Is AM Radio History?

[rls97600]

My family moved to Myrtle Beach during May 1972 (I had just turned 13).  They opened a business right beside Hussey Realty on Main Street in Ocean Drive.  Just behind our business was a then-new radio station, WNMB-FM (105.x, as I recall).  My parents occasionally had communications with people at the station, and also advertised on it.  In late 1974 we moved back to Charlotte and lost track of WNMB.  I wonder why it switched to AM.

[Bill]

I will try to make a long story short. I was one of the original staff members of WNMB 105.5 FM in 1972. We went on the air on the 15th of August in '72.  In 1980 I purchased a station in North Carolina and moved there. Twenty years went by and we accumulated several radio stations, but one never gets the sand out of your shoes (in my case, my head). So one day in early 2000 I went to North Myrtle Beach and offered to purchase WNMB-FM, but, alas, I was a little late and the station had just been contracted to a firm from Pennsylvania. Later in the year, the station manager told me WNMB-fm was going to move its studios to Myrtle Beach. I came down a few days later and made a deal to buy the studio and office building at 429 Pine Street in the Ocean Drive Section. I needed a way to pay for it and the new ownership didn't appear to have any long range plans for this AM Station at 900. So, it got included in the deal, and as a part of the overall arrangement, the FM was given new call letters and became EZ 105.9.   I got to keep the WNMB call letters in North Myrtle Beach and they were transferred to 900. 

[rls97600]

I remember you, Bill Norman, and the older gentleman (Harry?) who ran and possibly owned brand-new WNMB-FM 105.5.  My parents' business was the Western Auto between Hussey Realty and the old Hewett House Hotel.  They sold in late 1974.  As a 13 year-old I was thrilled to get a tour of the WNMB studio, as radio was a big interest of mine.  I had spent the previous 12 years living a short walk through the woods from the studios and four-tower array of WAYS (61 Bigways).  During my single-digit-aged years those tall towers fascinated me, and I occasionally got to go into the Bigways studios.  This fascination led me to being interested in electronics, which in turn led me to become an electrical engineer.

I hope an opportunity arises some day for you to switch to FM.  I drive a 2007 Toyota Camry, and the AM sound quality is poor.  All I ever listen to on AM any more is news/talk.

[Bill]

The new Western Auto was my client. Very nice people.  As to the AM sound quality, there are some pretty poor radios in the newer cars. It's the radios, and not the station, with the bad quality. We broadcast in stereo and have a clean audio chain, good processors and new transmitter. Try the stream at www.wnmb900.com.  We also have an FM station at 94.9. It's called "The Surf" and it specializes in Carolina Beach Music.