Class D Frequency 1420 kHz Format Variety First air date 1956 | Facility ID 70509 City of license Erwin Owner WEMB, Inc_ | |
Broadcast area Erwin, Tennessee
Johnson City
Kingsport
Bristol TN - VA Power 5,000 watts day
21 watts night Area Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol | ||
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WEMB is a radio station which served the Tri-Cities region of Johnson City/Kingsport/Bristol in Tennessee and Bristol in Virginia. The outlet, owned by WEMB, Inc., was licensed to Erwin, Tennessee.
Contents
History
The call letters EMB stood for Elvia Meadows Blakemore, wife of Max Blakemore, who built the station over his pharmacy, Clinchfield Drug on Main Avenue in Erwin. WEMB's first broadcast license was granted June 6, 1956.
The station played gospel music, bluegrass music, and country music with programs such as "Gospel Trax" (named for the station's close proximity to Clinchfield Railroad), the "Spivey Mountain Flour Bluegrass Hour" (named for the Spivey Mountain Boys, a music group that originated in Erwin), and "AJ in the Attic", which mixed contemporary country music with country hits from 1950 through 1999.
Elvis Presley was banned at the station for several years, ostensibly for being too sexually explicit for the small Christian town of Erwin.
Hostage situation
In June 1985, a gunman with two rifles held the station hostage for five hours. Lyle Shelton of Erwin interrupted a WEMB news broadcast in which WEMB news editor-in-chief Kathy Thornberry mentioned his recent arrest. Shelton told disc jockey Charles "Chuck" Ray he wanted to be put on the air. "He said he wanted to tell the truth," Ray told police.
Broadcasting was shut down during the crisis. A SWAT Team from nearby Johnson City was brought in and ordered to surround the station. At the request of his wife, who spoke to him through a megaphone, Shelton walked out of the building and surrendered to police custody. No shots were fired.
Ownership
The WEMB, Inc. trust was formed upon the 1994 death of WEMB's second owner, James True. In True's will, he left ownership of the station to be managed by General Manager James Crawford, Production Manager Charles Ray, and Operations Manager Hilda White. True decided the trust was to manage station affairs, with benefits being dealt to True's three adult children, until his eldest daughter turned 50 years old. True's daughter, having no experience in radio or broadcasting, disbanded the partnership and leased the 1420 AM bandwidth to NBC Sports Radio.
Headquarters
In 1966, the station moved offices and broadcasting headquarters to Riverview Road, just south of Erwin, due to severe flooding of the Nolichucky River. In 2016, the WEMB, Inc. partnership was disbanded. Afterward, an application for license reinstatement was dismissed by the FCC.