Live studio wrestling would return to WFBC-4
on March 26, 1960 with channel 4 personality
Bob Poole calling the action on a broadcast
taped during mid-week and airing that
following weekend. Documentation for this
includes a small mention in the "TV
Highlights" section of the Greenville News
on 3/26/60 that read "Debuting
at 5:00 PM, Championship Wrestling with
Bob Poole as host."
Poole hosted from 3/26/60 until WFBC-TV sports director Bill Krieger took over as host in February of 1961. Billy Powell served as color commentator during some of this time with Krieger. Powell continued doing local Greenville area promochannel 4 started carrying the Raleigh-produced "All Star Wrestling" / "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" tape for the next 25 years.
"Wally Dusek would bring the ring each week and set it up," Krieger told the Gateway. "Some of the big names at that time that I remember wrestling at channel 4 were George Becker, Mike Piadousis, Gorgeous George, Ivan the Terrible, and others. Jim Crockett (Sr.) would come by regularly as we got started, but wouldn't stay for the whole taping."
Bill Malendoski was the director for the studio wrestling show," Billy Powell told the Gateway. "The small studio also hosted cooking shows and the weather broadcast, all of which was in a different studio than the news broadcast."
Billy Powell, who was
an institution for wrestling fans on WFBC TV
and radio, was also the long time ring
announcer for Jim Crockett Promotions at the
weekly Monday night cards at the 
For fans in the
Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville market,
Billy Powell's voice was as much a part of
the experience as the voices of TV hosts Bob
Caudle and David Crockett. His was the voice
that those fans trusted the most. When his
local promos were discontinued in the
mid-80s, wrestling on WFBC lost that
personal touch that Powell had given it.
Several years later they tore down the
Memorial Auditorium and "local" wrestling
was gone forever in Greenville.
*This article was updated in
2018 to reflect the first studio wrestling
tapings in 1956.
| BASIC
INFORMATION |
|
| Call Letters: |
WFBC |
| Channel Number: |
4 |
| Network
Affiliate: |
NBC |
| First Period (1950s): |
06/02/56 - 09/08/56 |
| Second Period (1960s): |
03/26/60 - December 1961 |
| Play-by-play
Host: |
Claude Freeman, Bob Poole, Bill Krieger |
| Color
Commentators: |
Billy Powell |
| Ring Announcer:
|
Host |
| Night Taped: |
Saturday (1956), Tuesday, Wednesday (1960-1961) |
| Show Name: |
Carolina Wrestling, Championship Wrestling |
Greenville promoter in the 1960s and 1970s Paul Winkhaus with Billy Powell. Despite what the caption indicates, promoter Paul Winkhaus is on the LEFT, Billy Powell is on the right.
Special thanks to Billy Powell and Bill Kreiger for speaking with the Gateway for this feature. Thanks also to Don Holbrook, Carroll Hall, Kent Smith, Greg Price, Mark Eastridge and Steve Bomar (Business Manager at WYFF) for their assistance with this feature.
MP3 Audio Clips
Billy Powell Promotional Spot Sample from the Early 80s
This second MP3 audio clip is an actual 30 sec. inserted spot voiced by Billy Powell for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling on channel 4. Billy is promoting an 11/4/74 card in Greenville featuring a fence match between former partners Swede Hanson and Rip Hawk. Notice how Powell puts a great local touch to his promos, reminding people of the turn-away crowd at the last show and to get their tickets early for the show on Monday night. Powell sold lots of tickets over the years for Jim Crockett Promotions.
(Audio Clip courtesy Kent Smith.
Newspaper clipping from Mark Eastridge)
 | ||
| The Greenville Memorial Auditorium (aka, the "Big Brown Box"), home of Monday night wrestling every week in Greenville, SC, for decades. |
