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History Of WBAS
Thanks to Marc Tyll for this history of
WBAS.
WBAS-AM began operation in 1981 as Putnam County's third AM radio
station, and Crescent City's only radio station. The station was planned
and constructed by former WKKX-AM 1310, Deland sales executive
John
Miller. The station operated on 1330 kilohertz with 1,000 watts
directional daytime and used a three tower inline East/West directional antenna
system and could be heard playing a mix of classic and modern country favorites
throughout South Putnam and most of Flagler County. WBAS had an excellent
signal in Bunnell, Palm Coast and Flagler Beach which had no local radio
service. Since Crescent City is known for excellent bass fishing and has earned
the title Bass Capital of the World, the call letters WBAS were chosen to
represent Bass. In 1984 Miller sold WBAS to Richard and Judi Douglas.
Richard had been the chief engineer at WTMC-AM
1290 in Ocala while his wife, Judy, was an on-air personality at WTRS-FM
102.3 in Dunnellon. The Douglas' operated the station for three
years, adding a cable FM station heard on Crescent City's local cable
system. Due to strong FM competition from Daytona, sales revenue drastically
declined. Unable to recover from the economic downturn, the Douglas' signed WBAS
off the air for the final time in 1982 and the frequency 1330 kHz was deleted
from Crescent City.
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