WFDD celebrates 75th anniversary

A guest post from 88.5 WFDD

88.5 WFDD, the NPR affiliate station licensed to Wake Forest University, is marking its 75th anniversary throughout 2021. The public radio station, which serves 32 counties in the Piedmont and High Country, as well as southern Virginia, traces its roots to an inaugural 1946 broadcast by two students from their rooming house on the old Wake Forest College campus in Wake Forest, NC. Those two students, Al Parris and Henry Randall, continued their pirate broadcasts with growing support from the campus community, until—with the support of the College—they received an FCC license. The first legal sign-on took place in 1948 as WAKE, but shortly thereafter, the station was required to change its call letters, as WAKE was already assigned to another station. The call letters became WFDD, for “Wake Forest Demon Deacons.”

WFDD continued as a student-run station through its move, along with Wake Forest University, to Winston-Salem, NC. In the late 1950s, under the leadership of the station’s first non-student station manager, Wake Forest College associate professor of speech and communications Julian Burroughs, WFDD transitioned to a professional station. In 1970, it was one of 86 stations in the country to join the National Public Radio network at its inception. The following year saw the inaugural broadcast from National Public Radio on April 20, 1971: coverage of Senate hearings on the Vietnam War. On May 3, 1971, NPR’s flagship program, All Things Considered, premiered and was carried by WFDD. The program remains on the air today.

Over the ensuing years, WFDD has continued to grow and change, transitioning to primarily a news and information station, launching an innovative and multi-tiered youth education program and building a robust local news operation. It has crafted unique community events designed to bring members of the community together, and garnered regional and national awards and accolades for its news reporting, engagement efforts and fundraising efficiency. Notably, WFDD received a National Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Innovation in 2018.

On marking 75 years on the air, WFDD General Manager Tom Dollenmayer said, “there’s an old adage that says, ‘your past does not define you.’ And while our past may not define us, it most certainly inspires us. When Al Parris and Henry Randall began broadcasting from their rooming house 75 years ago, they had no idea how essential their ‘experiment’ would become in the everyday lives of so many people. Their spirit drives our desire to connect, inform, educate and inspire our community every day.”

WFDD plans to celebrate its 75th anniversary in a variety of ways. Assistant General Manager Molly Davis said that right now the station is asking listeners to share recorded messages describing the moment they realized WFDD was their station. “On our website, navigate to our 75th anniversary page, where you’ll find a video slideshow, a station history timeline and a voice recording function that can be used to send us a message. We want to hear why WFDD is special to you and why it’s YOUR station,” Davis said. The station hopes to host several special events, virtually or in-person, to honor the anniversary; events will be announced on the WFDD website.

Visit wfdd.org/75th to learn more about the station’s history and submit a voice recording.