#wwva

How cool is this cool, old ghost sign for Radio WWVA in Wheeling, West Virginia?

A tugboat pushes barges downriver past Wheeling, West Virginia, having just passed under its famous antebellum suspension bridge, completed in 1849 to carry the National Road over the Ohio River.  To the right of the bridge is the Capitol Music Hall, still bearing the painted sign for its Jamboree USA country music performances that were broadcast live on Saturday nights over 50,000 watt powerhouse WWVA and heard throughout the northeast US and into Canada.

In the top photo we see the back of the Capitol Music Hall looking across the Ohio River from Wheeling Island.  Its old painted sign also advertises WWVA, the Wheeling WV radio station whose history is closely linked to the theater.  WWVA first broadcast in 1926, but gained a widespread audience from its Saturday night live broadcasts of the Jamboree USA country music performances from the Capitol Music Hall.  In later years the 50,000 watt signal of WWVA dominated that section of the AM dial, the programming easily heard throughout the northeast US, as strong as a local station.  Only WSM and the Grand Old Opry in Nashville was more important to the genre.

These days WWVA is a “news & talk” station (shudder).  The Capitol Music Hall is now known as the Capitol Theater and still offers live entertainment, but the glory days are gone--for the Capitol, for WWVA, for Wheeling.  Photos from 9/9/2017.