In 1952, WWNR applied to operate a TV station on Channel 6. The station proposed 100 kW visual, 50 kW aural, 1280 feet AAT, 503 feet above
ground, 14 miles SSW of Beckley atop Indian Grave Mountain at 37 35 30, 81 09 00. (The station may also have applied to operate a TV station on Channel 4
at another time in the 1950s.)

A program schedule in the Beckley Daily News-Digest of Oct. 9, 1952, shows the station signing on at 4:45 a.m. with "Hit the Deck," and signing off at
12:30 a.m. The schedule shows Mutual Network programs at night. (An image of the schedule is on the pictures page.)

The 1956 Broadcasting Yearbook shows the following personnel: N. Joe Rahall, president; Richard H. Booth, general manager; Eugene J. Morehouse, commercial
manager and sports director; C. Phil Vogel, program director; Shirley D. Walker, program manager; Anthony P. Gonzales, chief engineer; C. P. Vogel Jr. and
Dennis Hollandsworth, farm director; Nannie Ellen Tucker, women's director.

The 1971 advertisement has: "Some of the old time shows were 'Uncle Gene,' 'Women's Angle,' 'Open Mike,' 'Hillbilly Jamboree,' and 'Polka Time.' Many air
personalities have appeared on WWNR, but perhaps the most unusual was 'Gus' the talking mynah bird who appeared with the morning announcer for almost five years. I
n the early 50's WWNR broke the tradition of doing all of its programs from the studio and began broadcasting from everywhere in southern West Virginia. It is believed
that WWNR has done more 'remote' broadcasts than any station in West Virginia." [The mynah bird was actually known as 'Static,' at least during part of its time on the air.]

The 1961-62 Broadcasting Yearbook shows the following staff: Anthony P. Gonzales, general manager; Robert Harvit, commercial manager; Frank M. "Bud"
Kurtz, program director; Margaret A. Jenkins, program manager; Robert Miller, news director; Jack Slygh, chief engineer.

In the 1960s WWNR was described as one of the most successful small-market stations in the U. S. WWNR had no network affiliation through most of the
1960s, but did join the American Contemporary Radio Network in 1969. (During the weekend of the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, WWNR arranged to carry programming of the NBC radio network.)

An advertisement in the Beckley Post-Herald/Raleigh Register on November 14, 1971, on the 25th anniversary of WWNR, shows the NR good guys
with the following caption: "The WWNR staff was officially proclaimed 'The Good Guys' in 1964 by John Wesley Smith, then mayor of this city.
From left to right: Bob Horton, who came to WWNR as music director from Bristol, Virginia, in May of 1965; Dick Callaway who joined the 'Good Guys'
in September, 1966, as news director; Rod O'Dell who joined the staff in June, 1961, and is now program director; D. S. Goodwin, the Public Service Director
for WWNR who started in December 1969; and Phil Vogel who has been with WWNR since January, 1955 and is currently the production manager for
WWNR." The advertisement lists the sales staff as Lyle O. Weagel, Pat Roach, Bob Skaggs, Danny Tilson, and Tom Hicks. The office staff is shown as
Sandie Lilly, receptionist; Betsy Hatcher, bookkeeper and office manager; Cathi Lipsinic, traffic director; Fred Persinger, copy director.

In April 1984 the station was purchased by Al Martine. In 1994 the station was sold to Dynastar Communications Inc., Hugh M. Caperton, president.

In the 1990s the station featured a talk format, with mostly network programming. Southern Communications, owner of WCIR, took over the operation of
WWNR in the 1990s (and in about 2001 purchased the station from Dynastar Communications Inc.) Three of the four towers at Cabell were taken down and
WWNR switched to non-directional operation at night, with lower power.

In June 2000, WWNR had a talk format, featuring programs such as Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura Schlessinger, as well as Cincinnati Reds baseball and CBS
News on the hour. A local talk show, the Mid-Morning Monitor, was hosted by Steve O'Brien. Local programming for the station was originated at the facility
near the Airport Road Industrial Park which also housed the WCIR studios. On Nov. 15, 2000, WWNR began transmitting its signal from Crab Orchard, utilizing
the same tower as WIWS-1070.

By that time station had begun airing Beckley's Morning News, a three hour news block from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. weekdays, as well as The WWNR News Hour, a
5 p.m. hour update. WWNR was utilizing three anchors and three or four reporters and providing traffic reports from Skyhawk traffic.

On Feb. 6, 2001, the last of the four towers at Cabell - a 305-foot Blaw-Knox tower -- was taken down.

On Feb. 22, 2002, daytime power output was increased to 5000 watts, utilizing a Broadcast Electronics AM5E transmitter.

In 2002 the studios of WCIR-FM, WTNJ-FM, WMTD-AM/FM, WAXS-FM, WWNR, and WIWS were moved to 306 South Kanawha Street in
Beckley (the old Appalachian Power Company building).

In January 2003, WWNR was programming local news from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., a local talk show hosted by Steve O'Brien from 10 a.m. -12 noon, Dr. Bill O'Brien from
3 p. to 5 p.m., and a local news hour from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

In 2004, Southern Communications Corporation, which had been operating WWNR, took over ownership of the station. The Federal Communications Commission
approved the transfer of ownership on January 26, 2004.

On Feb. 11, 2004, WWNR began streaming its locally-originated programming on the Internet from its web site at www.wwnrnewstalk620.com.

From the 1960s. Front row: Phil Vogel, Bob Horton, Bob Miller.
Back row: Tom Hicks, Rod O'Dell, Tom Martin.
Bob Horton says the 50,000 sign on his lap "represents the number of
used Christmas cards sent in to earn a day of with pay (I won). We
sent the cards to a church so they could recycle them...that was the
first year...the second year got over 175,000 (I won again)." Bob
Horton now lives in Winston-Salem; his e-mail address is
SHorton106@aol.com.