History
Of Call Letters and Formats: WSIR-1947-
“The
Information Station”
WSIR-1960-Pop
WSIR-1998-News
WSIR-2003-Gospel
"Mighty
Gospel 1490" "Rejoice 1490"
WSIR
History
WSIR
is the second oldest station in Polk County. Put on the air in 1947 by Larry
Rollins, Dach Brandstetter, and Frederick Allman.
They formed Citrus Belt Broadcasters, Inc., and were granted a license in
November of 1946. The studios were located on Third Street S.E. in Winter Haven
in a building which would later be the home of Tyler Jewelers. The transmitter
and tower were placed on the southwest shore of Lake Howard. In the first year
of operation WSIR became an affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System.
WSIR was very community oriented, as were most small local stations of the
time, and they helped with over-the-air appeals for blood donors before area
blood banks came into existence. WSIR also broadcast editorials on a regular
basis and won many Associated Press Awards. WSIR revived plans to build a
permanent football stadium for Winter Haven High School. 1954 saw
construction of a new building at the transmitter site on Lake Howard
Drive to house its offices and studios. And the FCC granted a power
increase to 500 watts. In 1998, Florida's Entertainment & Information
Network began as an effort by Anscombe Broadcasting Group to return
WSIR, to the air as a Winter Haven-based news station.
Names In WSIR History
Larry
Rollins-1947-Co-owner/General
Manager
Jack Brandstetter-1947-Co-owner
Frederick Allman-1947-Co-owner
Dick Eyrich-1947-Program
Director-Dick broke a marathon announcing record in a stunt to publicize a
fund-raising campaign for improvements to Winter Haven’s hospital
Larry Rollins-1956-President/General
Manager-Hundred
Lakes Broadcasting
H.
Howard Cole, III-1956-Music
Director-Hundred
Lakes Broadcasting
Richard Eyrich-1956-Program
Director-Hundred
Lakes Broadcasting
Nellie
Barber-1956-Hundred
Lakes Broadcasting
Tom Moore-1956-Hundred
Lakes Broadcasting
L. Orden Craig-1956-Chief
Engineer-Hundred
Lakes Broadcasting
Bob Prescott-1958-2PM-10PM
Bob tells us that his salary was $1.00 an hour. Bob
was
host of
the "Polk County Express" from
8PM-10PM nightly. It was a "rock and roll" record show
and Bob tells us "...kids in the neighborhood coming by, some times
I would put them on the air, a local young person get together, happened
almost every night, I was 24-25 (back) then..." He also talks about signing
the station off at 10PM. "Had
to walk around to the back and turn off the trans, next to the station was a
canal, Alligators slept there,
22 rifle was at the door to carry, just in case, people lived next door had a
nasty dog liked to catch me..."
Boris
Mitchell
Roger Zinszer-Station
manager
Debra Anscombe-General
manager
Arnold
Silvert-1960-Sales/Station
manager
Jim
Greenfield-News
Jim Knight
Jack Shaw-1964
Larry
Vee (Larry Flegle)-1967-1968-"Night beat
with Larry Vee" Ross McVicker
Steve Howard
Ken Copper
Craig Harper
Lori Edwards-1977-1985
Bob Stephenson-Program
director/mornings
Dan Dermody-Station
manager
Tom
Anthony
Biography
Brother Joe Fisher-5am-9am
Monday-Friday/General manager
Damien-9-11AM
Willie Mae McIver-11am-3pm
Tony Charles
Scott West
Pam Gibson
Greg Scurry
Roy Murray-Sat
5-9am, Sun 5 - 8am
Programs
in WSIR History
Swap
Shop-buy, sell and trade
Want A Job?
The Florida Gardener
The Fishing Reel
Daily Obituaries-many local radio stations
carried these daily. It was always easy to find funeral home sponsors
Sunday
Church Services
Winter
Haven High School football
Florida
Citrus Showcase
Boston Red Sox
spring training games
Florida Seminole Football
Doug Stephan's
"Good
Day U.S.A."
Debbie Nigro's
"The Working Mom"
What's
New Biographies
In Memory Sounds
Misc. Links
Chronology What's News?