POWERGRAMS

12 COMMUNITY Legacy remains of WSY, the state's first station Innovation is at the historic heart of Alabama Power, beginning with its founding in 1906 and Capt. William Patrick Lay's vision of electrifying the state by harnessing the power of Alabama's rivers. But the company's embrace of another cutting-edge technology, just 16 years after Alabama Power's incorporation, is also historic. One hundred years ago, on April 24, 1922, Alabama Power hit the airwaves with the state's first operating radio station. WSY (an acronym for "We Serve You") began broadcasting from rented space in a building on Powell Avenue in Birmingham. The 500-watt AM station was initially designed as a company tool, to provide better communications among employees – especially those in the field and at remote generating plants. In fact, radio technology was so new – regularly scheduled radio programming in the United States only started in 1920 – Alabama Power engineers had to design and build most of WSY's transmitting equipment. "We began assembling the set … with intentions of using it for purposes of operation of the system exclusively," wrote George Miller, the employee in charge of the station, in the July 1922 issue of Powergrams. "The broadcast feature came up, though, and materially changed our plans." Indeed, a month before the station went on the air, The Birmingham News published a do-it-yourself piece about "how to make your own radiophone receiving set" so local residents could pick up WSY when it began broadcasting. Interest in the station was so strong that within weeks it began offering entertainment programs, according to "Developed for the Service of Alabama," the centennial history of Alabama Power, written by noted historian Leah Rawls Atkins. Dee Haynes, with the Alabama Historical Radio Society, recalled one story that underscores WSY's popular embrace. Soon after WSY went on the air, earpieces began disappearing from the handsets of payphones all over Birmingham, apparently because people were swiping them to use in home-built receiving sets. WSY wasn't just the first radio station to start broadcasting in Alabama. It was one of the first in the region, with only 127 licensed stations in the United States when it went on the air. Because there was so little interference from other stations, WSY's signal could reach as far as Canada, Cuba and Mexico when conditions were good. The station soon began receiving letters from listeners far and wide, urging it to expand its programming. The excitement spurred Alabama Power's president, Tom Martin, to drop in on WSY not long after it went on the air. At the time, the station was operating out of a cramped space hardly suitable to host visitors, let alone live performances. According to Miller's account in Powergrams, Martin decided to give broadcasting a try for himself. "He gave a short (four-minute) talk and after he had spoken to our thousands of listeners, gave our station the once over," Miller said. Whatever Martin proclaimed from behind the microphone is lost to history, but "The next day, we had carpenters, painters, inside wiremen, carpet-layers, and even piano-movers, and we built a whole studio in one day, and that night had more comfortable quarters for our artists," Miller wrote. "Tom Martin was a very forward thinker," said Dave Cisco, also with the historical radio society. Cisco, Haynes and a few other society members gathered on a recent Saturday at the organization's Birmingham workshop, which is filled with historic radios, to reflect on the significance and legacy of WSY. Cisco said Martin had read about the nation's first commercial radio station, Pittsburgh's KDKA. Like WSY, it was first envisioned as a way for Westinghouse to communicate with its facilities, but soon began providing programming for the public. Cisco said Martin was impressed with radio's potential – not only as a communication device for the power company, but as a way to share important information with farmers, business leaders and the community at large. "Martin saw what a powerful tool radio could be to serve the community and also to promote Alabama Power Company," said Bill Tharpe, retired Alabama Power archivist. "When Martin saw the incredible response to WSY's broadcasts, he began to understand the tremendous potential that this new medium possessed." WSY's programming soon ranged from weather forecasts and stock market reports; to music performed by local chorales; to lively sessions by the WSY Radio Serenaders, an orchestra comprised mainly of Alabama Power employees. Alabama Poweradio

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