Memories of John Garabedian and V-66...

[Dan Strassberg]

The WGTR calls in Paxton must have stood either for General Tele-Radio or
General Tire and Rubber. I kind of think 1943 was well before General Tire
and Rubber established the wholely owned Radio/TV subsidiary General
Tele-Radio. General Tele-Radio held all of General Tire's broadcast licenses
but it was, AFAIK, 100% owned by General Tire. Besides the Yankee Network,
General Tire may have owned several other regional networks that, together,
constituted a large part of the Mutual Network (which I don't think General
Tire owned). Networks that General Tire may have owned in whole or in part
include Don Lee Broadcasting on the West Coast, Intermountain Network in the
Rockies, and the Texas State Network in (of course) Texas. Stations besides
WNAC that General Tire held included WOR, KFRC, KHJ, WHBQ, and (I think) a
station in DC--maybe WWDC. General Tire also somehow controlled (perhaps
through an LMA) CKLW even though the Big 8 was not/is not a US station.

--
Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
eFax 707-215-6367

----- Original Message -----
From: "Donna Halper" <dlh@donnahalper.com>
To: "Jon Maguire" <w1mnk@tampabay.rr.com>; <markwa1ion@aol.com>;
<boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 1:30 PM
Subject: Re: Memories of John Garabedian and V-66...


>
> >>Doug said--
> >>The WGTR calls probably came from WPTR or they were intended as a
> >>resurrection of the original WGTR, which I believe was the earliest
> >>incarnation of what is now WAAF.  Donna, help us out here!
>
> Well, all I know (and I don't know much!) is that the WGTR calls go
> back to November of 1943, when the late great John Shepard 3rd's FM
> station, originally called W1XOJ and then W43B, was re-named with the
> call letters WGTR.  That stood for General Tire Company, named after
> the company which had purchased a controlling interest in the Yankee
Network.
>