Here’s what happened.
The first radio station to broadcast in Atlanta, Georgia was WSB. The station began operations on March 15, 1922.
Here’s why it matters.
According to The New Georgia Encyclopedia (NGE), “The station was owned by the Atlanta Journal. To beat rival station WGST in becoming the city's first commercial operation, WSB used the 100-watt transmitter of amateur radio operator Gordon Hight in Rome (Georgia), with the call letters standing for "Welcome South, Brother.”
NGE also notes: “WSB was located in the Biltmore Hotel for several years but moved to ‘White Columns’ on Peachtree Street in 1956. The station is now housed with WSB-TV and Cox Radio's other Atlanta radio properties. As a ‘clear channel’ station, WSB's signal covers a vast area, particularly at night, and can be heard throughout much of the eastern and Midwestern United States, as well as in parts of Canada.”
WSB has a fascinating history that is too lengthy to report here. But its archives are contained at the Georgia State University Library.
Here’s an interesting fact!
The first broadcasting operations in the USA to use call letters were commercial ships. Two crewmembers died when S.S. Francis H. Leggett, first owner of the WSB letters, shipwrecked on September 8, 1914. The next owner of them, S.S. Firewood, caught fire on December 18, 1919. There were no fatalities, but nonetheless, no other ship wanted the call letters. So they were assigned to the first land-based radio station available-- which happened to be in Atlanta.
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