A Lifetime on the Airwaves
columbia, culture, maury county, radio, robert m. mckay, wkrm,
To say that radio has changed since Robert M. McKay Jr. founded WKRM 1340 AM in Columbia in 1946 is putting it mildly.
But one thing that hasn’t changed is McKay’s dedication. Although his son is now the station’s general manager, McKay, who is in his late 80s, still comes to work every day.
Born in 1920, McKay began applying for an FCC license right after President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war in 1941. But McKay’s dream of a local radio station would have to wait.
“When I found out the FCC would not be granting any more licenses at that time, I put all the papers in a shoebox and told my dad not to throw them away because I was going to join the service, and I would start the radio station when I got back,” McKay says.
While McKay was serving overseas, his father filed the application on McKay’s behalf. He got word that he’d received his license while on duty in the Philippines.
“That’s what got me through World War II – knowing I was going to have a radio station when I got home,” McKay says.
Once WKRM was up and running, McKay started a local news broadcast – one of the first Tennessee stations to do so.
“After that, I got invited all over the place to give talks on how you do it,” McKay recalls. “At one time, we had more awards for local news than any other station in the state.”
The most significant local news he ever covered?
“The flood of ’48,” McKay says. “The town was cut off north from south because the bridge was out on Highway 31. We moved our headquarters to the Red Cross building and broadcast day and night.”
The station doesn’t play his favorite big-band music anymore, but the venerable station still emphasizes local news and public service.
That, McKay says, is a dream come true.
Story by Carol Cowan
