WEMB

WEMB
City	Erwin, Tennessee
Broadcast area	Erwin, Tennessee Johnson City Kingsport Bristol TN - VA
Frequency	1420 kHz
First air date	1957
Power	5,000 watts day 21 watts night
Class	D
Facility ID	70509
Transmitter coordinates	36°06′58″N 82°26′49″W / 36.11611°N 82.44694°W / 36.11611; -82.44694
Owner	WEMB, Inc.

WEMB is a radio station serving the Tri-Cities region of Johnson City/Kingsport/Bristol in Tennessee and Bristol in Virginia. Owned by Jet Broadcasting, the station, branded as 1420 NBC Sports Radio Tri-Cities, is licensed to Erwin, Tennessee.

History

The call letters EMB stood for Elvia Meadows Blakemore,^[1] wife of Max Blakemore, who built the station over his Erwin pharmacy, Clinchfield Drug on Main Avenue, in 1957.

The station played gospel music, bluegrass music, and country music with programs such as "Gospel Trax" (named for the station's close proximity to Clinchfield Railroad) the "Spivey Mountain Flour Bluegrass Hour" (named for the Spivey Mountain Boys, a music group that originated in Erwin), and the "WEMB Attic", which mixed contemporary country music with country hits from 1950 through 1999.

Elvis Presley was banned at the station for several years.

Hostage situation

In June 1985, a gunman with two rifles held the station hostage for five hours.^[2] Lyle Shelton of Erwin interrupted a WEMB news broadcast which mentioned his recent arrest, and told disc jockey 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. Shelton walked out of the building and surrendered to police custody. No shots were fired.

Headquarters

In 1966, the station moved offices and broadcasting headquarters to Riverview Road, just south of Erwin. In 2016, the station office closed its doors for good, as the WEMB, Inc. partnership was disbanded. When an application for license reinstatement was dismissed by the FCC.,^[3] 1420 AM was leased to NBC Sports Radio.

References

External links

Query the FCC's AM station database for WEMB

Radio-Locator Information on WEMB

Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WEMB

Radio stations in the Johnson City / Kingsport / Bristol TN–VA market

By AM frequency	640 690 790 870 910 980 1050 1090 1140 1230 1260 1320 1400 1490 1550

By FM frequency	88.3 89.1 89.5 90.3 90.5 90.5 91.5 92.3 92.9 93.5 93.9 94.9 95.9 96.9 97.7 98.5 99.3 100.1 100.7 101.5 102.7 103.1 103.9 104.3 104.9 106.5 106.9 107.3

By callsign	W206BE W213AN W222AG WABN WAEZ WAXM WBCM-LP WBGQ WCQR-FM WCSK WETB WETS-FM WEXX WEYE WFHG WFHG-FM WGAT WGOC WHCB WHGG WIGN WIKQ WJCW WKJV-LP WKOS WKPT WMCH WMEV-FM WMIT WOPI WPWT WQUT WRZK WTFM WUMC WVEK-FM WXBQ-FM WXIS WXLZ WXLZ-FM WXSM WZAP

Defunct	WDUF

Tennessee radio markets Chattanooga Jackson Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol Knoxville Memphis Nashville Other Tennessee radio regions Clarksville Cookeville Virginia radio markets Bristol Fredericksburg Harrisonburg Norfolk–Newport News–Virginia Beach Richmond Roanoke–Lynchburg Winchester Other Virginia radio regions Blacksburg–Christiansburg–Radford–Pulaski Bluefield Charlottesville Eastern Shore Farmville Northern Neck Roanoke Rapids–South Hill Southside Southwest Virginia Virginia Highlands See also List of radio stations in Tennessee List of radio stations in Virginia

Coordinates: 36°06′58″N 82°26′49″W / 36.11611°N 82.44694°W / 36.11611; -82.44694

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