WDKN AM 1260 Dickson, Tennessee
On New Years Day of 1955, at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the first words ever to be spoken over the airwaves of WDKN were "This is Hal Smith beginning a history of broadcasting in Dickson, Tennessee. There was a baby born in Wisconsin this morning at 12:01am, and in Dickson, Tennessee here at 1:00pm, January 1st, 1955, a radio station was born."
WDKN's origins date back to the Summer of 1954, when Mr. John Bailey of Clarksville found an available frequency and thought of Dickson. Mr. Bailey started looking for someone to take on the task of co-owning and running a radio station in Dickson at AM frequency 1260. It turns out he didn't find anyone, but Mr. Bill Potts found him. Mr. Potts became majority owner in the now three way partnership, which also included Mr. Mitchell Hayes.
WDKN's first Studio location was on Main Street above the current downtown Bank of Dickson location. When Mr. Potts, who passed away in 2004, was asked about the station's philosophy in the early days, he replied "If it happened, we covered it." He also said the station staff worked by a few basic principles, among them "the first thing we do is serve the public, money wouldn't enter into it." Mr. Potts went on to own and work with the station for twenty-five years.
In late 1960, the studios moved to a building at the corner of College & Poplar Streets, near the present day locations of Dickson Funeral Home and Dickson Florist. The studios have been at their current location, 106 East College Street, since the mid 1980's.
