WEMB is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

which served the Tri-Cities region of Johnson City/ Kingsport/

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. The outlet, owned by WEMB, Inc., was licensed to

Erwin, Tennessee Erwin is a town in and the county seat of Unicoi County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 6,097 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City– Kingspo ...

History

The call letters EMB represented the initials of Elvia Meadows Blakemore, wife of Max Blakemore, who built the station over his pharmacy, Clinchfield Drug on Main Avenue in Erwin. WEMB's first

broadcast license A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary f ...

was granted June 6, 1956.

Hostage situation

In June 1985, a gunman with two rifles held the station hostage for five hours. Lyle Shelton of Erwin interrupted a WEMB news broadcast in which WEMB

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. N ...

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

Kathy Thornberry mentioned his recent arrest. Shelton told

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

Charles "Chuck" Ray he wanted to be put on the air. "He said he wanted to tell the truth," Ray told police. Broadcasting was shut down during the crisis. A SWAT Team from nearby Johnson City was brought in and ordered to surround the station. At the request of his wife, who spoke to him through a megaphone, Shelton walked out of the building and surrendered to police custody. No shots were fired.

Ownership

The WEMB, Inc.

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

was formed upon the 1994 death of WEMB's second owner, James True. In True's will, he left ownership of the station to be managed by

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

James Crawford,

Production Manager In the cinema of the United States, a unit production manager (UPM) is the Directors Guild of America–approved title for the top below-the-line staff position, responsible for the administration of a feature film or television production. Non- ...

Charles Ray, and Operations Manager Hilda White. True decided the trust was to manage station affairs, with benefits being dealt to True's three adult children, until his eldest daughter turned 50 years old. True's daughter Maria D. True, having no experience in radio or broadcasting, disbanded the partnership and leased the station to

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, completely eliminating the music, news, and production departments.

Headquarters

In 1966, the station moved offices and broadcasting headquarters to Riverview Road, just south of Erwin, due to severe flooding of the

Nolichucky River The Nolichucky River is a river that flows through Western North Carolina and East Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Traversing the Pisgah National Forest and the Cherokee National Forest in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the river's wate ...

. In 2016, the WEMB, Inc. partnership was disbanded. Afterward, an application for license reinstatement was dismissed by the FCC.FCC Denies Region 2 Station License
fcc.gov

References

External links

{{Coord, 36, 06, 58, N, 82, 26, 49, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title EMB