History of Georgia Wrestling on Television

The following is a post by Georgia Wrestling historian Rich Tate from 2003 on the old Wrestling Classics message board. It is included here for historical purposes. [LINK]

More specific information about the period following Black Saturday in July of 1984 can be found on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway in the article Ole and Solie: The Evolution of TV Wrestling in Georgia after Black Saturday. 

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RICH TATE: I am attempting to piece together a timeline for wrestling on TV in the Atlanta area. Can anyone make corrections or fill in gaps? Especially after Black Saturday...that's where my most confusion lies. Also, if anyone can add to it by adding in what may have been happening in Macon, Columbus, Augusta and Savannah, it's very much appreciated. (Bold and italicized text is mine.)

1954: Live Atlanta Wrestling first appeared on WLWA Channel 11 (ABC affiliate), a three-year-old station, hosted by Ray McCay, who had previously been doing the radio broadcasts of local shows on WQXI-AM 790. The show would jump around the schedule throughout its run on this station, and seemed to become an afterthought more and more as time went on. Prior to that, local fans could only see what the network feeds brought in, and more recently, the shows had been sent in via tape from Texas.

1955: Ed Capral, who had been the ring announcer, replaces McCay on Live Atlanta Wrestling.

1961: Channel 11 ownership changed hands, and its call letters became WAII.

1969: Once again, new owners took over at Channel 11, and the call letters became WQXI.

1970: On January 1, Atlanta independent UHF Channel 17 (WJRJ) is purchased by Ted Turner and renamed WTCG. Les Thatcher began working as a co-host and associate producer, a position he would hold for three years.

1971: Live Atlanta Wrestling changed its name to Georgia Championship Wrestling, beginning with the program shot on August 14. On December 25, Georgia Championship Wrestling aired for the first time on WTCG in a permanent time slot, with taping in the afternoon, and airing each Saturday at 6:00 pm. This was the reason the promotion decided to change stations. It had become very difficult to keep fans coming to the studios for live matches when the schedule was so varied at Channel 11.

1972: In June, WTCG begins re-airing its Saturday tape on Wednesday night as a prime time replay. This lasted until the fall. On December 2, WTCG began airing back to back episodes of Georgia Championship Wrestling and All-South Championship Wrestling in back to back Saturday evening slots. Capral changed over immediately to the All-South program, and Sterling Brewer was called in to cover the announcing for GCW, while maintaining his job in Birmingham for Nick Gulas’ show.

1973: Brewer was replaced on Georgia Championship Wrestling by Gordon Solie, who continued to do the announcing for Championship Wrestling from Florida out of Tampa. During the summer, Georgia Championship Wrestling shifted to morning hours to tape their programs.

1974: After the closing of All-South, Georgia Championship Wrestling continued on as the sole wrestling show on WTCG.

1976: A second program, called Best of Georgia Championship Wrestling, began airing on WTCG hosted by Freddy Miller. On December 17, WTCG became the second satellite-delivered cable program service (behind Home Box Office), and the first satellite superstation. The first Georgia Championship Wrestling show that could be seen beyond Atlanta was taped and aired on December 18.

1979: WTCG changed its call letters to WTBS on August 27, with the first Georgia Championship Wrestling show taped and aired on September 1.

1982: Georgia Championship Wrestling changed its on-air name to World Championship Wrestling.

1983: A co-promotion initiated between Ole Anderson and Jerry Jarrett called GCW Superstars aired for three months on WTBS, produced and hosted by Les Thatcher.

1984: On July 7, the final episode of World Championship Wrestling taped and aired on WTBS, and fans were introduced to WWF programming the following week. The WWF debuted on July 14 in WCW’s former time slot, on a day that has been dubbed by fans as “Black Saturday.” In September, a new promotion operated by Ole Anderson and Ralph Freed got an early morning time slot on WTBS each Saturday. The promotion and the show were both called Championship Wrestling from Georgia, and Gordon Solie was back as the announcer. Meanwhile, Turner sold a Sunday night time slot on WTBS to Mid-South Wrestling, hosted by Jim Ross.

Gateway Note: More specific information about the period following Black Saturday in July of 1984 can be found on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway in the article Ole and Solie: The Evolution of TV Wrestling in Georgia after Black Saturday. 

1985: Jim Crockett bought the Championship Wrestling from Georgia business and time slot on WTBS, and began airing World Championship Wrestling on the time slot he purchased from Vince McMahon. This version of the program was hosted by David Crockett and Tony Schiavone. 

Joe Pedicino began producing and hosting a show on WATL Channel 36 (Independent) that aired each Saturday night, starting at 8:00 pm. It lasted through 2:00 am, and showed tapes from various promotions around the world in their entirety.



Some responses are included below with additional or clarrifying information.

[A] KING COMBO: 
1983: A co-promotion initiated between Ole Anderson and Jerry Jarrett called GCW Superstars aired for three months on WTBS, produced and hosted by Les Thatcher."

AFAIK, didn't the full shows only air in Chattanooga (where the show was taped), and only selected matches aired on the Sunday show w/ other GCW footage?

"1984: On July 7, the final episode of World Championship Wrestling taped and aired on WTBS, and fans were introduced to WWF programming the following week. The WWF debuted on July 14 in WCW’s former time slot, on a day that has been dubbed by fans as “Black Saturday.” In September, a new promotion operated by Ole Anderson and Ralph Freed got an early morning time slot on WTBS each Saturday. The promotion and the show were both called Championship Wrestling from Georgia, and Gordon Solie was back as the announcer. Meanwhile, Turner sold a Sunday night time slot on WTBS to Mid-South Wrestling, hosted by Jim Ross."

The show was still called World Championship Wrestling (in the intro and on the studio banner) after Black Saturday. The "coming up next..." slates on TBS still referred to the show as Georgia Championship Wrestling, as did Gorilla Monsoon. The show had original interviews at this point but no original matches.

It is worth noting that of the 3 shows, Mid-South drew the highest ratings (making it the highest rated show on cable at the time).

"1985: Jim Crockett bought the Championship Wrestling from Georgia business and time slot on WTBS, and began airing World Championship Wrestling on the time slot he purchased from McMahon. This version of the program was hosted by David Crockett and Tony Schiavone. 

Joe Pedicino began producing and hosting a show on WATL Channel 36 (Independent) that aired each Saturday night, starting at 8:00 pm. It lasted through 2:00 am, and showed tapes from various promotions around the world in their entirety."

Somewhere in February-March, the WWF buckled to Turner's pressure and moved the W/GCW show to the studio on Techwood Drive for its own tapings w/ Gorilla Monsoon as host and Freddie Miller as ring announcer. This lasted about a month or so before the slot was sold to Crockett. These tapings featured the studio returns of Mr. Wrestling II & Roddy Piper.

"1986: Ann Gunkel starts a second version of All-South Championship Wrestling that aired for several weeks on WANX Channel 46 (Independent), hosted by Les Thatcher."

I believe this was the year of the first showing of the "History of Atlanta Wrestling" special on WATL, along w/ the first Wrestlethon (24 hours of various footage hosted by Pedicino w/ phones manned by wrestling personalities taking donations for local charities). Wrestlethon '88 featured the return of live studio wrestling in Atlanta, w/ several matches done at WATL, and a feature on the Fox Network's late show.

Someone else probably knows more about North Georgia, SCW, NWA Georgia/Wildside, etc.

[B] RED MASK: Rich, Championship Wrestling From Florida w/Gordon Solie aired on WTCG Channel 17 Saturdays at 7pm right after GCW at 6pm around late '74/'75 after All-South went down.

[C] CINCINNATI KID: wish I could give you more information on the wrestling on TV in Atlanta. I do note that the station that initiated the shows was WLW-A, which was owned by the Crosley Broadcasting Company's division of Avco. It was that same company who started TV wrestling in Cincinnati on WLW-T, then on Channel 4, on February 4, 1950. In time, the Crosley affiliates in Dayton, Ohio - WLW-D, Channel 2, and in Columbus - WLW-C, Channel 4, (after the Cincinnati station moved to Channel 5), all began carrying matches from the Al Haft promotion. Matches were aired on Saturday afternoons and Saturday nights. By the early 1960's, even WLW-I in Indiapolis was airing TV matches of the Haft promotion out of Dayton with the other WLW stations likewise picking up the feeds. As with other programming and in the area of engineering, Crosley was always at the forefront. 

Ole & Solie: The Evolution of Georgia TV Wrestling After Black Saturday

Ole & Solie: The Evolution of Georgia TV Wrestling After Black Saturday
By Dick Bourne
Originally published on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway (2008)

An article detailing the changes in wrestling television programming following the WWF takeover of TV time on WTBS in 1984. Includes information on the return of Georgia Wrestling to WTBS, Mid-South Wrestling on WTBS, and the eventual control of all wrestling time slots on WTBS by Jim Crockett Promotions.

PREFACE
On July 14, 1984, wrestling fans around the country tuning into WTBS expecting to see Gordon Solie and Ole Anderson host "World Championship Wrestling" were shocked to see instead Vince McMahan stride onto the set and take the microphone from longtime Georgia wrestling sideman Freddie Miller. The World Wrestling Federation had taken over the wresting TV time slots on the Superstation, the result of gaining majority equity control of the company, and then shutting it down. The change sent shockwaves through the wrestling industry and deeply disappointed wrestling fans who shared a long standing relationship with the Georgia brand of wrestling. The following article details the many changes in wrestling programming that followed on the Superstation, culminating in the takeover of all wrestling TV time slots by Jim Crockett Promotions eight months later.

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THE RESURRECTION

After gaining control of Georgia Championship Wrestling, the WWF immediately shut down the wrestling operation. Their main interest was the three hours of national television time on Superstation WTBS (local Atlanta channel 17), as well as eliminating their competition in the state of Georgia which also gave them Ohio, Michigan, and West Virginia markets that Georgia had been running for years. Ole Anderson, who had been in control of Georgia Championship Wrestling, was forced out, but quickly aligned with south Georgia promoters Fred Ward and Ralph Freed (and weeks later maverick promoter Ann Gunkle) to attempt to continue promoting wrestling shows in Georgia and elsewhere. The first thing they needed, though, was television.

The week immediately following "Black Saturday", the Georgia promotional group hastily put together a television taping in the studios of WMAZ-13 in Macon GA. The new show debuted on July 21, 1984 (one week after "Black Saturday") and was called “World Championship Wrestling ’84” and aired on their stations in the traditional Fred Ward markets of Columbus, Albany, and Macon GA (and perhaps a few other markets as well) and also eventually got on WGNX-46 in Atlanta. The show was hosted by longtime announcer Gordon Solie, an icon in Georgia, and a focal point for fans who protested to WTBS that Georgia Wrestling had been replaced by the WWF. 

Two weeks later, on Saturday August 4, as a result of the major protest from wrestling fans in Atlanta and all over the United States, the group was able to get a time slot back on Superstation WTBS, airing at the early hour of 7:35 AM ET / 4:35 AM PT on Saturday morning. This show was called “Championship Wrestling from Georgia", which was also the name of the new promotional company headed by Ole Anderson. This was a somewhat strange program at first, clearly thrown together in a hurry. It was taped at the same location where Jim Crockett Promotions taped their local promo inserts in Charlotte, at a small studio at the Crockett offices on Briarbend Drive. The show was hosted by Gordon Solie and Ole Anderson. A small rectangular banner, familiar to Georgia fans, of a globe and the initials "NWA" (not the traditional NWA logo) was tacked to a white background behind them. The matches shown were pre-taped in the arenas at the same time Crockett taped his “Mid-Atlantic” and “World Wide Wrestling” TV shows, and the shows featured both Crockett regulars as well as Georgia regulars. (For example, the first show on TBS which aired 8/4/84 featured Jimmy Valiant, the Assassins with Paul Jones, Pez Whatley, Bob Roop, Tully Blanchard, Wahoo McDaniel, Jerry Oates, and the Road Warriors – a mix from both groups.)

Local promos for the Georgia towns were conducted by Gordon Solie, but oddly had Crockett wrestlers talking about those upcoming cards, including the Junkyard Dog, Don Kernodle, Ivan Koloff, and Tully Blanchard. This likely was because none of the Georgia regulars were present on the day Crockett did his local promos, and the Georgia promos inserts were taped at the same time.

Another two weeks later, on Saturday, August 18, “Championship Wrestling from Georgia” moved to a 9:05 AM Saturday time slot on TBS. The syndicated “World Championship Wrestling ‘84” had a name change to “Championship Wrestling from Georgia” on that weekend as well, but despite the same name as the WTBS show, continued to be a different live show taped at channel 13 in Macon GA. Around this same time, Crockett’s two TV shows ("Mid-Atlantic Wrestling" and "World Wide Wrestling") began being syndicated in the Fred Ward markets.

 
RETURN TO THE WTBS STUDIO

It was Anderson's goal to begin taping exclusive matches for WTBS as soon as possible, and he soon was arranged studio time in the traditional WTBS studios. The tapings were every other Wednesday night, and they taped two shows which would then air on the following two Saturday mornings. The first taping was on Wednesday September 5, and the first show debuted the following Saturday, September 8. The set was new, featuring a large traditional NWA logo behind the familiar podium where Gordon Solie hosted the show with Ole Anderson.

This show was a collaborative effort of sorts where the Georgia group (Anderson, Ralph Freed, and Fred Ward) had talent help from several other territories. The first taping featured all the Georgia regulars (Brad Armstrong, Tim Horner, Ronnie Garvin, Ted Oates, Rip Rogers, Paul Ellering and the Road Warriors, Mike Jackson, and others) as well as Ted DiBiase (All Japan Pro Wrestling) who worked for Ole when he wasn't touring Japan, Harley Race (Central States wrestling in Kansas City), Bob Armstrong (Continental/Southeastern Wrestling in Alabama), and Tully Blanchard (Jim Crockett Promotions in Charlotte.) They immediately began heavily hyping a huge show in Baltimore MD on Oct. 11 called the “Night of Champions”, the same name the NWA group used at the historic Meadowlands show earlier that year. NWA President Bob Geigel, Fred Ward, and PWI’s Bill Apter all made appearances on the show as well. It was an exciting program for fans, and demonstrated extraordinary cooperation between several different NWA promotions who were desperately trying to remain competitive against Vince McMahon’s WWF,  a juggernaut which now controlled all existing national wrestling programming.

Meanwhile, the Macon GA tapings continued for the syndicated markets in Georgia, and continued to be a separate program  from the WTBS show, although still both titled the same.

 
MEMPHIS INFLUENCE: THE "MERGER"

On October 20, the complexion of the WTBS program began to change. An announcement was made on WTBS of a “merger” of three promotions which included Championship Wrestling from Georgia, Jim Crockett Promotions, and (surprisingly for fans) Jarrett Promotions out of Memphis. The merger storyline was in actuality a loose agreement by the three promotions to trade talent, and have combined talent featured on the national program on WTBS.

On November 17, the syndicated show taped in Macon changed to a combined show of Memphis and Georgia regulars, hosted by both Lance Russell and Gordon Solie. This show aired in syndicated markets only, and did not last too long, although it's unclear when that arrangement ceased. Like many talent swapping arrangements between promoters, this one seemed to fall apart pretty quickly. Eventually, Ole Anderson’s group would be back on its own, with a show taped at WTBS studios and then aired on a delayed basis in the syndicated markets.

In the early months of 1985, Anderson’s roster began to take its final form, as the company began to struggle financially.  This group primarily consisted of Ole Anderson, Thunderbolt Patterson, Ron Garvin, Tommy Rich, Ron Starr, Scott “Hog” Irwin, Bob Roop, Ray Candy and others including the return of Buzz Sawyer, and a brief return of Gene Anderson.

 
THE WWF STALLS: ENTER BILL WATTS

During all this time that the Georgia program was continually changing and evolving, the WWF shows on WTBS remained basically the same format they had assumed on Black Saturday back in July. The shows openings and wrap-arounds were taped in the WTBS studios in front of the same blue "World Championship Wrestling" logo that had been used by Georgia Championship Wrestling since the fall of 1982. There were no "live" matches. The format consisted of Freddie Miller introducing taped matches from various WWF TV locations and pre-taped interviews usually conducted by Gene Okerlund. Later, Miller would occasionally be joined by a WWF wrestler in the WTBS studio.

The ratings for the two WWF weekend evening shows "World Championship Wrestling" and "Best of World Championship Wrestling", which had historically been two of the highest rated shows on all cable TV and certainly for WTBS when they were Georgia wrestling, began to drop. Ratings for Anderson's "Championship Wrestling from Georgia" show also suffered as the show languished in the early morning time slot, and as Anderson's talent pool grew thin and the company struggled financially. Ted Turner was unhappy with McMahon because Turner's original contract with Georgia Championship Wrestling included the proviso that the shows would originate from his WTBS studios. McMahon, who owned controlling interest in  GCW, maintained that he was meeting that obligation by having the show taped and hosted at WTBS, even though the wrestling was taped earlier somewhere else. Turner was adamant that the wrestling matches be taped in his studios, but McMahon was not interested in bearing the huge costs of flying in talent to Atlanta every week to produce the program. The two were nearly at an impasse.

McMahon blinked first. In January 1985, the WWF began taping matches in the WTBS studios. The show was hosted by Gorilla Monsoon and Freddie Miller and featured a new set. WWF wrestlers were flown in for the matches.

McMahon was now actively looking for a way to get out of the WTBS contract and Turner was reportedly waiting for the opportunity to throw McMahon off the station. Turner began entertaining the idea of having another major promotion on the station. Two promotions in particular competed for the slot: Jim Crockett's Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, which had been involved with the Anderson group since they started up after Black Saturday, and Bill Watt's Mid-South Wrestling.

Watt's would succeed in getting his hugely popular "Mid-South Wrestling" show on WTBS, airing mid-afternoon on Sundays.  Turner's plan was to eventually get out of the old Georgia contract that McMahon now owned, giving Bill Watts the entire wrestling package and Turner hoped to get into the business of promoting wrestling events with Watts. "Mid-South Wrestling" debuted on WTBS on March 10, 1985. It was the same show that aired in the Mid-South territory, but was on a four week delay, so as not to hurt his local show in its broadcast markets. The plan was to eventually produce a separate program exclusively for WTBS.

The result was that for a period of around three weeks, WTBS was airing wrestling from three different promotions: the WWF, Georgia, and Mid-South.

Around the time the Mid-South show debuted, Vince McMahon secured a deal with Jim Crockett to sell the WWF's TV time slots on WTBS to Jim Crockett Promotions. The deal was reportedly brokered by Jim Barnett, a major shareholder in GCW, now a McMahon ally, and a confidant of Ted Turner as well. Crockett reportedly paid McMahon one million dollars for the time slots, which ironically he probably could have obtained at some point anyway, as McMahon was eventually going to be off the station one way or another.

Crockett agreed to Turner's demand to tape exclusive shows from the WTBS studios, but Crockett insisted on being the exclusive promotion on Turner's station. Not only would he take the WWF's slots, but he would assume the early Saturday morning Georgia slot. The Mid-South mid-afternoon Sunday slot would be eliminated. Turner agreed, basically giving Jim Crockett the package that was originally going to go to Bill Watts. Now, just a few short weeks after McMahon had started taping live matches from the WTBS studio, the face of wrestling in Georgia was getting ready for another huge change.


CROCKETT PROMOTIONS TAKES OVER

On Saturday, March 30, “Championship Wrestling from Georgia” came on the air as usual, except this time it was Tony Schiavone who opened the program with Ole Anderson, and it quickly became apparent to viewers that something was significantly different. Along with a few of the Georgia regulars (Thunderbolt Patterson, Tommy Rich, and Buzz Sawyer) were many of the stars from Jim Crockett Promotions including Magnum TA, Dusty Rhodes, Jimmy Valiant, Tully Blanchard, the Barbarian, Paul Jones, and others.

The next week, April 6, 1985, Crockett Promotions debuted on the Saturday and Sunday evening time slots. That same Saturday morning,  the final airing of “Championship Wrestling from Georgia” took place and the following week a Crockett show titled simply “Championship Wrestling” aired in its place.

Turner honored his original agreement with Watts and the Mid-South show continued to air for the duration of their original three month contract. The final Mid-South show on WTBS aired May 26, 1985. In a very classy move and gesture of goodwill, Watts told viewers that they should  embrace the new Crockett programs and thanked viewers for watching his show while it had been on WTBS. "Mid-South Wrestling" had drawn tremendous ratings during its short run.

 
LOOSE ENDS

With the acquisition of all time slots on WTBS by Jim Crockett Promotions, and with Crockett now beginning his expansion nationally, an era had come to end.  The grand tradition of Georgia Wrestling as a major wrestling territory, which had died on Black Saturday but resurrected itself shortly thereafter, was now, sadly, gone for good in April of 1985.

Tony Schiavone had replaced Gordon Solie as the voice of NWA wrestling on the Superstation. Solie of course continued as host of “Championship Wrestling from Florida” which he had hosted for decades, as well as the new host for Continental Championship Wrestling show for promoter Ron Fuller out of Birmingham, AL.

Ole Anderson became a full time wrestler once again for Jim Crockett Promotions, and would remain a familiar face to wrestling fans for many more years on Superstation WTBS. Anderson would prove to be the common thread in Georgia wrestling that linked all eras together. He was a major part of Georgia Championship Wrestling in the 1970s and early 1980s both as a wrestler and a booker, the promoter of the resurrected Georgia promotion after Black Saturday, a top star for Crockett Promotions that followed on TBS, and would be heavily involved in Turner's WCW that rose from Turner's purchase of Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988. Anderson would continue as either a wrestler, manager, or booker until the mid-1990s.


A SUMMARY OF KEY DATES:
07/14/84 - "Black Saturday" - The WWF takes over the Georgia WTBS timeslots
07/21/84 - "World Championship Wrestling '84" debuts in GA towns, taped in Macon GA
08/04/84 - "Championship Wrestling from Georgia" debuts on WTBS
09/08/84 - "Championship Wrestling from Georgia" starts taping again at WTBS studios
01/27/85 - WWF "World Championship Wrestling" begins taping matches in the WTBS studio*
03/10/85 - "Mid-South Wrestling" debuts on WTBS
03/30/85 - Crockett Promotions takes over "Championship Wrestling from Georgia"
04/06/85 - Crockett takes over WWF timeslots, "World Championship Wrestling"
05/26/85 - "Mid-South Wrestling" final show on WTBS

© January 2008, Mid-Atlantic Gateway. Originally published on the Glory Days website, RIP
Do you have more info. E-mail us at midatlanticgateway@gmail.com
Special thanks to the following people who provided supporting information for this article: Dave Meltzer (WrestlingObserver.com) and David Bixenspan.

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Georgia Championship Wrestling Studio (1982)

The 1981-1982 set for Georgia Championship Wrestling

A few cool pictures taken by George Pantas during his 1982 visit to the WTBS television studios on Techwood Drive in Atlanta where Georgia Championship Wrestling was taped every Saturday morning, hosted by Gordon Solie.

George Pantas

 

The familiar short-ring used for TV in Georgia in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Jay "Dude" Walker Appears on Starrcade 83

WWE Network Screen Grab

We're looking for more information on this fellow appearing with Bob Caudle and Gordon Solie on the Starrcade '83 closed-circuit extravaganza from Thanksgiving night 1983.

His working name on FM radio was Dude Walker. He was a drive-time DJ for G105 FM (WDCG), a top-40 radio powerhouse out of the Raleigh-Durham area in 1983.

Between early matches during the Starrcade '83 closed-circuit telecast, Bob introduced Dude to the audience and asked him what he thought about Ric Flair. Dude said he believed Flair would take the title from Harley Race that night since Flair was in his home area, and indicated that everyone at G105 was behind the Nature Boy.

Dude also briefly hosted some of the local promo interviews for Jim Crockett Promotions that were taped at the makeshift garage studio on Briarbend Drive in Charlotte in the fall of 1983 and through at least mid-1984. But that short stint makes him part of the historical roster of announcers in the Crockett studio era. (Edit: In some 1984 promo segments, wrestlers referred to him as Jay. So possibly his name was Jay Walker.)

We googled Dude Walker and came across several radio personalities with that name, which apparently must have been a thing in radio. Who knew? But none of them were our guy.

If you have any information on Jay/Dude Walker, we'd love to know more about him. You can contact us via the Contact Page on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Some interesting tidbits about G105 FM and why there may have been a tie-in with Jim Crockett Promotions during Starrcade '83: 

They have had several formats over the decades including country and rock, but became a top-40 station in 1981 and became a 100,000 watt powerhouse in 1982 when they began transmitting on the WRDU-TV tower in Chatham County. 

They were one of the first stations in their market to operate a dual-city license with their primary market being Raleigh-Durham, but also with a special signal going into the Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem market. During this era of the first Starrcade, they were one of the most powerful and popular radio stations in central NC and the Piedmont. 

This may have been why they partnered with JCP to promote the first Starrcade, given their reach and popularity across the immediate area around Greensboro.

They are still around, a top-40 iHeart radio station based out of Raleigh and licensed out of Durham, NC.

If you have any information on Jay/Dude Walker, we'd love to know more about him. You can contact us via the Contact Page on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Thanks to those who have provided additional information, including Joe DiGiacomo.

An edited version of this article was also posted on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway on January 13, 2021.

Georgia Championship Wrestling

Gordon Solie interviews Tommy Rich and Mr. Wrestling II

The WTBS-17 studios in Atlanta were home to "Georgia Championship Wrestling" going back to the early 1970s and was later home to "World Championship Wrestling" for Jim Crockett Promotions in the mid-to-late 1980s.

An upcoming documentary called "6:05 on the SuperStation" will take a look back at the studio, station, wrestlers, and announcers who helped make wrestling on WTBS an institution on Saturday evenings. 

Jim Ross has joined up with the producers of "Mid-Atlantic Memories" documentary, and together  hope to present a similar feel-good film about a 20-year period in time when folks down south were glued to their TV sets at 6:05 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

"6:05 On The SuperStation!" will be the first film produced by Ross, who said on his "Ross Report" podcast "We're gonna make a hell of a movie!"

The film will be fan-funded. More details can be found on the NWALegends.com website. The film also has a Twitter page where you can keep up with how things are progressing on the film.

(See also: Jim Ross Reveals First Film Project "6:05 on the SuperStation" )

Man behind the Mike: Gordon Solie

From Wrestling Revue
February 1966

At the age of twelve, when most boys dream of becoming firemen, policemen or aviators, Gordon Solie was entertaining thoughts of becoming a radio announcer. He followed the idea through high school, taking all available courses in broadcasting and dramatics. Today, at thirty-six, Solie is one of the foremost announcers in the nation. This distinction is due largely to a syndicated television program entitled, "Championship Wrestling From Florida."

After finishing high school, Solie joined the United States Air Force and was sent to Okinawa. Upon returning to the United States, Solie was assigned to the Seventh Geodetic Squadron at Barksdale Air Force Base. Here, he became a member of WRCN, the base radio station.

While announcing for Uncle Sam, Gordon got acquainted with Vinn Marshall of KWKH radio. Marshall, an "old pro," gave Solie many valuable "pointers" whenever Gordon visited the commercial station following his own sign-off trick at WRCN. Through it all, Solie managed to eke out three or four hours sleep each night, as he was also working a regular daytime shift with the Air Force. It was sometimes pretty hard to keep going," Gordon recalls, "but the valuable experience I got was worth it." Upon leaving the Air Force, Gordon Solie journeyed to Tampa, Florida, to try his luck as a professional announcer. His first job was at a small independent radio station known as WEBK. The station (now WSOL) had no sports programming whatsoever, and Solie was quick to recognize the opportunity. It wasn't long before he had his own fifteen-minute sports show each evening.

As WEBK's first sports announcer, Gordon interviewed many of the day's top wrestlers, such as the late Gorgeous George, Primo Carnera, Baron Leone and Wild Red Berry.

After one year at WEBK, Solie was contacted by WFLA, then the area's top radio station, and asked to join the staff. He readily accepted. At WFLA, Gordon soon became good friends with Milt Spencer, that station's sports director, and it wasn't long before the two of them came up with a late night show which rapidly became the most popular in the entire area.

Not long thereafter, Solie announced a live automobile race at Speedway Park, just outside of Tampa. He did so well he was offered a full time job at it. After three years with Art Swenson and the Auto Thrillcade, Solie was named as the outstanding outdoor announcer in the country. When he returned to Tampa, weary of the road and looking forward to settling down to a more normal existence, "Cowboy" Luttrall, Tampa's wrestling promoter, offered Solie a job as publicity man. Solie accepted, and it was natural for him to become the wrestling commentator on the now highly popular weekly TV program.

The next big development in Solie's career came when Frank Dery Jr. interested him in building a race track for stock cars in Tampa. The resultant Golden Gate Speedway has become the finest short track stock car race-way in the entire United States. Solie handles the mike for the races at Golden Gate every Friday and Saturday night.

A many-faceted person, Gordon is also half owner of a new motor oil distributorship in Florida, is secretary of the Southeastern Promoters Auto Association and chairman of the Babe Zaharias Cancer Fund Drive in Tampa. Known as "Scrambler" according to a recent story in the Tampa Tribune, Solie continues to look for new fields to conquer.

"My first love is wrestling," he told us. "I feel that wrestling and stock car racing are the two outstanding action sports in the United States. The men I have met in both professions lead me to believe that you will go a long way to find nicer, more sincere people anywhere. Lou Thesz, Don Curtis, Eddie Graham, Haystack Calhoun, Fireball Roberts, Ned Jarrett, Art Malone and Don Garlits are some of my favorite people and I feel that I am privileged to know them."

Married to the former Eileen Thibaut of Lorain, Ohio, Solie has three children, Denise, sixteen, is an athletic young lady with an interest in acrobatics. Greg, a fourteen-year-old wrestles as an amateur. Eric, the eleven-year-old, in interested in be-coming a race driver.

With such a talented family Gordon Solie could even produce his own shows.



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Thanks to Carroll Hall at All Star Championship Wrestling who provided this article to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.