WBT History: A Look Back at Nations Ford Road in 1929

As we continue working to give WBT’s historic transmitter site every reasonable opportunity to be preserved, I thought it would be worthwhile to share some of the history that makes this property so special.

This photograph shows WBT’s Nations Ford Road transmitter site in 1929.

When the picture was taken, the brick transmitter building was almost brand new. It had been completed in late 1928 on land that had previously been a cotton field. That little brick building is the original WBT transmitter building. It would be remodeled and expanded several times over the years into the much larger building that stands on the site today.

Behind the building, you can see one of the two large supports that held WBT’s early “T” antenna. The other is just outside the picture. Nearly a century later, the concrete piers from those early antenna supports can still be found in the field.

There’s another interesting detail that’s easy to miss. The two telephone poles beside the building supported a combination amateur radio and shortwave antenna used to gather news by Morse code. It’s a fascinating glimpse into just how different gathering and broadcasting news was in those early days of radio.

The photograph also shows how much this part of Charlotte has changed. In 1929, the transmitter building was new, the surrounding land was wide open, and WBT was only a few years into a broadcasting story that would eventually stretch beyond a century.

Today, the historic Nations Ford Road transmitter property is for sale. The original building is still there, although decades of remodeling and expansion have changed its appearance considerably. And out in the field, pieces of the site’s earliest broadcasting history remain.

Nearly a century has passed since someone snapped this photograph. The remarkable part is that some of what you're looking at is still there today.