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Commercial Appeal, The

By Linda A Moore / lmoore@commercialappealcom

In 1928, radio pioneer and broadcasting visionary Hoyt Wooten was granted one of six permits in the United States to build and operate an experimental television transmitter.

On Jan. 1, 1955, WREC-TV Channel 3, now WREG, signed on for its first full day of broadcasting.

Wednesday, Channel 3 kicks off its golden anniversary observance a few days early with a 30-minute special, "50th Anniversary Celebration," hosted by retiring anchor Jerry Tate.

"Our kickoff special will be an exciting way for our community and employees to reminisce and also look forward to WREG's next 50 years," said Ron Walter, WREG president and general manager.

"I hope it gives some of the younger people a bit of background on how it has evolved over the years," said Bob Eoff, former Channel 3 general manager and now president of the New York Times Broadcast Media Group, owner of WREG. The company bought the station in 1971 and the call letters were changed from WREC to WREG.

Old footage, photographs and interviews with former and current Channel 3 personnel tell the story of how Wooten began operating a radio station from his Coldwater, Miss., home in 1922. An electrical engineer, he opened Wooten Radio-Electric Co., a retail store in The Peabody's lobby in 1925. The next year he moved the radio station to Whitehaven and renamed it WREC.

He opened his new $25,000 studio in The Peabody basement in 1929.

"He was the genius that made WREC what it is today. He was truly a pioneer," said Smith Howell, 90, who went to work for Wooten in the mid-1930s, designing the radio studio at The Peabody.

"My work was mostly in set design and in building every building ever built for Channel 3," Howell said. He designed WREG's current building at 803 Channel 3 Drive. His last project was the set built at Peabody Place in 2002.

That set is nothing like Howell's early work.

Channel 3's first studio was a converted radio studio.

"It was all quite simple in those days," Howell said. "We didn't have the electronic devices like we have now. If you made a weather set it was all mechanically. By that I mean you had a map and magnetic figures you could move to indicate fronts or rain."

With the television station located in The Peabody's basement, Howell figured out ways to move booms and microphones around a column that supported the fountain upstairs.

"Mr. Wooten used to call me his idea man," Howell said. "That was my job, to think up innovations."

Wooten sold WREC to Cowles Communications in 1962, but remained at the station.

Eoff, a radio major at Memphis State University, joined Channel 3 in 1969 after walking into the television side instead of the radio side of the studios.

"I'm just very lucky to have stumbled in the wrong side of the basement," Eoff said.

Beginning as a cameraman, Eoff would eventually be named general manager, before taking over the media group.

From the first, Channel 3 took some cues from its radio relative, with "Good Morning From Memphis," modeled after WREC radio's Breakfast Club. "Good Morning From Memphis" remained on the air until the mid-1980s.

One of Eoff's most memorable interviews occurred during his stint as the show's producer. It is a story he shares during the anniversary special.

"Good Morning From Memphis" co-host Frances Kelley, one of the first African-American women on Memphis television, had been asked to interview Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke.

"That was a wonderful moment in television," said Eoff. "She had absolutely refused to do it, didn't want him on the show, didn't want him on the set with her."

Yet, when the time came, Kelley felled Duke with one question.

"It was 'Honey, why do you hate me?'," Eoff said. "How simple and direct can you be? It threw him totally off guard. It was one of my favorite moments."

News and local programming have always been staples at Channel 3, as has the station's commitment to the community, Walter said.

When Channel 3 moved to Channel 3 Drive in 1975, it was among the earliest businesses to commit to the revitalization of Downtown. Management and rank-and-file employees are involved in activities that support Memphis.

"We've been a good steward in the community," Walter said.

- Linda A. Moore: 529-2702

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On the air

What: WREG-TV Channel 3's 50th Anniversary Celebration

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday

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