Tarver, Jack (Jackson Williams), 1917-1999.

Jackson Williams "Jack" Tarver: Jack Tarver was born March 2, 1917, in Savannah, Georgia, the only son of banker and hotelier Otis M. Tarver and deLuth Williams Tarver. In 1938, he graduated from Mercer University in Macon with a degree in journalism and began his professional career at The Vidalia Advance. His humor columns attracted the attention of Ralph McGill, editor of The Atlanta Constitution who persuaded Tarver to leave his job as editor of The Macon News and join the Atlanta paper in 1943. Tarver was named assistant to the president of Atlanta Newspapers, Inc. in 1950 when the Journal and Constitution came under the same ownership. During his tenure with Atlanta Newspapers, he held a variety of leadership positions, including vice president from 1956-57, president from 1957-58 and publisher from 1958 to 1976. He served as vice chairman of Atlanta Newspapers' parent company, Cox Enterprises, Inc., from 1976 to 1983. He also served as chairman of the Associated Press from 1977 to 1983. Tarver was a member of the American Society of Newspaper Publishers, serving as chairman of the Bureau of Advertising from 1962-64 and president of the society from 1976-77. Jack Tarver died at his home in Atlanta on March 22, 1999.

WSB Radio: WSB Radio, the first radio station to broadcast in the city of Atlanta, was "born" on March 15, 1922. The station was originally owned by The Atlanta Journal and broadcast from a makeshift studio on the fifth floor of The Journal building on Forsyth Street in downtown Atlanta. In 1925 the station moved to more spacious quarters on the top floor of the Biltmore Hotel, where it remained for the next thirty years. Both The Journal and WSB were purchased by Governor James M. Cox of Ohio in 1939; WSB is still a property of Cox Broadcasting Corporation, which was formed when Cox operations reorganized in 1964. WABE Radio: WABE, Georgia's first public radio station, signed on-the-air September 13, 1948. The Atlanta Board of Education and the Fulton County Board of Education funded the station, which was housed atop Atlanta's old City Hall. The Atlanta Board of Education (ABE) holds the license for the station, hence the station's call letters - WABE. Initially, the radio station was used exclusively for instructional support for Atlanta and Fulton County children and broadcast only during school hours. In 1971, WABE became a charter member of National Public Radio (NPR). By 1982, WABE began broadcasting NPR News and classical music programming twenty-four hours a day. WAOK Radio: WAOK is Georgia's fifth oldest continuously licensed AM broadcast station. It went on the air (with brand new call letters) on March 15, 1954, adopting a black rhythm and blues and gospel music format. In 1956, WAOK was acquired by The Atlanta OK Broadcasting Company. In 1991 Infinity Broadcasting acquired WAOK and ten years later, in 2001, WAOK changed formats from Gospel to News and Talk.

From the description of Jack Tarver research collection, 1955-1969. (Georgia State University). WorldCat record id: 67838407