John Long, president of the Georgia Radio Museum and Hall of Fame, sent us the following short notification of the passing of one of the co-founders of the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame, Sam Hale.
Sam Hale passed away on August 4, and was buried in a family cemetery in Tennessee, following a private service.
Sam was fascinated with radio from his earliest years. His first paying gig was at WMMT(AM) in his home town of McMinnville, Tenn. When WBMC(AM) went on the air there, he was among its original staff.
Following military service with AFRTS, where he became anchor for the first scheduled news program ever on a U. S. Army broadcast TV station, Sam joined WKDA(AM) in Nashville. He was hired away by the Bartell Group and worked at their stations in Birmingham, Ala. (WYDE-AM), Milwaukee (WOKY-AM) and New York (WADO-AM). Sam also did mornings in Minneapolis and Chicago.
He came to WQXI(AM) in Atlanta in 1962. In 1966, Sam began to devote full-time to his avocation, the stock market. Following a successful career as a Chartered Market Technician and affiliate of the New York Society of Security Analysts, he retired in 2003.
Sam is the co-founder and former vice president of The Georgia Radio Hall of Fame.
