WMFR
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| City | High Point, North Carolina |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Piedmont Triad |
| Branding | Triad Sports Network |
| Frequency | 1230 kHz |
| First air date | October 15, 1935 |
| Format | Sports radio |
| Power | 1,000 watts unlimited |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 73257 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 35°57′20.00″N 80°0′22.00″W / 35.9555556°N 80.0061111°W |
| Callsign meaning | We Make Furniture Right |
| Affiliations | ESPN Radio |
| Owner |
Curtis Media Group (Crescent Media Group, LLC) |
| Sister stations | WCOG, WPCM, WSJS, WSML, WYMY |
| Website | triadsports.com |
WMFR (1230 AM; "Triad Sports Network") is a radio station broadcasting a sports radio format. Licensed to High Point, North Carolina, USA, the station serves the Piedmont Triad area. The station is currently owned by Curtis Media Group and features programing from ESPN Radio.
WMFR signed on October 15, 1935 by the Lambeth family of Thomasville, North Carolina. Among its programs in the early years were Guy Lombardo and Boston Blackie.
WFMY-TV sportscaster Charlie Harville started his career on WMFR in 1938, airing Class D Thomasville Tommies baseball as well as football games.
The 8-story Radio Building in High Point housed several banks, including Commercial National Bank, and NCNB in the late 20th century. As of 2005, WMFR had been located in the 83-year-old building since the 1940s, the longest of anyone there, though for five years the station broadcast from outside Greensboro, returning to its former home on Dec. 26, 2000.
In the late 40s an FM station, WMFR-FM, was added at 97.7, later moved to 99.5. In 1983 the station became WMAG.
Max Meeks became morning host in 1947; at age 75, he was still there in 2000 when he took time off for heart surgery, but he had no intention of retiring. He did sell furniture for a while starting in the late 1950s, but he came back to radio. Listeners compared him to Walter Cronkite and James Stewart and considered him an old friend. He tried sounding like famous people when he started, but it didn't work. He was at his best just being a regular person. and he played a wide variety of music, even hymns. Among the stars Meeks interviewed from the WMFR studios: Eddy Arnold and The Carter Sisters, but not Elvis Presley ("I didn't think he would amount to anything"). After other medical procedures, when he couldn't drive to the studio, he just broadcast from home. He was named to the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1996. Meeks announced his retirement at the end of 2009.
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Wikipedia