Saturday, July 2, 2016

Press Register once owned WABB radio station

This photo was taken by Press Register photographer William Lavendar.
It is from the McCall Library collection at the University of South Alabama.

If you worked in the Government Street building of the Press Register, you probably recognize this stairwell, but the lobby may not look familiar.

In the late 1940s, the Press Register owned radio station WABB and its studio was in the lobby of the newspaper. You can see the radio station's call letters in the window that is nearly under the stairs.

The station began broadcasting at 1480 kHz on June 19, 1948, and had a country music format.


Spectators crowd Government Street outside
the Mobile Press Register for a 1949 parade.
Note the sign on the upper left for the studio of  WABB
Dial 1480 radio station. 

Photo is from the Alabama Department of Archives and History.