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WSMI (AM) was established on November 2, 1950 by Hayward Talley and his partner Tom Payton. The call letters WSMI were chosen for We SERVE Mid-Illinois. Upon Tom's untimely death in 1952, Hayward and Emma Talley became sole owners.

Studios and offices were established in Litchfield-Hillsboro and on the campus of Blackburn College in Carlinville. Later the Carlinville studio was moved to the Carlinville square.

Early in the 1950's Hayward Talley established and conducted one of the country's first telephone talk shows, "WSMI Party Line". WSMI added a live country band and a gospel quartet. WSMI added a mobile unit, and one of the early broadcasts was of President Harry Truman as his train stopped at the Litchfield depot.

In 1960 a sister station was built....WSMI-FM. At the time there was only a single FM station in St. Louis and FM receivers were few. By broadcasting high school sports, FM sets began to be purchased and the FM audience grew.

WSMI established a full-time news department, very unusual for small town radio. And later followed a full-time farm department. WSMI became a network news station when it joined the Mutual Radio Network, continuing until Mutual was absorbed by CNN Radio.

In 1999 a third station was added to the Talley group, WAOX. The station features "Today's Best Hits" along with ABC news, and local high school sports.

TALLEY RADIO GROUP
Locally Owned and Operated By
Talley Broadcasting Corporation

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

KEVIN M. TALLEY: Graduated with a Major in Broadcasting. Minor, Business. Has worked in broadcasting at WSMI for over 30 years.

HAYWARD L. TALLEY: B.S. University of Illinois, 1948. Also studied at the Illinois Institute of Technology, The University of Chicago, and Harvard University. Veteran of WWII. Instructor, Eastern Signal Corps schools. Founded WSMI in 1950, WSMI-FM in 1960. Also founded KBKB-FM and KLSS-FM. WAOX was founded in 1999. Recipient of the Illinois Broadcasters Association 2002 Vincent T. Wasilewski Broadcaster of the Year award.

EMMA C. TALLEY: B.S. Illinois State University; M.S. University of Illinois.
High School Teacher for 9 years.


Brian C. Talley, President & General Manager
Hayward L. Talley, CEO
Terry Todt, WSMI AM-FM Program & Sports Director
Laurie Bandemir, WAOX Operations Director
Randy Prange, Ag News Director
Tobin Ott & Rick Davis, News Anchors
Mike Niehaus, Local Sales Manager