WSUN: Pioneer Bay Area Radio Station

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WSUN Arranges First Program

New City Station Will Go On Air Officially Tonight; Seek Results

St. Petersburg Times, November 1, 1927: St. Petersburg will officially go on the air for the first time at 7:30 o'clock on the new call letters approved by the Federal Radio Commission, WSUN, as a separate broadcasting station, announced as "St. Petersburg, Florida, operating under the Chamber of Commerce."

The premiere night on the air for the Sunshine City will be the unofficial opening of the local service, in accordance with the privileges granted by the federal radio commission in response of the delegation which went to Washington, and who returned Monday after a notably successful trip to the capital.
In that delegation were Herman A. Dann of this city, president of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce; Mayor H. H. Baskin, of Clearwater; Walter Tison, radio engineer of the St. Petersburg-Clearwater jointly-owned station, and they were supported in Washington before the commission by United States Senators Duncan U. Fletcher and Park Trammel of Florida and by George W. Bean, Republican national committeeman from this state.
"We are especially anxious to have the people of this city and country phone in tomorrow night on the effectiveness of the reception of the program," said Ora F. Fraze, chairman of the local Republican committee. "We will appreciate the courtesy if radio fans will telephone their Shrine club, dial 7985, giving us their impression of the reception."
The program will start at 7:30 and continue until 11:30 p.m.

WSUN North Tower, Circa 1952 (left) and 1980's Vintage Bumper Sticker (right)

WSUN Changes Place on Dial

WJAX Will Broadcast on St. Petersburg's Old Place; Tampa Protests St. Petersburg Times, November 15, 1929: A change in the dial position of WSUN, local municipal radio station, became effective at midnight. Programs in the future will be broadcast on the 620 kilocycle channel instead of 900, as heretofore.
Necessary minor mechanical adjustments were made by engineers at the station early Friday morning, according to A. Squires, directing announcer.
The change came as a result of a recent order by the Federal Radio Commission announcing a re-allocation of wave lengths which affected practically every station in Florida.
WJAX, Jacksonville, will broadcast in the future on St. Petersburg's old 900 kilocycle allocation. Tampa's station WDAE has been ordered to broadcast its programs in the future on 1220 kilocycles, though protests have been filed by the station's owners with the commission. No action on the protests have as yet been made. Up until Thursday night WDAE had been operating on WSUN's new wave length assignment.

WSUN Gets Directional Antenna

Broadcasting Magazine, 1952: In May, 1930, WSUN moved from downtown Clearwater to Bayview, on Tampa Bay, with a new 5-kW installation which included a two-element directional antenna system designed by Raymond Wilmotte. This was the first directional antenna system to be used by a commercial broadcasting station in the United States. With the Bayview installation, WSUN began operation on 620 kc...and since that time 620 kc has become synonymous with solid coverage in Florida.

Aerial photo of the WFLA-WSUN broadcasting plant, circa 1932. Look closely at the center of the photo and you can see the directional antenna array.

TBRB