Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published November 11, 2006 Click here for the current edition WSMB April 23, 1925-November 10, 2006 This is at most a footnote to New Orleans broadcast history, but it's something I care enough about that I must scribble a few words. Last Friday night at midnight, the second-longest-running radio call letters in New Orleans (after WWL) ceased to exist. WSMB, 1350 AM, was renamed WWWL. That reflects its new role in repeating WWL's programs in dayparts other than those in which the original programs originally aired. The idea is to allow those who are otherwise occupied at the shows' regular times to hear the shows at a different time. WSMB is, as you probably know, the long-time home of my radio Food Show. The good news is that the show will continue as before. This will make the eighth time in eighteen years that my show has survived, unscathed, a major programming overhaul. Which, in the world of radio, is astonishing. (If I were a cat, I'd be concerned that I am now on my ninth life.) The only alteration to the Food Show is its hours. I'm now on the air live from two till five every weekday afternoon. This will be either good or bad news to you, depending on your own schedule--but not time will please everyone. I must say I am pleased, because it allows the entire show to broadcast on the easier-to-hear daytime signal year round. If you miss it in the afternoon, it will air again from eight till eleven in the evening. I'll also still be on WWL from noon till two on most Saturdays. All that said, I shed a small tear for those old call letters. They stand for Saenger (as in the theater) and Maison Blanche (as in the department store), who partnered to build WSMB in 1925. It was the first professional radio station in New Orleans. The first to pass a million dollars in annual sales, the first all-talk station, and for most of the 1960s and 1970s the top-rated adult station in town. For its first sixty-five years, WSMB broadcast from the roof of the Maison Blanche Building on Canal Street. The studios were big enough to accommodate live drama and large musical ensembles, which formed the bulk of the programming in the early years. I was the last person to broadcast from that amazing space, in 1990. WSMB has been a subsidiary of the company that owns WWL since 1992. However I feel about the loss of the WSMB name, I can't say anything but good things about the way they've treated me. In recent times, I am particularly grateful that they kept me on payroll throughout the entire post-Katrina period, even though I was off the air for over three months. The radio business is different from what it was even a decade ago, is the best explanation of this new change. I know that. But still. . . it's going to take this radio geek a long time to get used to not saying, "WSMB Radio, New Orleans." © 2006 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com