Bart Walker III

Bart Walker (born July 15, 1944 in Knoxville, TN) is CEO of WGNS Radio in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

In 1957 Walker built a low-power AM radio station when he was in the seventh grade. Belle Meade Theater Manager E. J. Jordan invited the youngster to interview greats like Fess Parker, Pat Boone, Diane Baker, Guy Lombardo and others who would come to the theater and sign the "Wall of Fame" in Nashville, TN.

That same year, popular top 40 Nashville WKDA DJ Ronn Terrell (Terrell Metheny, now retired in Arkansas) encouraged Walker by allowing him to pull news from the teletype on Friday nights, write news stories, and occasionally cover a story that was in the downtown area.

During the summer of 1958 (just before Walker’s freshman high school year), Bill Barry gave him his first break with a Saturday night job on WFMB (105.9 MHz in Nashville). He played show tunes and dance music during the five-hour shift.

FM was so new that the Nashville Public Library would check-out Granco table radios, just like books. Granco radios That allowed listeners to hear the public library's classical music broadcasts that were on Nashville's WFMB. It was the only FM station on-the-air in Nashville at that time. Many years later, the Public Library of Nashville received a license for its own FM radio station (WPLN), now 100,000 watts.

Life and Casualty Insurance Company purchased WFMB from Barry in 1962, and 105.9 MHz became WLAC-FM and increased power to 100,000 watts. Program Director Mark Prichard hired Walker to do mornings (6AM-noon) on the powerful station. The studios were in the glass-enclosed observation deck of the L&C Tower, 31 stories above Nashville.

Walker commented, “What a dream job, working sometimes in the clouds and watching the sun rise daily over the Cumberland River."

Prior to each morning's radio show on the FM, Walker would stop by WLAC-AM and get the news and weather from the teletype. Nashville broadcast legends Herman Grizzard and Roland Wolfe were wrapping-up their broadcasts on WLAC-AM, and talked with Walker over coffee each morning. This was on-the-job training at its finest. Later, longtime personality Ernie Keller joined WLAC-FM and he too shared his knowledge.

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