We Remember Charleston, South Carolina's WOKE Radio

Prior to the WOKE call letters being adopted, the call letters for the Charleston radio station that Harry Weaver purchased in 1955 were WHAN.
WOKE

From the August 1, 1955 edition of Broadcasting

Weaver to Own, Run WHAN

Harry C. Weaver, whose purchase of WHAN Charleston, S.C., was approved by the FCC July 20 (B-T, July 25), last week announced that he will take over active management of the station. W.P. Birchfield, who had managed the ABC affiliate under the previous ownership, will continue as commercial manager and chief engineer.

These photos below are from the WHAN days.

(A big thank you to Johnny Smith of North Charleston who allowed us to scan these photos, which he purchased at an auction.)

Jerry Kiefer writes: "The first picture of the gentleman at the WHAN mike is 'Big' John Rogers. He graced the mike for numerous years in the late 50s thru the 70s in the Daytona Beach area. In the late 50s he was at WROD 1340, then in the 60s at WELE 1590. During the 70s he was at WELE and WDLF-FM in Deland, and WCCZ in New Smyrna Beach from the late 70s thru the early 80s. John died in 1982 during minor leg surgery."

The photo directly above was sent by Deborah Nelson who writes: "My aunt worked for WHAN in 1949 and had this photo of herself in the WHAN-sponsored car for the fight against tuberculosis. We are trying to obtain as much information as possible about it for the newspaper. In the back seat of the car pictured (L to R) are: Trudy (Murphy) Moore (my aunt), Bill Morgan, and Carol Ballantine. Do you know what parade it was? My aunt was pretty sure this picture was taken on King Street near Beaufain Do you know if it was? Was this a city-wide TB effort in '49? Was there a major TB problem in Charleston at the time? My aunt remembered the driver’s name was Vernon. Do you know Vernon’s last name? I certainly appreciate any help you can give in answering these questions and welcome any additional information you may have about the photo or the tuberculosis fight." If you know the answers to any of these questions, please e-mail the curator.