App Approves University Radio Station Named For Wayne Sumner (2008)

Today, we travel back to March, 2008 when the Appalachian State University Board of Trustees approved the naming of the campus radio station, WASU, in honor of JSA Chairman Wayne Sumner and his wife, Karen. The new radio broadcast studio was later built on the first floor of the George Beasley Broadcasting Complex, which is the home to the university’s Department of Communication.  The building was finished in 2013 and resides on the corner of Rivers and Depot streets in downtown Boone, NC.

Before his career in insurance, Sumner started in broadcasting as a disc jockey at the age of 15 in his hometown of Wallace, NC. He then worked in television and radio in Wilmington and at WATA radio station in Boone. As a student at Appalachian, he was a charter member of WASU and the fourth person on the air when the station began broadcasting in 1972 from its location in Chappell Wilson Hall. Back then, disc jockeys played music from vinyl records and 8-track tapes, which were all state-of-the-art technology at the time. 

“Over the years, radio has remained a passion of mine, and I could envision the radio station broadcast studio on the first floor with a large window making WASU a very visible part of the community, and Karen and I decided we wanted to help make it happen,” stated Sumner to ASU News in 2008.

Eventually, Sumner owned his own radio station in Burlington, NC – WBAG – which won many awards for their news coverage during his ownership period. “My business degree from ASU helped me to fulfill a dream of owning my own radio station,” Sumner explained.

The WASU radio complex at Appalachian has offices for student workers and the station manager, two production suites and a waiting area. It also has a classroom wired for audio/video production, a computer lab and four audio labs. The station is completely staffed and managed by students at the university.

Upon the approval by the Board of Trustees, then Chancellor Kenneth Peacock said, “Wayne has been a steadfast friend of Appalachian since his days as a college student here. When you consider his love for broadcasting and his past work in television and commercial radio, I can’t think of a more fitting honor than to name…a state-of-the-art-facility in his honor.”

Read the original archive from ASU News HERE.