MACON, Ga. — 69 years ago, then-General Manager Albert Sanders first signed on, bringing 13WMAZ to life.
"I remember sitting in the announcer's booth and feeling that half of Macon was tuned in and I was extremely nervous. I remember that, but I did make it through the script," he said with a chuckle.
You might consider Jack Owens one of the first anchors, although back then, they called them "announcers." He had his background in WMAZ Radio, which began years earlier.
"We had heard about television, we didn't know anything about television, so we had to stumble, we had to fall. We didn't have any teleprompters," he said in an interview we also pulled out of the archives.
Stan Carey served 20 years on the anchor desk and in the field from 1957 to 1977.
"Film was an important commodity. If we could use film, it had to be a pretty important story," he said fondly years ago.
Along came videotape that took care of problems with scratchy film, and some of the big stories included an epic whiteout.
"However, the record books for 1973 show 16 inches of snow here bringing the city to its knees," a news report stated.
A hot topic -- politics, and the election of a Georgia Governor to the White House, President Jimmy Carter. He and his wife Rosalynn made a few stops in Macon to campaign and see old friends.
"I always enjoy meeting the superb performers and their managers and their supporting cast, but also because of my personal relationship with Phil Walden," Carter said in a previous interview.
"I think if I hadn't been the First Lady of Georgia, it would really frighten me, because when Jimmy was elected governor, I didn't know what I was going to do, but there are so many people that will help you do anything. It was really a gratifying experience for me," Rosalynn said in an interview.
There's so much more history to share from the 13WMAZ archives.
From past to present, we will always remember our roots and cherish what television pioneers did decades ago.
Be sure to visit 13WMAZ on YouTube and watch our Straight from the Archives playlist, which will be updated twice each week.