Look Back ... to the end of a congregation, 1997

Nov. 10—Nov. 10, 1947, in The Star: WHMA-FM, northeast Alabama's first frequency modulation broadcasting station, will begin its operations tonight at 8, said station manager Malcolm Street. Once it achieves full power, the station will beam the FM programs to hundreds of thousands of people in Alabama and Georgia. Street emphasized that AM radio is in no sense obsolete, and that WHMA-AM — which marks its ninth anniversary of operation today — will continue to broadcast its regular full-time program schedule, including features of the American Broadcasting Company. While few radio receivers in the Anniston area are equipped to receive FM programs at present, it's thought that in the months to come the number will be greatly multiplied.

Nov. 10, 1997, in The Star: In a sanctuary streamed with autumn afternoon light, the congregational family of Central Presbyterian Church said farewell yesterday to 110 years of spreading faith and spawning churches through the Anniston and Calhoun County area. For generations, the big red church on the knoll at the corner of 18th and Gurnee sent Sunday school and Bible class teachers throughout the area to spread the Presbyterian faith. But the old neighborhood that had been Central's lifeblood changed, and the numbers just weren't there anymore, so Sunday marked the final day of formal existence for the dwindling congregation. A Korean congregation will move into the church building.