WPAX
Radio station in Thomasville, Georgia
WPAX (1240 AM) is a radio station broadcasting an adult standards format. Licensed to Thomasville, Georgia, United States, the station serves the Tallahassee, Florida area. The station is currently owned by Flint Media, who purchased the station from Lenrob Enterprises in 2023. It features programming from CBS News Radio, Westwood One and Atlanta Braves baseball. WPAX broadcasts full-time with 1,000 watts, and also transmits in C-QUAM AM stereo.
History
According to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) records, WPAX was first licensed, as WQDX, in June 1930. However, station histories commonly trace its origin to an earlier short-lived Thomasville radio station, licensed from late 1922 to early 1923, which also held the callsign WPAX.
This first WPAX was initially licensed on December 27, 1922 to the S-W Radio Company, a small local concern run by Robert Shumate and Hoyt Wimpy, which had previously established a "radio school". (Although "pax" is the Latin word for "peace", its inclusion in the station's call letters was just a coincidence, as this call sign was randomly assigned from an alphabetic block of available callsigns.)
WPAX began regular service in late January 1923 as the first broadcasting station located "south of Macon, in Georgia and North Florida", from a studio located in the Wimpy Garage at the corner of Stevens and Jefferson Streets. The broadcast hours were advertised as daily from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m., Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., Saturday from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The public source identifies “WPAX” as radio station in Thomasville, Georgia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around WPAX, Radio and station.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “WPAX”, the useful work is to connect “radio station in Thomasville, Georgia” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7954154. Authority coordinates are 30.836, -83.989. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1240, 2023, 1930 and 1922.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “WPAX”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow WPAX primary sources, WPAX archive and WPAX research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “WPAX”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “WPAX” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.