On June 26, 1941, at 6:57am, a new local radio station, WINC -1400AM began serving the Winchester, Virginia community. It was the city’s first radio station, and it brought Virginia Senator Harry F. Byrd and Virginia Governor James Hubert Price to town for the ribbon cutting ceremonies signing on this new radio service.
The radio station’s offices, studios, transmitter and tower were located at 520 Pleasant Valley Road in Winchester.
It would broadcast live descriptions of the attack on Pearl Harbor and FDR’s famous “Infamy Speech” only six months after signing on-the-air.
In 1947 a radio contest on WINC (known locally as Wink) would take down the entire telephone system for the City of Winchester, as female listeners tried to win a free pair of nylon stockings and a $10 handbag.
Virginia Hensley
Winchester’s most famous resident is Virginia Hensley, better known to the world as Patsy Cline.
When Ginny was just fourteen years old, she walked into WINC and asked if she could sing on one the station’s live music shows, . The leader of the band, told her to come back next week and maybe he’d let her sing on the radio. Ginny returned the following weekend and made her broadcast debut on WINC in 1948.
Other stars to visit the station included, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Paul Harvey, who would broadcast his national News & Commentary over the ABC Radio Network on April 14, 1962.
Local Radio
WINC provided residents of Frederick County Virginia with news, entertainment and advertisements from local retailers. Those ads must have been popular with the business community because the radio station ran into trouble with the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) when trying to renew its broadcast license in 1971. At that time, the FCC allowed no more than 18-minutes of commercials per hour and WINC was airing 22-minutes of ads. It was reported that the FCC’s Broadcast Bureau Chief felt the excessive number of commercials were not in the best interests of Winchester community, but in the end renewed the station’s broadcast license.
Programming
Through the years, WINC -1400AM would undergo various programming changes. From live musical performances, to playing records. Musically, the station went from playing middle-of-the-road music, to adult contemporary, to classic hits; finally changing to a news/talk format in 1996, because its sister station, WINC-FM 92.5 had become Winchester’s most popular music radio station.
75th Anniversary
In 2016, WINC-1400AM celebrated its 75th anniversary of broadcasting. During this period of time, the station had only two different owners, the Lewis family and Centennial Broadcasting.
Richard Field Lewis, Jr., a broadcast engineer filed the initial application for a new station in Winchester in November 1940 and six years later, he would launch sister station WINC-FM.
On October 18, 1957 Richard F. Lewis, Jr. died and control of the two stations would pass to the Lewis family and incorporated as Mid-Atlantic Network, Inc.
In May 2007, the Lewis family would sell WINC AM/FM to North Carolina-based Centennial Broadcasting for about $36 million.
The End of an Era
Centennial would begin divesting their Winchester radio properties, which now numbered three FM stations and one AM radio station in 2020.
50,000-watt WINC-FM would be sold to the Educational Media Foundation (EMF) for $1.75 million, which would begin airing EMF’s Air1 network. Centennial’s other two FM stations would be sold to Fairfax, Virginia-based Metro Radio, Inc. for $225,000.
The future of WINC-1400AM was uncertain as the radio station celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2021. Ultimately, the station would find a buyer that paid $25,000 for the signal. The call letters WINC would be changed to WZFC upon completion of the sale in October 22, 2021.
How do you mark the end of a local radio station?
Was it when:
- WINC-FM was sold to EMF and its call letters were changed to WAIW?
- WINC-AM was sold and the call letters were changed to WZFC?*
- The retirement of 37-year Wink Morning Man Barry Lee when the radio stations were sold?
- The demolition of the building WINC AM/FM had broadcast from for over its 75-year existence?
Every day, communities across America are finding a once local radio station vanishing, sometimes they’re replaced by syndicated programming with little local service, other times the city of license is changed and the local radio service is moved to a larger population center and sometimes, the signals just go off-the-air.
Generations who grew up and lived in Winchester, Virginia depended on radio stations WINC AM/FM as they were a part of the fabric of the community. More importantly, the local radio personalities that were heard over Wink Radio for decades, were very much a part of these families lives.
DickTaylorBlog 
…not unlike other industries. We must “move-on.”
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A hard truth, Art.
-DT
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I couldn’t tell if your article was saying the station was gone. According to radio-locator WINC is still on the air at 1400KC but without a FM Translator with a news-sports format.
It does stream. What I heard sounds like satellite fed.
https://radio.securenetsystems.net/v5/index.cfm?stationCallSign=WINCAM
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The WINC call letters for the AM1400 signal have been changed to WZFC. The old WINC-FM was moved to 105.5FM and operates basically out of a computer.
-DT
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Dick,
Great to see you back. Stay safe and healthy…J
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Thank You J. I said as this year began, I would blog when something I wanted to weigh in on, came to my attention.
This story did just that.
-DT
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A sad story that is probably repeated weekly some place in this country. Sad for folks our age who grew up when radio was such an integral part of everyone’s life, sadder even for folks like us, who spent our work life in a medium that has lost most of its relevance. With the internet, smart phones, and hundreds of places to get news and information, radio’s moment in the sun has passed, but we have our memories. I’ll always remember sitting around the radio in a snowy morning, listening to Rambling with Gambling, waiting to see if school was closed. Happy Father’s Day to all!
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Yes Frank, we lived in the “good old days” of radio – part 2.
Part 1, I would say was radio before the advent of television.
-DT
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I met John A. Gambling in person when I introduced my book “Radio’s Morning Show Personalities” (McFarland, 1996) to the Broadcast Pioneers club. He was a genuinely genteel person, just as he was on air. I attended his funeral as well, where someone insisted I was a Gambling as well; what a compliment!
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Rambling with Gambling was a family morning radio dynasty in New York City.
Thanks for stopping by the blog today and sharing that story.
-DT
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After listening to WOR for most of my life, I worked at WOR for 6 months before my 40 years at WABC, and got to be good friends with John R, the third generation. When WOR decided they’d had enough of Rambling with Gambling, John came to WABC and did a mid morning show from 10-noon, and I renewed our old friendship with him and became his Engineer. Several times, while John was on WABC, his Dad came up and visited. He was exactly as you described him, and still in many peoples’ minds, a morning radio rock star! One of those people was Rush Limbaugh, who spent 15 minutes on the air with John A and John R on one occasion and told multiple stories about starting in radio in Missouri, and hearing about the Gambling NY morning radio legend. Rush was truly grateful to meet John A, and as he was the biggest thing on radio, I think he made John A feel very humbled but grateful. First and foremost, Rush was a radio geek, and meeting John A was a dream come true for him!
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Dick, quite the yarn. For another station demise, have you waded thru Dave Kruh’s history of WRAN? He’s become a highly successful playwright. His online piece is accessible thru: TheBig1510.com It, too is quite the yarn supported by pics and audio, too – enjoy.
Sent from AT&T Yahoo Mail on Android
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That is a sad story and one heard far too often. I put KLQP-FM in Madison, Minnesota (city of license pop. 1,500 with no nearby regional centers) on the air 41 years ago. I recently decided that, at the age of 72, “I ain’t no spring chicken” so started considering ways to transition this station to a new owner who would have the same hyper-local vision I have had all these years. I could sell it to group who would likely shut down the studios (thanks to the FCC’s very stupid decision not to require a local studio presence) or I could find a local buyer who would continue to run it as the local mom-and-pop station which everyone loves. Fortunately, I found a buyer, a young woman in her 40’s, who will be taking over as soon as the FCC approves the license transfer. I will continue to work for her as I slowly ease into retirement which will likely never happen because I have a passion for the radio business and I can’t see myself ever getting out of it. The local community is very happy that Q-92 will not be leaving anytime soon. I welcome Kerri Boyens, the new owner, to the radio business and I hope you will all wish her well as she carries on the tradition of local radio we have established with lot of work over a lot of years. Local radio can still survive if done right. Unfortunately, too many people are not doing it right.
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Thank You Maynard for sharing that positive story about the transition of local ownership at KLQP-FM.
I saw this same type of transition happen with WKDZ-FM in Cadiz, KY when a long-time employee took over as owner from the retiring owners and the local focus never varied.
Congratulations Maynard.
-DT
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I notice the heyday of radio, indicated by the value of the stations. Obviously, the height of value was the $36 million paid for WINC-AM/FM. What is there now? On the property?
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It will become an apartment complex following the land being cleared of the old radio station’s debris.
-DT
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What is there now? Google Maps still shows the last location and the old FM frequency. What is there now?
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The building has been raised to make way for a new apartment complex, is my understanding. The tower site was relocated from its original location and the programming is now EMF’s K-Love format.
-DT
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The 92.5 frequency may be gone, the building may be gone, but the bond between those of us that worked side by side at 520 North Pleasant Valley Road through the years lives on.
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And that fact, Barry, was more than proven with your presence in this year’s annual Apple Blossom Festival parade.
The crowds all along the parade route cheered for you, showing you their love and appreciation for your almost four decades of service to the Winchester community.
-DT
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A sad story that pertains to many AM stations. Just down the interstate from Winchester, almost the same story for 1240 WROV in Roanoke. Bought by a conglomerate from a local owner, primarily to get the calls for his FM station which is licensed for Martinsville. WROV-AM was eventually sold to another conglomerate and the calls changed to WGMN. Today, it has no studios of its own. The talk format comes from Forrest, a suburb of Lynchburg. The origional building was torn down back in the early 2000’s. The tower still stands at 15th & Cleveland, where the studios once were.
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We’re living in a time of revolution in media. Out with the old and in with the new.
To those of us who grew up with the radio of the 60s till the end of the century, it’s a sad time.
Thank you Mark for sharing that story about WROV.
-DT
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