During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) celebrated the anniversary of WOWO Radio.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I am so glad the junior center from Indiana occupies the chair's presiding officer at
00:09this time because it was a hundred years ago next week that the voice of a thousand main
00:17streets first began broadcasting from the second floor of the main auto supply building
00:23in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana, an area that the presiding officer knows well.
00:31On March 31st, 1925, at 500 watts, 1320 on the dial, the voice of the Midwest, WoWo Radio,
00:41hit the airwaves.
00:43In Indiana, from such humble beginnings, great things often rise.
00:48And those distinctive call letters, WoWo, endure today.
00:55In fact, over the past century, through good times and bad, Hoosiers in the northeast part
01:00of our state have turned on and turned in, tuned in to WoWo Radio.
01:07And though the number on the dial has changed, the studio has moved, the station's wattage
01:12has expanded, and the world of media has evolved, Hoosiers still listen to WoWo today.
01:22WoWo is not just a radio station in this community, it's the community's radio station.
01:29One it has loved and taken care of for a hundred years now.
01:34Its programs didn't just entertain Fort Wayne, but became part of its culture.
01:40Its personalities didn't simply report the news, but made history.
01:46During the Great Depression, WoWo turned Fort Wayne into a Midwest hub of country music
01:51and helped Hoosiers escape from hard times, if only for an hour.
01:57After Pearl Harbor, WoWo provided desperately needed updates as they arrived over the wire
02:03with word of the progress of the war effort to the families of the 12,000 soldiers from
02:09Fort Wayne fighting overseas.
02:13No matter the era or the decade, WoWo always looked out for its audience.
02:19It brought them the local news, helped them stay informed and engaged.
02:24Every morning, the legendary Bob Seavers called the Fort Wayne Police Department before going
02:30on the air.
02:32When the station moved to the Gaskins Building on Washington Boulevard, where there were
02:37no nearby windows, a reporter ran down the hall, climbed out on the fire escape, and
02:43looked to the sky to determine the weather.
02:49The Gaskins Building is now gone, but as WoWo listeners know, the station still reports
02:55the weather from its world-famous fire escape.
03:01During the events that defined the last century for people in and away from Northeast Indiana,
03:07from the blizzard of 1978 to that terrible September morning in 2001, from the thrill
03:14of the moon landing to the loss of the space shuttle Challenger, listeners can still remember
03:20not just where they were when they heard the news, but how they heard it, from WoWo, through
03:27the radio in the car, on the kitchen table in their classroom.
03:32During tough times, WoWo provided welcome distractions.
03:36The audience could tune in to the Hoosier Hop, where local talents Nancy Lee and the
03:41Hilltoppers played, and Kenny Roberts yodeled.
03:47They could visit the Little Red Barn on a farm down in Indiana from the latest in ag
03:53news.
03:54Modern Home Forum, hosted by the fictional Jane Weston, offered cooking lessons.
04:01Broadcasts of Comets and Pistons games brought the people of Fort Wayne together around their
04:06beloved hockey and basketball teams.
04:10And the innovative and much imitated Man on the Street and One Moment programs turned
04:15the show's listeners into stars.
04:19If a member of the Fort Wayne community lost their dog, WoWo could help them find it.
04:25If they fell on hard times, it offered them a hand up.
04:30In the 1940s, the station created the Penny Pitch, encouraging listeners to contribute
04:37pocket change for a disabled young man so he could realize his ambition of pursuing
04:43a career in journalism.
04:47The annual drive still raises money to provide resources to charities across Northeast Indiana.
04:56Last year, the Penny Pitch raised over $135,000 for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Fort Wayne.
05:04Throughout WoWo's history, many of its personalities became household names across Northeast Indiana.
05:13Broadcasters like Bob Chase, who served our nation in World War II and then served WoWo
05:18listeners as sports director and the voice of the Comets hockey team for over six decades,
05:24were beloved figures.
05:26More recently, hosts like Charlie Butcher, Pat Miller, and Caleb Blakeslee became well
05:32known and trusted by the WoWo audience.
05:36Brian Ford, WoWo news director, recalled as a child that when the sky grew dark and storms
05:42neared, his grandmother would simply say, turn on WoWo.
05:49When news breaks, good or bad, at home or far away, at the beginning of another day
05:54in Fort Wayne and the world turned beyond it, families still find WoWo on their dial
06:02or on their phones.
06:04So today, I join my fellow Hoosiers in marking this milestone, offering WoWo and its staff
06:12past and present congratulations on creating a truly remarkable bond with their audience
06:18and for serving fellow Hoosiers with news and entertainment.
06:23Oh, and about that call sign.
06:26It's a bit counterintuitive perhaps, but back in 1925, the W in WoWo designated the station's
06:35location east of the Mississippi River.
06:38The other three letters didn't stand for anything.
06:41They were just catchy.
06:43At the time of the station's founding, a newspaper reported that WoWo expects to become a familiar
06:50voice of the Middle West despite the low wavelength.
06:55The trick call letters, it is believed, will add to the novelty of the plant.
07:01The station's leaders were right on both accounts.
07:03A listener contest later determined that WoWo would stand for Wayne Offers Wonderful Opportunities.
07:12But WoWo will never be just call letters.
07:15If you grew up in its listening range, you know what it stands for, what it means, and
07:21what it has meant to Northeast Indiana since that first broadcast a century ago.
07:27I have no doubt, however much change that time and technology may bring, a hundred years
07:35from now, WoWo will remain on the air and remain an important part of the fabric of
07:41Northeast Indiana.
07:43Mr. President, I yield the floor.