WOFE and WUFX Old Radio Station Building – Rockwood, Tennessee
As I prefer to do, I skipped taking the interstate on my way back towards Knoxville from Dayton, Tennessee. Invariably it takes longer to get anywhere this way, but passing through small towns and the fringes of communities offers so much to look at. If you’re the curious type, every sleepy little town has threads to pull and unravel the history of why something is the way it is now.
Passing through the town of Rockwood, this former radio station building caught my eye. I made a u-turn to go back for a peek in the window.
Growing up in a time before you had an entertainment universe in your pocket, terrestrial radio meant something different than it does today. You had favorite stations, favorite DJs, familiar jingles, and they kept you company throughout so many parts of life.
Remember those call in shows on the weekends where you’d make requests for songs or heartfelt dedications to your teenaged love? The countdown shows, the morning zoos, the local commercials?
There was some loose sense of community built around your allegiance to a station. You noticed radio station bumper stickers on other cars and made some kind of judgement about the driver. Radio stations were part of the fabric of our daily lives.
Though I didn’t grow up on these stations in particular, seeing the neon signs of the call letters hit me right in the nostalgia feels.
📻 WOFE | FM 105.7 | 580 AM
📻 WUFX | 92.3
