / promotions responsibilities, Alix appeared regularly on the WLEE doing weekends & fill in. Alix stayed with WLEE until 1975 , when he was hired as General Sales Manager at competitor WRVQ.

1972: AM vs FM

In June 1972, Crosstown WRVA-FM became WRVQ-FM with an FM Top 40 format and 200,000 watts of Power. WRVQ's sign on caused WLEE's rating to drop, but the station persevered and remained popular through 1978. Popular personalities during the seventies included "Gentleman" Jim King, Bob Canada, Terry Jordan, Shane, Bill James, JJ Justin, Sunny Shores, Guy Spiller, Alan O'Brian, Dick Reus, BLT ( aka Bob Travis ) , Chris Donovan, Dan Cameron, Mark Reynolds, Garry Leigh, Barbara Barri ( WLEE's first female DJ ), Bruce Kelly, Jack Fitzgerald, Mike O'Brian, Jim Dunovan, Tom Kennedy and Terry "Motormouth" Young.

End Of The Harvey Hudson Era

Around 1971, Longtime Morning Host Harvey Hudson relinquished his on-air responsibilities to handle his new job as Vice President of both WLEE & sister TV station WXEX. Longtime WLEE personality Randy Scott, who some have said was Hudson's "hand picked successor" assumed the morning drive position. In 1974, new management at WLEE tried to put Scott in middays, but Scott refused and resigned. A few weeks later , "Gentleman" Jim King took over mornings for WLEE and stayed until late 1979. ( BLT, who'd been let go from the station to make way for Scott, was rehired just days after being fired )

Despite the fierce competition between the two stations in the seventies, only two on-air personalities went directly from WLEE to WRVQ, the first was Jack Alix in 1975 ( to become General Sales Manager ), and the second was Bruce Kelly in 1978 ( become their night jock )

1976, a direction change

In 1976 , WLEE experienced a big drop in ratings. This caused the station to become an "Adult Top 40" The station still played most of the Top 40, but moderated the DJ delivery. Terry Young, whose rapid fire delivery was aimed straight at a teenaged audience, was let go in 1976. He is now at XM Radio's "60s at 6" channel.

1979, End of the "AM Top 40" Era

In 1979 , with FM competition increasing, WLEE's ratings sank, and the station changed to a Soft Adult Contemporary Format as "Richmond Radio". Personalities on the air in WLEE's last days as contemporary music station were Jack Fitzgerald, Mike O'Brian, Tom Kennedy, Frank Drew, Lynn Burns, Brian Pecht, Denny McLaine, Steve Hendrix, and Scott Regan. The Soft Rock format failed, and in late 1980 the station switched to a Big band format. The format change also resulted in the closure of its long time news department. After that, WLEE's news was delivered from sources outside the station.

( During WRVQ's 15th anniversary broadcast in 1987, WLEE was mentioned " in respect " owing to the fact they had been the ORIGINAL Top 40 station in Richmond years before WRVQ's sign on )

The 80s, New Decade, New Owner

In 1982 Nationwide sold WLEE to Ed Giller for 800 thousand dollars ( It had been said that Natiowide had been trying to sell the station since 1978 for 3 million, figuring in the value of the valuable real estate the station was sitting on , but no one would pay that high a price for a low rated money losing AM station. In late 1981 , the losses became too much for Nationwide , and they decided to sell the station at a loss ) . That same year WLEE gained some new listeners when both local "Beautiful Music" stations , WTVR-FM & WEZS-FM, switched formats, to Country & Adult Contemporary respectively. Hudson returned as Morning Man for a few years in the eighties. Some of the other on air personalities on WLEE during the eighties were Tony Booth ( who was also station manager ) Floyd Henderson, Jim Quinn, Bill Adams, Susan James, and Carter Garrett.

inking Fortunes

The added audience did not help WLEE financially. To get some added cash, in the mid eighties the station sold its "interference rights" to a daytime station in Quantico Va, also at 1480, who wanted to go 24 hours, and later , most of WLEE's West End property was sold for 3 million dollars ( the offices & studios were moved to a West End office building ), and a Marriott hotel was constructed there. To make room for the hotel , two of the station's original towers had to be taken down, and after that WLEE was operating with only a 1000 watt signal at night.

The Final Years

In 1987 WTVR-FM decided to return to its Beautiful Music format and their sister station WTVR-AM decided to take on the Big band format in early 1989. By late 1989 the new competition had overcome WLEE. Giller attempted to sell the station , but the perspective buyer ( rumoured to be crosstown WMXB-FM owner Ragan Henry ) passed on purchasing the station , and the WLEE was forced to sign off at 1480 in mid 1989,and the license for the 1480 frequency was turned in to the FCC.

Enter 1320

The week 1480 / WLEE signed off, arrangements were made to transfer the assets, call letters, format & airstaff of the station to a new owner , who signed WLEE back few weeks later on the 1320 daytime frequency , which had gone dark several months earlier. The Big band format at WLEE/1320 was not successful and the station switched to a News/Talk format just months later.

Afterlife of The WLEE Call Letters

In 1995, through an LMA ( Local Management Arrangement ) the WLEE call letters appeared at 96.5, formerly Oldies WDCK, in a " All 70s " format, ( the format was later adjusted to a classic rock format and the calls changed to WKLR ) while 1320/WLEE continued with its news / talk format. ( The WLEE calls now rest at 990 kz , owned by Davidson Media , doing a news/talk format )

2004 , Rebirth and a New Radio Station

WLEE's original 1480 frequency remained dark until 2004 , when new owners Richmond Radio were able to construct a new transmitter site in Glen Allen, Virginia, and signed on as NewsTalk WTOX.

In 2005 the stations in the Richmond Radio Group were sold to Davidson Media, who flipped the format on WTOX to Spanish as "La Equis / The X " in 2006

External links

* [http://www.radiorichmond.com/ official website]
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