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970 AM Atlanta
WGLS > WTAM > WIIN > WKLS > WNIV
WIIN | Ross Brittain in the WIIN studio (1974) Courtesy of Ross Brittain
WIIN Newspaper ads-Above and right (Year unknown) Courtesy of Rex Patton
WIIN 97-Final day- July 30, 1975
AJC article about WIIN's last day (July 1975) Courtesy of Rex Patton
96Rock AM
Willard Arbour (Early 80s) Once WKLS bought the signal, they moved the station to the 96 Rock studios on Clarment Rd. Willard Arbour remembers that the morning show was simulcast, but midday and afternoons were done live on the AM signal.
History
(Edited from Wikipedia)
970 AM
WNIV (970 kHz) is a commercial Christian radio station licensed to Atlanta. It broadcasts with 5,000 watts during daytime hours, and 39 watts at night-- non-directional day and night.
WNIV is one of three Salem Media Group-owned stations in the metro area carrying a Christian talk and teaching radio format. Co-owned AM 590 WDWD carries a different schedule of national and local religious leaders, while AM 1400 WLTA in Alpharetta, Georgia, simulcasts WNIV's programming for Atlanta's northern suburbs.
WGLS/WTAM/WIIN/WNIV
The radio station, which is the current WNIV, dates from the late 1940s. The station first signed on in Decatur in 1949 with the original call sign WGLS. It was owned by the DeKalb Broadcasting Company and a 1,000-watt daytime only station.
It later picked up the call sign WTAM when the Cleveland station that had used those call letters changed to KYW. In the 1960s, it changed to WIIN.
In 1968, WIIN flipped to a Top 40 format.
During the early 1970s WIIN changed format to progressive rock under new local owner Blake Hawkins. WIIN was, for a while, Atlanta's only progressive rock station and quickly became known for introducing new rock music to the Atlanta market. Under Program Directors John Parker and Brent Alberts, WIIN featured morning talent Skinny Bobby Harper who was consistently in the top 5 in Atlanta morning ratings. Ross Brittain was another 1970's era staff member, who later went on to become the "Ross" of Ross & Wilson at Z93, and later had a long career at Z-100 in New York, WOGL in Philladelphia, and others.
WIIN became an adult standards/easy listening station in the late 1970s.
In the early 1980s, the station changed its call letters to WKLS and format to album rock, as a simulcast of 96.1 WKLS-FM (now WWPW). The simulcast lasted until 1988 when the station was sold. The new owner, Salem Communications, changed the call letters to the current WNIV. The station adopted Christian talk and teaching programming.
Former Georgia Congressman Pat Swindall hosted a daily talk show on WNIV for several years, after serving a federal prison sentence.