Very cool. The station was influential in the forming of one of the top bands of Bluegrass music in the 1950s and 60s, Reno and Smiley
From the
http://www.roanokeradio.com/WDBJ/ link:
During the 1940’s, one of the radio station’s most enduring performers achieved national acclaim. Irving Sharp became known as “Mr. Dr. Pepper” because of his successful sales endorsements of the drink. He also hosted Sharp’s Daily Duzin’, Salt and Peanuts, and the Silver Dollar Man. “Cousin Irv” eventually went on to TV, hosting Cartoon Theatre and the
Top of the Morning Show. And for decades, he continued to host weekend music shows on the radio station that made him a star.
And from Red Smiley's bio
http://bluegrassmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/1992-inductee-arthur-lee-red-smiley/In 1949, Red joined fiddler Tommy Magness’s band at WDBJ radio in Roanoke, Virginia. Hearing that Don Reno had left the Blue Grass Boys, he convinced Magness to call and offer him a job. Don accepted and came to Roanoke, where he and Red first met. Soon after, they recorded four Reno-penned sacred songs for Federal, a subsidiary of the King label in Cincinnati, Ohio. Although their personalities and styles were very different, Red and Don realized that the combination was magical. After Tommy Magness retired, both joined Toby Stroud’s Blue Mountain Boys in Wheeling, West Virginia for a short stint.
...They [Reno and Smiley] started the first early morning country music TV show in Roanoke, Virginia, on December 31, 1956. “Top of the Morning” appeared every weekday until 1968, and was soon followed by a Saturday night radio barn dance in Danville and a weekly TV show in Harrisonburg.
Some of the Top of the Morning TV shows with Irv Sharp large and in charge are available on YouTube.
More history on music in Roanoke and associated radio stations at the link below.
http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_notes/bri/BRI00010.pdf
