Pryor Scrapbook Clippings, 1955-1980

TO WED_: Mr. and Mrs. Burl Curtis of Searcy an– nounce the engagement and approaching marriage of their daughter, ,Rebecca Ann, to Jeffrey Allen Mclain, son of Mr. and Mrs. R. E. Mclain of Kennett, Missouri. Both are students at Harding College where Miss Curtis is a iunior and Mr. Mclain, a senior. The couple will be married Friday, February 4, at 7 p.m. at the Downtown Church of Christ. They invite their friends and relatives· to attend. /.R 11 FIRST OFFICIAL ASSEMBLY- Dr. Clifton L. Ganus, President of Harding, ·addresses half of Harding's student body in the first chapel assembly as the 1977 fall semester offic1aUy. got underway yesterday. He also spoke to the other half who assembled fbr a second chapel periqd, presenting bOth groups the colleg~ faculf¥, seated on stage. To accommodate the enrollment, extra chairs have been placed in the main auditorium and all seats have been assigned for bot~ chapels. More than 2800 students have registered. -77 • By LARRY Wll.LIAMS . really have. You know, I inhaled some insecticide this sum._ . Welton Roy will retire today after 45 years of continu- mer, working in a cotton field, and I was sick for two days. . ous service as an engineer with WHBQ. Those were the only days I've missed work in 20 years." \ He joined WHBQ in September, 1932, after graduation Of coorse, they will have a party for him. And you from Mississippi Southern College. At that time, there know what? It's going to be taped. And Royis going to take were only four radio stations in Memphis, each using a that tape and play it on the Marge Thrasher Straight Talk homemade transmitter located on toi> of a tall building. show tomorrow morning at 8. WHBQ's 100-watt transmitter was atop the Dermon Build- "It's going to be about old-time radio," he said. "I have ing downtown. . a lot of old equipment rm going to show." As chief engineer, Roy built WHBQ radio studios in _ Of course Roy has a lot of memories about radio and the Claridge Hotel in 1934, in the . . TV and the old days in Memphis, but he doesn't dwell on Gayoso Hotel in 1942 and in the · them. He thinks ahead Chisca in 1952. When WHBQ in- So if anybody..needs a geed electronics man after· creased"-]fOWer fo-S,000 watts 1n his rest, vacation and painting his house - just give him a 1948, Roy installed a new trans- call. He's a hard worker. mitter and the present 5-tower · complex on a 100-acre tract in DON'T WORRY, WEZI isn't going to change its for- Frayser. mat. When the Federal Communi- General Manager Dave Thomas says the "easy listen- cations Commission granted a te- ing" will continue even though the station has been sold to levisinoo li~nse to WHBQ in Harte-Hanks Newspapers of san Antonio, Texas. 1953, Roy built a temporary studio It will take about a year for the sale to clear the in the Chisca and a transmitting regulatory agencies, but even after that, Thomas says he plant on Raleig~LaGrange Road, foresees no changes. and Memphis' second 1V station . ~e-Hanks owns 26 daily newspa~rs, S4.oth~ pub- .went on the air in September, .• ; licatio~ and also~ VHF-in: network with stations m San I 19S,l In 1954, Roy mo.ved the TV W lt " R- Antomo, !acb?n~e, ~on_da and Greensboro, N.C. It station to 1381 Madison. . e on oy · O'!f18 radio.stations 10 Bmningham, Tampa, Fla., and Ra- In 1963 it was moving time again. Of course, the re- ~l_e1_gh_,_N_._C.___ _ _ sponsibiility to plan a new building and move both the TV_ and radi~tatkm belonaed to Roy. In his 45 years at WHBQ, Roy has see1_1 the transistor replace the vacuum tube, the debut of commercial televi– : sion in 1947, the development of FM radio and the video I tape recorder, · He married his college sweetheart, Sarah Hale, in 1934, and the Roys have one daughter. . 'CVou know what rm going to miss most?" Roy asked yesterday. "Just plain ol'' coming to work. I'm going to · miss getting up in the morning and coming to work." He plans to get some rest, take a vacation, paint his house and then "get back into some form of electronics." He says be was just a kid when be went to work for WHBQ (he will be 68 in November) and "I've loved it. I • •