Hendersonville – WHKP Radio is celebrating its 74th year of broadcasting to Hendersonville, “The City of Four Seasons,” and to Henderson County by sharing a selection of old photographs from this period of time on the station’s Facebook page, which can be accessed by going to www.whkp.com.
Art Cooley, President and General Manager of the station, mentions the historical value of these photos and invites the public to view and download personal copies.
Pictures included in the retrospective range from the very first broadcast on the station, from the stage of the old Carolina Theatre Building in downtown Hendersonville in 1946, to the visit by former President Ronald Reagan in 1960 for in-studio interviews by the late Kermit Edney, owner and operator of the station.
Other notable photographs feature personalities such as the late Jimmy Valvano, coach of National Championship North Carolina State Wolfpack; Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice, University of North Carolina All-American football player; Burt Reynolds, movie star visiting the Flat Rock Playhouse; and historical snapshots around town, such as the WHKP Easter Egg Hunt at the old three-story Elks Lodge on Sixth Avenue West.
WHKP was the first and still the only locally-owned radio station serving Henderson County, and it is heard on the AM dial at 1450 and on the FM dial at 107.7.