WFLO AM and FM
70 YEARS AND COUNTING
Video courtesy of Ryan Stouffer
“You’re tuned to WFLO 95.7 FM in Farmville, Virginia,” sings the voice of General Manager Francis Wood several times an hour. It’s a familiar sound for residents of Farmville, as town residents have been known to use the timely programming of the FM station to set their clocks, says Francis Wood.
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"I've been here for 60 years...and WFLO has always been about how can you use us for something...we always made ourselves available to you," says longtime announcer Henry Fulcher.
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In 1947, WFLO was solely an AM station and the studio was located on West Third Street and just the studio transmitter was on Cumberland Road, where the current studio stands. It was 10 years before the two locations merged into one and continued to expand.
WFLO is home to both an AM and an FM station and celebrated 70 years in August 2017. The small-market radio station has the 11th largest signal of a radio station in the commonwealth of Virginia, reaching one-third of the state, according to Station Manager and On-Site Engineer Chris Brochon.
There are two radio stations in Farmville now with the addition of WVHL 92.9 in 1996, specializing in country music. However, their signal is 5,000 watts of power in their FM station, whereas WFLO AM 870 is 1,000 watts and WFLO 95.7 FM is 50,000 watts.
The Beginning of WFLO
In the 1940s, the United States government noticed the need for small town radio stations and Carla Keys of Johnson City, Tennessee, looked into starting her own small radio station with an entrepreneurial spirit and with the help of advisers, she found that the small town of Farmville, Virginia was with neither their own radio station nor one close by to pick up the signal, according to the late John Wilson, former owner and general manager of WFLO.
“Back then, John Wilson treated the staff as his family. It wasn’t just a business, and that very much holds true to this day,” says Brochon.
Cumberland Road is a residential street on the outskirts of Farmville and without the white WFLO sign in the front yard, the radio station looks like a regular house in the neighborhood, “as it was intended to be,” says Brochon.
Flo: Your Hometown Station
Over the course of the last 70 years, the station has seen many faces on-air and in the office and even more listeners, so much as to be remembered as “Your Hometown Station” and “Flo.”
“It’s very simple to become your hometown station, it takes nothing more than being a part of the community,” says Brochon, “We’re as active in the community as people as we are with the station.”
Brochon is the Vice Chair for the Farmville Area Chamber of Commerce, as well as former member of the Heart of Virginia Board, Commonwealth Corral, Friends of the Library board and the Waterworks Players Board.
Francis Wood’s extracurriculars include a seat on both the Centra Southside Community Hospital Board of Directors and the Centra Board of Directors in Lynchburg. He is a former member of the Farmville Chamber of Commerce and the Moton Museum Board of Directors, and former president of the VAB.
“We depend on the community to keep us afloat,” says Francis Wood, “What we do is repetitive, but it’s become our responsibility to our listeners.”
“Flo is as much their station as ours and that’s difficult to do. It’s all about maintaining relationships,” continues Brochon.
The community is not the only relationship that has blossomed out of WFLO, Francis Wood met his wife, Christine, at the station.
“We worked with each other for eight or nine years at Flo and we were both going through divorce at the same time,” says Christine Wood, WFLO bookkeeper and program director.
“(Our relationship developed over the years) and we’ve been married since 1994,” says Francis Wood.
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Francis Wood is frequently questioned about the amount of time he spends with Christine Wood, given their four day work week together every week, “we do our own things at work, but together, we’re a real team,” he answers.
When it comes to Fulcher, everyone chuckles. The 79-year-old man has been at the station for 60 of its seventy years, finding his calling at the age of 19.
“Henry is a local legend,” says Francis Wood.
“He’s an institution in himself,” says Christine Wood, “He is someone we will cherish after he’s gone, but we can’t replace him.”
“Henry is Henry, no one else will ever have a Henry,” chuckles Brochon.
Fulcher is known for his bluegrass and country music shows, “He has a real passion for music and the listeners,” says Francis Wood.
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"Subconsciously, every day, I have something inside me that makes me want to do something that will touch somebody in a way to help them forget about their problems, even if just for a few minutes," says Fulcher.
Fulcher ends morning show on November 17, 2017
“You can hear the the A side (the side of the record with the hits) anywhere,” says Fulcher, who is known to play the alternative cuts of the records.
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“He never played the hits unless he liked them,” says Brochon.
“He’s a radio rebel and a true pioneer of country music,” says Francis Wood.
It’s paid off for him, as Fulcher was named Broadcaster of the Year by the Virginia Association of Broadcasters (VAB) in 1984.
Off the air, Fulcher is known for his jokes, most of which Francis Wood has been hearing for 50 years, “It’s not about the jokes, it’s how Henry tells them, which makes me laugh every time.”
“Sometimes he’ll get you,” says Traffic Manager John Staton, “Henry will say something that will make you think he’s crazy or forgetful, but he knows exactly what he’s doing.”
“He’s definitely an outside-the-box individual and he hasn’t changed in 60 years,” says Brochon.
If WFLO is a family, you would think that Fulcher would be the grandfather, but he’s the crazy uncle, insists Brochon.
Photo courtesy of wflo.net
Go with the Flo
Part of the recipe to Flo’s continued success and popularity in Farmville and the surrounding towns is longevity. The loyal listener base grows because WFLO is the radio station they have always known.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” says Brochon in a commercial for WFLO’s digital media.
The “Call Flo” radio show was started in the 1970s as a morning show where listeners could call in and talk about whatever they wanted to. It’s reached increasing popularity over many years and even won Best Small-Market Morning Show with the VAB five times in eight years.
While announcers have come and gone and segments have been added, “Call Flo” remains unscripted and hosts Brochon, Christine Wood and Francis Wood never know what the listeners will throw at them.
Photo courtesy of wflo.net
Some of the additions to the show since its birth include interviews on Wednesdays, a positive news story at the bottom of the hour and word of the day.
The part of the radio station that has decreased in popularity the most over the years is remote broadcasting. According to Francis Wood, it used to be a big deal if WFLO showed up to an event, such as the county fair, and fans would stand around the announcers for as long as they were there.
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Brochon attributes the dwindling to the rise of social media, “People see us all the time now, so it’s not a big deal when we do an event and see listeners.”
Now, remote broadcasting has decreased to grand openings of businesses or for drawing out crowds to non-profit events.
“The idea (was) that when the listeners hear us on the radio live from the event, they (would) have a fear of missing out and that (would) draw them out,” says Brochon.
The efforts of the WFLO staff over the years have not gone unnoticed. Along with the “Call Flo” awards and Fulcher’s Broadcaster of the Year award, the walls of the station office are covered with production awards from the VAB and many letters and award of thanks for the public service of the station.
Seven awards from the Virginia Association of Broadcasters
A wall of awards in the "museum" between the AM and FM studios
The Call Flo Radio Show has won "Best Morning Show" five times in eight years
Seven awards from the Virginia Association of Broadcasters
Public service announcements like the community calendar, lost and found pets, the birthday calendar and obituary notices are a large part of what builds the station’s listener loyalty, according to Francis Wood.
“Most stations will charge for all of the public service announcements that we do, but at Flo, we don’t,” he says, “And everyone knows that if you want people to know about your event, you tell WFLO.”
Now, WFLO has digital studios, an app, live streams, podcasts and as of 2017, a station on the Amazon Echo, the first station in the United States to offer local news on the Echo with direct contact to the station, according to Brochon.
Anywhere in the world, you can now say to your Echo, “tell WFLO to play the local news” or “play WFLO” if you want to feel back at home in Farmville.
“We’ve always adapted,” says Brochon, “We’re the same that we’ve been for 70 years, even with the massive advances, we still do it it the same.”
Small-market radio needs to keep up with the times and provide access to listeners at all time, according to Brochon, “People need accessibility, and you have to make your own presence or you’ll get lost in the shuffle.”
The secret to success for Francis Woods is “to bring rural Virginia to the world (digitally).”
“We’re not just this small station; the VAB large markets know us, and that speaks to the impact we make in the state,” says Brochon, “And in my opinion, we’re doing it right.”
“Everything in the digital media era was supposed to kill radio,” says Francis Wood, “Nothing killed radio.”
“Everyone thinks radio is dead,” says Christine Wood, “But it is very much not.”
Whenever some new technology came out, radio adapted to it, according to Francis Wood.
“When TV came out, Top 40 was invented. Radio embraces change,” he says.
Francis Wood says nobody believes him when he says that the WFLO website sees half a million page visits sometimes.
“‘There’s no way,’ they say, but there is a way and we do it,” he confirms.
WFLO evolves with the times, adding on new media all the time. The first progression came when Wilson suggested the addition of an FM station before everyone knew FM would be popular.
From reel to reel tapes to carts to mini discs and vinyl records to music on the computer, WFLO has seen no shortage of change in how they play their music.