Fourth Anniversary Birthday party for radio station WLAC, Nashville, 1930

On November 24th, 1930, Andrew Mizell Burton, J. T. Ward, Charles R. Brewer, and others donned tuxedos and evening gowns to celebrate the fourth anniversary of station W.L.A.C., or W-Life-and-Casualty, sometimes known as Station We Love All Campbellites. This festive affair appears to have been held in the studio in the upper floor of the (old) Life and Casualty building on 4th Avenue, North.

Station manager Ward (who would purchase it from Burton a few years later) is seated on the middle row, far left. To his left is A. M. Burton. Directly behind him is Charles R. Brewer, minister at Central Church of Christ and one of the speakers for one of that congregations’ radio services. It was Central’s pervasive use of radio technology in the late 1920s, and Burton generosity with discounted air-time, that garnered the Campbellite riff off WLAC. Ward is son of J. S. Ward, co-founder with David Lipscomb of the Nashville Bible School, Medical Director of Life and Casualty Insurance Company, and elder at Central Church. I suppose the others are radio personalities and program staff. I *think* that is Paul S. Hunton seated on the far right. Were my files not packed up, I could probably dig out confirmation. No one is named or identified on the back of the large (20″ x 30″ or so) photograph. The cake with antennae modeled after the station’s broadcast towers on Murfreesboro Road is a clever touch.