WZOB
radio station in Fort Payne, Alabama
WZOB (1250 AM, "Number One Country 1250") is a radio station licensed to serve Fort Payne, Alabama. It is owned by Central Broadcasting Company, Inc. and broadcasts country music format.
Originally owned by Glenn M. Gravitt, the station opened July 2, 1950. The call letters, WZOB, came from Zella Octavia Buttram, the daughter of Johnny Buttram (an advisor to Gravitt and brother of Pat Buttram, the well-known radio and TV comedian), and were requested from and assigned by the Federal Communications Commission.
The Louvin Brothers album Songs That Tell A Story is drawn from songs recorded live on a morning WZOB show in the 1950s.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “WZOB” as radio station in Fort Payne, Alabama. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as radio station in Fort Payne, Alabama. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
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 Feb 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7958352. Authority coordinates are 34.440, -85.753. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1250 and 1950.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. 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 “WZOB”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow WZOB primary sources, WZOB archive and WZOB 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 “WZOB”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “WZOB” 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.