WMUU HISTORY
The history of BJU's radio station.
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WMUU: Greenville's Unique Radio
by Barbara Rumminger
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Bob Jones, Sr., was a man of amazing God-given insight. Radio was still in its infancy when he began his daily broadcasts to spread the gospel and to promote Bob Jones College, just a baby itself. During the years the school was in Cleveland, Tennessee, Dr. Bob had a daily broadcast on the first Chattanooga station, WDOD. Realizing the potential for reaching great numbers of people in their own homes through radio, he added radio courses to the college curriculum. The first, Program Planning and Radio Techniques, was offered in the 1932-33 school year as a speech course. Bob Jones College was already known for its Fine Arts department. "Music, speech, and art without additional cost above academic tuition." Radio offered an excellent opportunity to send out the gospel message through sacred music and drama, and what better experience could speech and music students have than performing for numberless listeners on radio!
When the University moved to Greenville, enough radio courses were added to offer a major. More programs were aired on a local station. Ambitious programs they were, too, produced in our own campus training studios and directed by our own students and faculty. There were quarter-hour programs of poetry and music, half-hour variety programs, and even a half-hour program every other week of sacred classic sonatas and oratorios. The favorites were the Tabernacle Hour, featuring a 200-voice choir and a message by a member of the Bible faculty and, of course, Dr. Bob's morning program entitled Just For Today.
It should have come as no surprise to anyone, therefore, when in May 1948 Bob Jones University applied to the FCC for a permit to set up a new standard commercial radio station. It would operate daytime only with 1,000 watts on 1260 mkhz. On March 24, 1949, the announcement came: Permission granted! Two weeks later, April 7, 1949, construction began. Just across East Drive from the Rodeheaver Auditorium on the Bob Jones University campus this $75,000 broadcasting studio began to take shape, constructed of concrete and steel and cream-colored brick with stone trim. It was a pretty little a building with about 3,000 square feet of floor space, including three broadcasting studios, two complete control rooms, a news room, a fully-equipped transcription room, and staff offices. And when that was finished, a 300-foot tower was to be erected on the transmitter site on Piney Mountain.
The purpose in opening a new broadcasting station in the area was to provide the best in classical and sacred music and drama, not only to entertain and edify the listeners but also to provide a further educational opportunity for the students and a public relations outlet for the University. Above all, the objective was to give out the Gospel message, surrounded by pleasant listening that one could leave on all day without being offended.
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The call letters WMUU were chosen to represent the "World's Most Unusual University, " and WMUU has certainly been one of the world's most unusual stations through the years. Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., in his ever-practical manner, determined that the station should pay its own way and not be a drain on University funds. It was set up as a regular commercial station but on a non- profit basis, and it was surely that, too, in the early years! Dr. Bob felt that WMUU could benefit local businesses as they invested in advertising. Some of those businesses considered their advertising dollars a donation at first but soon came to realize the efficiency of WMUU advertising and to appreciate the loyalty of the WMUU listenership. From the beginning WMUU accepted advertising only from businesses the University could endorse.
WMUU signed on the air at 9:30 a.m., September 15, 1949, with a dedication ceremony from the Rodeheaver Auditorium on the Bob Jones University campus. Dr. Bob Jones, Jr., introduced the regular staff, which was under the temporary direction of Robert Pratt, on loan from the University speech department. Dr. Jones, Sr., delivered the dedicatory message and prayer, and WMUU was off to a flying start.
The "flying start" met with occasional turbulent weather, but the fledgling managed to stay "on the air." I suppose no one ever realizes all the problems to be encountered in a new enterprise, and the station personnel were no exception. That was the day of "live" programming. No problem! BJU had a reputation for cultural programs! The first year's schedule included daily live hymn programs, daily serialized dramatizations of classic novels and two weekly half-hour programs that were recorded and sent to other stations across the country. Miracles was the dramatized story of the power of God in the lives of men; Hymn History dramatized the story behind a hymn, with music by a 16-20 voice choir. Everyone got into the act that first year. Just about every member of the University Fine Arts faculty was involved either performing on live broadcasts or planning music for the fines using commercial records. As we learned more about our craft and became more efficient, we were able to lean less on the University and carry on with our own staff. Bob Pratt went back to his teaching, and James Ryerson assumed the position of manager.
The first few years were of experiment and growth. In addition to the music and drama programs, WMUU specialized in Gospel programs, public service announcements, and local news, billing itself the "Good News Station." In those early years WMUU had a special ministry to shut-ins and people in nursing homes. Frequently a group of the station staff would visit these people and present a short devotional program. Jim Ryerson sang on his own Radio Hymnal on WMUU, and he was always welcomed by the people who listened to him daily. As WMUU made friends in the community, it became known for its local news coverage; and in its fifth year of broadcasting, WMUU received the first in a series of awards for outstanding news coverage. Through the friendship with Donaldson Air Force Base, then an active military installation in Greenville, several members of the staff were invited to visit various military bases around the world--Alaska, New Zealand, Germany . . . even the South Pole! By its tenth anniversary WMUU had firmly established itself in Christian broadcasting and in the Greenville community with its format of "good news," good music, and public service.
The ministry of WMUU continued its expansion in its second decade as Bob Jones University applied to the FCC for license to operate an FM station in addition to WMUU AM and to increase AM power from 1,000 to 5,000 watts. License was granted, and WMUU FM became the most powerful station in South Carolina, radiating 100,000 watts of power. The station's coverage increased from a radius of 50 miles to 100 miles, and FM listeners with outside antennas could hear the FM programming at even greater distances.
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Psalm 19:14
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be
acceptable in thy sight, O LORD,
my strength, and my redeemer.
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Also in 1963 Bob Jones University purchased a station in the Atlanta area--WAVO--and sent three families from the WMUU staff to operate it in conjunction with the station in Greenville. In the eight-and-one-half years of ministry there, the station and the University gained many friends and witnessed much growth in the Christian community.
In 1965 WMUU initiated FM stereo broadcasting--the second station in South Carolina to do so. In 1968 WMUU began publishing the WMUU Guide, then only a listing of the concert music selections scheduled each month. As we approached twenty years of broadcasting, the programming had undergone some changes, but the philosophy was still the same--good news, good music, and community service.
As it began its third decade of broadcasting, WMUU faced a number of changes. Because of difficulties with renewal of licenses from the FCC, Bob Jones University deemed it best to sell the Atlanta station and put all its efforts into WMUU. Several of the WAVO families returned to Greenville to serve in various staff positions at the University. The University itself was expanding, and it was decided that WMUU 's facilities would be relocated and that the new Founder's Memorial Amphitorium would be built at the corner where WMUU had stood. For several years the studios were housed in the FM transmitter building on top of Paris Mountain. The station itself became WMUU, Incorporated, and became the property of Gospel Fellowship Association. In 1976 both organizations moved to the present location at 920 Wade Hampton Boulevard. The needs were different from those in the early years. Automation and recordings largely replaced "live" programming. Instead of large broadcasting studios, the space was divided into one large and two small control rooms, one studio where interviews could be conducted comfortably, a large music library, and several offices.
WMUU's music library has grown from its small beginnings to one of the largest classical, beautiful music, and sacred collections in the Carolinas. WMUU has always been committed to playing only the best in music. As Jim Ryerson often said, "The only way to know what is good is to measure it against the best there is. The great masterworks of music have been proven by time and experience to be of intrinsic worth. Such music gives an excellent gauge for determining the quality of other types of music." Charles Koelsch, music director since 1965, adds, "As we combine this principle with Scriptural guidelines, we discover the source of WMUU's musical standards. With God's help we intend to maintain those standards as long He enables us to broadcast."
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Hebrews 12:2
Looking unto Jesus the
author and finisher of our faith;
who for the joy that
was set before him endured
the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right
hand of the throne of God.
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For almost all of its first thirty years, WMUU was directed by Manager Jim Ryerson. As the station began its thirty-first year, Jim assumed a new ministry as counselor with the University, and Dayton Walker became the new manager.
After two years as manager, Dayton was called into a different field of service, and Jim Dickson took the position. Jim was one of the three men sent to Atlanta to operate WAVO back in 1963. Jim brought to the station an impressive background in broadcast engineering, having served as chief engineer at WAVO and later as Director of Engineering with Sudbrink Broadcasting and Director of Radio Engineering with Meredith Broadcasting in Atlanta. His management produced more growth and outreach. Jim established Unique Productions, a syndicated service providing quality music to interested stations. WMUU's complete music format--sacred music, beautiful music, and concert music--became available through a lease plan in quantities as great or as small as a station may desire. Miracles, Hymn History, and Word of Truth are still available on tape and are carried by stations world-wide.
A number of public interest programs have been added to WMUU's schedule, such as Town Hall and Legislative Report, interviews with elected officials keeping us abreast of happenings in local and state government; Christian Viewpoint, EImer Rumminger's discussions of pending legislation of particular concern to Christians; Conservative Corner, Dr. Charles Dunn's conservative political analyses; and Family Forum, Representative Mike Fair's evaluation of pending legislation directly affecting the home and family. An outstanding addition to the concert music schedule is Voices that Live, the program hosted by Charles Koelsch and Dr. Jim Drake, presenting recordings of superlative vocal artists, past and present, interspersed with discussion and anecdotes about them. This program was chosen as a finalist in the 1989 International Radio Festival of New York and was aired for a time on the South Carolina Educational Radio by Network.
The WMUU AM transmitter has now been moved from its longtime home on Piney Mountain to a new site just off Rutherford Road in Taylors where our engineer Joe Norris and his staff have installed new transmitting equipment, improving the sound of our AM station. The tower for the microwave antennas has also been replaced at the studio location. This STL--Studio Transmitter Link--transmits the AM programming via microwave to the transmitter on Rutherford Road and is also the link used when we have remote broadcasts from various locations away from the studios.
Since WMUU's thirty-fifth anniversary in 1984, the master control room has been refurbished with a new console and new equipment, and state-of-the-art compact disc players are now a
part of each control room. Our music library now includes more than 1700 CDs, with more being added regularly. At present we are utilizing these excellent recordings daily on the beautiful music programs Brunch and Headin' Home, and regularly on the concert programs Symphonic Showcase, Mastersounds, The Age of Grandeur, and Stereo Music Hall, with plans to include them in Nocturne and other programs in the near future.
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As we look back over more than forty years of broadcasting, we are struck by the fact of God's faithfulness and provision, and His goodness in allowing us to be a small part of this ministry. It is exciting to see how the Lord works in our lives and in the lives of our listeners. The Powerhouse program is a daily blessing to the staff as well as to the ones who call in with their requests. We rejoice to hear of souls saved, bodies healed, financial needs met, and other urgent requests answered for our listeners. We appreciate our listeners and their loyalty to WMUU; we appreciate the businesses that advertise with us. And though the programming has been changed to meet current needs, WMUU is still presenting the never-changing good news of salvation, good music, and community service. May the Lord grant us many more years of
broadcasting for His glory.
Barbara Rumminger has been a staff member of WMUU since the station's first year on the air. A graduate of Bob Jones University, with degrees in music, Mrs. Rumminger began her work with WMUU as a graduate student. For many years she was involved in the planning of music programs. When her husband was appointed manager of the University's stations in Atlanta, she carried on the music duties at those facilities. After the sale of the Atlanta stations, the Rummingers moved back to Greenville, and Mrs. Rumminger took the position of music librarian at WMUU. The present sacred and beautiful music format is largely the result of her planning and programming efforts. Mrs. Rumminger now serves as WMUU's copywriter, writing most of the commercial copy which airs over the stations. |
WMUU Today
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