The Golden Age of Radio

Don Enochs’ father, Ben, showing Mayor David Jowers some of the equipment used, before computers, for pre-recorded air time.

“I knew all the radio call signs by heart before I could even spell,” an older gentleman once told me years ago. Depending on how you reckon generations, five or six have grown up with the golden medium. As many commute to both work and school, the radio has moved from the living room, where everyone listened to one station, to the automobile, where the variety of stations and options are almost endless. But amid the variety, I find myself always drawn back to the hometown station.
Lexington’s own radio station began as WDXL 1490 AM in 1954. The original radio station was located on the corner of Church and Broad Streets, where Presson and Presson Accounting is now located. “Dick Barry owned the building back then, and the transmission was relayed to the tower, where we are now located,” Enochs said. The antenna stretches 200 feet above the current building, on Smith Street, which was also then owned by Barry. The station was started by…

For the complete story, see the December 21 edition of The Lexington Progress.

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