Register Established Early Radio In Mobile

In radio’s early years, the broadcasting of news grew rapidly, but it was the growth of advertising on the new medium that alarmed newspapers publishers nationwide. 

A large part of radio’s increase in advertising during the Great Depression came at the expense of newspapers, which suffered a decline in ads. After 1933, both newspaper and radio advertising fell off.

Publishers responded to the changes created by the new medium by buying and starting radio stations themselves. 

During the height of his fight with Mobile Press publisher Ralph B. Chandler, Mobile Register publisher Frederick I. Thompson launched WODX, 1410 AM, with the first broadcast at 8 p.m. on Feb. 7, 1930, from the Register building.

Not surprisingly, the initial broadcast featured Thompson’s City Hall protégé Mayor Harry T. Hartwell as the principal speaker. Other program guests included state Senator John Craft, city commissioners Cecil Bates and Leon Schwarz, Mobile Board of Revenue President Arthur D. Davis, J. C. Prine, Estes D. Baker, M. A. Boykin, H. E. Booth, and Thompson himself. After these speakers were done, the station played a musical program that included “On Mobile Bay” until 2 a.m.

After the merger with the Press, the new owners sold the station to Thompson’s co-owners, Hunter Watkins and William Pape, and it broadcast under the call letters WALA.

Photos from the Erik Overbey collection in the McCall Library at the University of South Alabama.