WWCA
Encyclopedia
WWCA is a radio station
in Gary, Indiana
. It is part of the Relevant Radio
Christian
network.
Radio affiliate in Gary, experienced its peak in popularity during the 1960s and 1970s primarily because of its community commitment and the popularity of its on-air personalities. Residents of Gary
, Merrillville, Crown Point
, Hobart
and other northwestern Indiana
cities and towns depended on WWCA for local news and sports coverage. Area residents tuned to WWCA for live on-the-scene coverage of breaking news events as well as weekly live coverage of high school sports. Broadcasts of basketball tournaments involved most of the on-air personalities broadcasting from multiple locations throughout northwestern Indiana.
Popular daytime programs included Tom Higgins’ morning program, Sound-Off at noon with Ted Thorne
, and afternoons with Matt Hart. Morning news was delivered by Morris Wayne. Ted Thorne
and Doug Kullerstrand handled mid-day news chores. Play-by-play coverage of high school sports was the work of sports director Frank Sauline.
WWCA's nighttime audience belonged to jazz/soul-music deejay Jesse Coopwood. The Coopwood show was the highest rated evening show in the Chicago area during the 1970s. During that time Coopwood worked with news reporter Tony Rose. Rose was a staple in the news department at WWCA from 1970 through the mid 1980s. After spending most of his career at WWCA, Coopwood was hired away by competitor WLTH in the late 1970s. Coopwood was replaced by a series of soul deejays, none of whom earned the level of listenership Coopwood brought to the station.
WWCA was owned by Lake Broadcasting, Inc. President and founder Dee O. Coe established the station in 1949 and operated studios that had housed WIND before that station moved to Chicago
. WWCA operated then out of the old Hotel Gary. Coe also owned WLOI in LaPorte, IN and other stations throughout the state. Co-owners of WWCA included its chief engineer Vic Voss and the Burns family, operators of a Gary funeral home. Other key personnel included general manager Joseph Haas, news & program director Ted Thorne. The station’s studios were moved from Hotel Gary to the fourth floor of the First Federal Saving and Loan Association building at 545 Broadway. Licensed to the city of Gary, the station's transmitter was located in a then rural area south of the Gary city limits near 49th Avenue and Chase Street. The station's signal was directional, then requiring transmitter operators to hold 1st Class Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) operator licenses.
Thorne, though a resident of Michigan City, IN, hosted the mid-day Sound-Off program which had a large following and delivered expanded newscasts at noon and again at 5 PM. Thorne left WWCA for a stint with WGN-TV
, Channel 9, in Chicago, but later returned to the Gary station.
Another WWCA personalities to leave for Chicago and eventually network air work was Frank Reynolds
, then a news reporter. Reynolds joined WLS-TV
Channel 7 in Chicago and later became a television anchor for ABC News
. Emery King, also a reporter and host of the evening "Sound-Off" program in the early 1970s later worked for WBBM-TV
Chicago and was White House reporter for NBC News
before becoming a television anchor with WDIV Detroit.
During the 1980s deejay Vivian Carter joined the staff hosting a Saturday morning program. Carter was better known in the area as "the hostess with the mostest" when she hosted a daily program for WJOB radio in Hammond, IN. She and husband Jimmy Carter owned a small record shop/recording studio in Gary. Jimmy's brother was part of the signing group, The Spaniels, which gained huge success in the 1950s. Vivian and Jimmy formed their own label VeeJay Records and began producing the Spaniels. The label's success took Vivian away from local radio for a period of years. After moving operations to California VeeJay signed other notable's such as The Four Seasons
; The Beatles
whose VeeJay album is a prized collectible; and Gladys Knight & The Pips
(known as simply "The Pips" at the time).
The popularity of WWCA's talk shows (noon Sound-Off and Sound-Off at 6PM) gave some regular callers nearly celebrity status. Listeners came know the voices of callers such as "the theory lady," "Mr. Pitts," "Mrs. Archie," and then city councilman Gene Kirtland.
In the late 1960s WWCA air personalities joined the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
. Relationships between station management and personnel remained strained from that time forward. In the years that followed some individuals responsible for unionizing the staff were released from their jobs. A fire set in the early 1970s in the office of News Director Thorne was thought to be in retribution for the firings. The fire was contained in Thorne's office and little damage was done.
In the mid 1980s general manager Joe Hass developed leukemia to which he died from soon after its diagnosis. Owner Dee Coe also developed the same disease shortly thereafter and the station was sold. Coe had already put the station on the sale block before he died. When Haas died Coe named Haas' secretary, Sylvia Burns, General Manager, a position she kept until the new owners took over. (Burns was no relation to stockholders of the same name.)Coe's death came relatively soon after Haas died. Coe's son, Ken Coe, who managed the family's LaPorte station, WLOI, took over the reins at WWCA for a short time before the station was sold.
Also licensed to Gary, WWCA's primary local radio competitor during the 60s and 70s was daytime-operated WLTH, 1370 AM.
WWCA's license moved from Gary to East Chicago in the early 90s, after the station was purchased by Willis Broadcasting. The city of license returned to Gary sometime in the late 1990s prior to ending daily broadcasts in January 2002. In 2003, Willis Broadcasting Corp. sold the station to Starboard Broadcasting for $1.5 million. WWCA signed back on with Starboard Network's Relevant Radio format on or around November 25, 2003.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
in Gary, Indiana
Gary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...
. It is part of the Relevant Radio
Relevant Radio
Relevant Radio is a trademark of Starboard Media Foundation, and is the largest Catholic talk radio network in the United States, with 20 stations and 18 affiliates in 15 states...
Christian
Christian radio
Christian radio is a category of radio formats that focus on transmitting programming with a Christian message. In the United States, where it is more established, many such broadcasters play popular music of Christian influence, though many programs have talk or news programming covering...
network.
History
Radio station WWCA, an ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
Radio affiliate in Gary, experienced its peak in popularity during the 1960s and 1970s primarily because of its community commitment and the popularity of its on-air personalities. Residents of Gary
Gary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...
, Merrillville, Crown Point
Crown Point
Crown Point is the name of several towns or cities, and geographic features:United States*Crown Point, Alaska*Crown Point, Indiana - Lake County*Crown Point, New York**Fort Crown Point, built in 1759 on Lake Champlain by the British...
, Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
and other northwestern Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
cities and towns depended on WWCA for local news and sports coverage. Area residents tuned to WWCA for live on-the-scene coverage of breaking news events as well as weekly live coverage of high school sports. Broadcasts of basketball tournaments involved most of the on-air personalities broadcasting from multiple locations throughout northwestern Indiana.
Popular daytime programs included Tom Higgins’ morning program, Sound-Off at noon with Ted Thorne
Ted Thorne
Ted Thorne was born October 16, 1929 in Detroit, Michigan. Thorne at 17 became the youngest sports editor of a daily newspaper in the state of Indiana, the Michigan City News-Dispatch...
, and afternoons with Matt Hart. Morning news was delivered by Morris Wayne. Ted Thorne
Ted Thorne
Ted Thorne was born October 16, 1929 in Detroit, Michigan. Thorne at 17 became the youngest sports editor of a daily newspaper in the state of Indiana, the Michigan City News-Dispatch...
and Doug Kullerstrand handled mid-day news chores. Play-by-play coverage of high school sports was the work of sports director Frank Sauline.
WWCA's nighttime audience belonged to jazz/soul-music deejay Jesse Coopwood. The Coopwood show was the highest rated evening show in the Chicago area during the 1970s. During that time Coopwood worked with news reporter Tony Rose. Rose was a staple in the news department at WWCA from 1970 through the mid 1980s. After spending most of his career at WWCA, Coopwood was hired away by competitor WLTH in the late 1970s. Coopwood was replaced by a series of soul deejays, none of whom earned the level of listenership Coopwood brought to the station.
WWCA was owned by Lake Broadcasting, Inc. President and founder Dee O. Coe established the station in 1949 and operated studios that had housed WIND before that station moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. WWCA operated then out of the old Hotel Gary. Coe also owned WLOI in LaPorte, IN and other stations throughout the state. Co-owners of WWCA included its chief engineer Vic Voss and the Burns family, operators of a Gary funeral home. Other key personnel included general manager Joseph Haas, news & program director Ted Thorne. The station’s studios were moved from Hotel Gary to the fourth floor of the First Federal Saving and Loan Association building at 545 Broadway. Licensed to the city of Gary, the station's transmitter was located in a then rural area south of the Gary city limits near 49th Avenue and Chase Street. The station's signal was directional, then requiring transmitter operators to hold 1st Class Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) operator licenses.
Thorne, though a resident of Michigan City, IN, hosted the mid-day Sound-Off program which had a large following and delivered expanded newscasts at noon and again at 5 PM. Thorne left WWCA for a stint with WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
, Channel 9, in Chicago, but later returned to the Gary station.
Another WWCA personalities to leave for Chicago and eventually network air work was Frank Reynolds
Frank Reynolds
Frank James Reynolds was an American television journalist for ABC and CBS News.He was a New York-based anchor of the ABC Evening News from 1968 to 1970 and later as the Washington D.C.-based co-anchor of World News Tonight from 1978 until his death in 1983...
, then a news reporter. Reynolds joined WLS-TV
WLS-TV
WLS-TV, virtual channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The station operates their full power digital operations on UHF channel 44, with their digital fill-in translator on VHF channel...
Channel 7 in Chicago and later became a television anchor for ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
. Emery King, also a reporter and host of the evening "Sound-Off" program in the early 1970s later worked for WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 , is the CBS owned-and-operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. WBBM-TV's main studios and offices are located in The Loop section of Chicago, as part of the development at Block 37, and its transmitter is atop the Willis Tower.-History:WBBM-TV traces its history...
Chicago and was White House reporter for NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
before becoming a television anchor with WDIV Detroit.
During the 1980s deejay Vivian Carter joined the staff hosting a Saturday morning program. Carter was better known in the area as "the hostess with the mostest" when she hosted a daily program for WJOB radio in Hammond, IN. She and husband Jimmy Carter owned a small record shop/recording studio in Gary. Jimmy's brother was part of the signing group, The Spaniels, which gained huge success in the 1950s. Vivian and Jimmy formed their own label VeeJay Records and began producing the Spaniels. The label's success took Vivian away from local radio for a period of years. After moving operations to California VeeJay signed other notable's such as The Four Seasons
The Four Seasons (group)
The Four Seasons are an American rock and pop band who became internationally successful in the mid-1960s. The Vocal Group Hall of Fame has stated that the group was the most popular rock band before The Beatles...
; The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
whose VeeJay album is a prized collectible; and Gladys Knight & The Pips
Gladys Knight & the Pips
Gladys Knight & The Pips were an R&B/soul family musical act from Atlanta, Georgia, active from 1953 to 1989. The group was best known for their string of hit singles on Motown's "Soul" record label and Buddah Records from 1967 to 1975, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight...
(known as simply "The Pips" at the time).
The popularity of WWCA's talk shows (noon Sound-Off and Sound-Off at 6PM) gave some regular callers nearly celebrity status. Listeners came know the voices of callers such as "the theory lady," "Mr. Pitts," "Mrs. Archie," and then city councilman Gene Kirtland.
In the late 1960s WWCA air personalities joined the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is a performers' union that represents a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, as well as radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording artists , promo and voice-over announcers and other...
. Relationships between station management and personnel remained strained from that time forward. In the years that followed some individuals responsible for unionizing the staff were released from their jobs. A fire set in the early 1970s in the office of News Director Thorne was thought to be in retribution for the firings. The fire was contained in Thorne's office and little damage was done.
In the mid 1980s general manager Joe Hass developed leukemia to which he died from soon after its diagnosis. Owner Dee Coe also developed the same disease shortly thereafter and the station was sold. Coe had already put the station on the sale block before he died. When Haas died Coe named Haas' secretary, Sylvia Burns, General Manager, a position she kept until the new owners took over. (Burns was no relation to stockholders of the same name.)Coe's death came relatively soon after Haas died. Coe's son, Ken Coe, who managed the family's LaPorte station, WLOI, took over the reins at WWCA for a short time before the station was sold.
Also licensed to Gary, WWCA's primary local radio competitor during the 60s and 70s was daytime-operated WLTH, 1370 AM.
WWCA's license moved from Gary to East Chicago in the early 90s, after the station was purchased by Willis Broadcasting. The city of license returned to Gary sometime in the late 1990s prior to ending daily broadcasts in January 2002. In 2003, Willis Broadcasting Corp. sold the station to Starboard Broadcasting for $1.5 million. WWCA signed back on with Starboard Network's Relevant Radio format on or around November 25, 2003.