Wilton Earle Hall (March 11, 1901February 25, 1980) was a

United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. Born in Starr, South Carolina, Hall attended public school and then

Furman University Furman University is a private university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1826 and named after Baptist pastor Richard Furman, the Liberal arts college, liberal arts university is the oldest private institution of higher l ...

in ( Greenville). He founded a morning newspaper in

Anderson, South Carolina Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 28,106 at the 2020 census, making it the 16th-most populous city in South Carolina. It is one of the principal cities in the Gree ...

in 1924, and in 1929 acquired an evening newspaper. In 1935 he established a radio station,

WAIM WAIM (1230 AM) is a news/talk radio station located in Anderson, South Carolina. The station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast with a full-time power of 1,000 watts non-directional. History WAIM signed on ...

. From 1934 to 1938, Hall was chairman of the South Carolina Planning Board and was appointed, on November 20, 1944, as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Ellison D. Smith and served until January 3, 1945. Hall was not a candidate for election to the full term; in fact, Smith had already been defeated for re-election and was only serving out the remainder of his prior term. Hall resumed the newspaper publishing and broadcasting business as publisher of the ''

Anderson Independent The ''Anderson Independent-Mail'', marketed as ''Independent Mail'' and sometimes referred to as ''Anderson Independent Mail'', is a newspaper for Anderson County in the state of South Carolina. It is owned by Gannett Satellite Information Net ...

'' and ''Daily Mail of South Carolina''; he also later founded the television station WAIM-TV in 1953 and also founded and owned the radio station WCAC-FM in addition to WAIM. He was also the publisher of ''Quote'' Magazine. Hall resided in Anderson, where he died in 1980; his interment was in a mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Wilton 1901 births 1980 deaths People from Anderson County, South Carolina Businesspeople from South Carolina Democratic Party United States senators from South Carolina Furman University alumni South Carolina Democrats 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century United States senators