On Tuesday, the WPAX Radio Station, founded by Hoyt Wimpy on December 27 in 1922, celebrated their 100th anniversary, commemorating the occasion with broadcasted testimonies from Thomasville locals. 

Len Robinson, the owner of the radio station, said that he came in Tuesday morning and shared how lucky he felt with Chris Hurst, the station’s News Director.  

“This morning, when I came into work, I said to Chris Hurst, our news guy ‘what a privilege it is, for me and you both, to be here celebrating 100 years of a radio station,’” he said. “Because, you know, not many of them make to 100 years in this day and time. And not many are that old!”

Robinson said that the anniversary was very special to him, not only due to what the station meant to him, having originally started working there in 1957 while still in high school, but also because he couldn’t have expected to still be around for it. 

“It’s just something that is very special for me because of the fact that I came to work here as a 15-year old boy, working for Mr. Wimpy, the guy that put the radio station on the air in 1922, so this is special to me,” he said. “Never in my wildest imaginations did I think that when I came here to work for him, that I would not only be the owner of the radio station, but would be around and still alive at the 100 year anniversary.”

The testimony from locals, gathered over the last few months by Hurst, will be running on the air for the next few weeks, according to Robinson. 

“We’re running those on the air now,” he said. “We’ll continue to run them for a few weeks, you know, of them just saying congratulations to WPAX and that type of thing.”

He added that hearing back from the community, those that his words had reached throughout his career, was a very humbling experience and reminded him of his responsibility to Thomasville. 

“The words were humbling and reminded me of the big responsibility I have, cause of the fact that everything that goes out on that radio, good or bad, the buck stops here and I feel a lot of responsibility, but very blessed to be able to try and present something that is favorable to the community, meaningful to the community.”

Speaking on the history of the radio station, Robinson, the fourth owner of the station, said that he was inspired to take the steps to buy the station in 1985 from its previous owner, George Oliva, because of his love of radio. 

“I always had a love for radio in my heart. I disc jockey’d back and forth from Valdosta when I was going to school over there and I always wanted to be in radio, but if I did, I wanted ownership, so I could mold it like I wanted to,” he said. 

Over the years, Robinson said that one of the biggest changes that came during his time as owner was the introduction of satellite radio and the assistance it provided in alleviating labor costs. He added, however, that it came at a cost he was never happy about. 

“That did not come without some trade offs, because I resisted that for as long as I could, because it just wasn’t radio as I felt like it should be,” Robinson said. “I felt like we had to have a live, local presence behind that microphone 24/7, and I still feel that way, but with this economy, this business environment, that’s not possible. Especially for an independently-owned, small station like us.”

Yet, Robinson said that everything changed, and his real task as the owner of the station was to change with it to remain a viable business.

“Nothing remains the same, everything changes, and you have to change with it a lot of times, whether you want to or not, if you’re gonna remain viable as a business,” he said. “Now we do not just turn on that satellite music and let it go 24/7, we have local hours for four to five hours most every day, with locals, local announcers and local news, like Chris Hurst and Stacey, that work with me, but we couldn’t do that 24/7 and remain a viable business, unfortunately.”

Happy to be celebrating the 100th anniversary, Robinson said that he hoped that the radio station would continue on to its next anniversary, even if he couldn’t be there to see it himself. 

“I hope so,” he said. “I’m sorry to say I wish I could be around to guide and direct it, but that’s not the way the program works. I never thought I’d be here for this anniversary, so I’m just blessed to be.”