This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Birth of WHIS TV and the race to Channel 6
The feature recounts WHIS FM’s brief life and the 1950s shift to TV in Bluefield. It details the FM station’s rise and collapse, FCC battles, and Elizabeth Kee’s role, then the move to Channel 6 with a private microwave relay from Roanoke to East River Mountain. It chronicles studio relocations, the 1955 debut, programming, and early network integration.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Longworth
O.C
WHIS
Whis-Fm
Whis - FM
Jim
Hugh, Jr
Bluefield
Daily Telegraph Printing Company
FCC
Kenova
West Virginia
North Carolina
Washington
Channel Fight
Beckley
Oak Hill
High Point
N.C
Tern
Channel 6
Elizabeth Kee
Whis-Tv
Beckley and
WBRW
Welch
Pat
Elvin C. Feltner
RCA TV Institute
Ray Brooks
John Shott
Alfred Land
Jeweler
Camera 4
O. C. Young
Don Reed
Ashland
Bill Elliott
Sunset News
Mel Barnett
Whis-Radio
Hollywood
American Telephone & Telegraph Co
Roanoke
Hugh Shott
NBC
RCA
Pat Flanagan
U. S
Poor Mountain
There
Rocky Mountain
WDBJ
At&t
Mountain State and Trust
Dismal Peak
East River Mountain
Flanagan
Paul Osburn
Pinky Lee
John Cameron Swayze
Sid Caesar
Milton Berle
Martha Raye
Bob Hope
Cisco Kid
the Hunter
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
Highway Patrol
Ford Theatre
Dragnet
William Bendix
Riley
George Gobel
Network
Hhore
Whis - Radio
Commerce Street
Pastors
Swingsters
Quintones