Radio station WILA 1580-AM, a historic outlet and resource for Danville’s black community, said goodbye to listeners Thursday afternoon. Owners Lawrence and Ella Toller of Tol-Tol Communications sold the station to Lakes Media LLC, a Southside radio group with stations in South Boston, Clarksville and South Hill. Lakes Media will retool the station to provide combination AM-FM service, president Tom Birch of Raleigh said. That means operations will cease while staff relocate and install new equipment.
The new 104.5 FM “The Dan” will air classic hits from the 1970s through the early 1990s featuring artists like the Eagles, Elton John, Journey and Fleetwood Mac.It will debut on New Year’s Day with 10,000 songs in a row — about a month of music before the first commercial airs. Community members, clients and friends visited WILA on Industrial Avenue throughout the day on Thursday to bid farewell. Lawrence Toller managed the station for the past 17 years. He commuted from Lynchburg and hasn’t had a vacation in 18 years. His next move is taking his granddaughter to Disney World. “There’s a time and a season for everything and everybody,” Toller said. “The time of harvest has come for me.” Since the new owners are taking the station in a completely new direction, Toller felt sad that the black community would lose broadcasting that stood by them through the Civil Rights movement. Toller bought the station from Frances McMillan, who operated it after her husband Neill McMillan’s death in 1978.
Toller worked under the McMillans for decades. Neill McMillan was a “champion” for the black community and wanted to make sure blacks had equal opportunity and representation, Frances McMillan recalled. He was politically active and loved the station. Residents angry about his efforts and the station catering to blacks would graffiti their cars and slash their tires. McMillan didn’t anticipate running a station, and attributes its survival to Lawrence Toller, Tom Price and the staff that worked there. Station programming started targeting a black listening audience when Ralph Baron and George Lund took over ownership. The McMillans bought it from Baron in 1969. The station aired the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. both times after he visited Danville, Toller said. “It has been an outlet for the black community. They may not have that now and I’m sorry about that,” McMillan said. “But I am glad Lawrence is able to move on. He worked hard.” Several Danville families worked inside WILA and visited like it was home. No one else offered to run free obituaries. Kathy Myers, who worked at the station seven days a week from 1999 until now, will miss the Sunday shift the most, when ministers would go on air. She grew up with the station. “It’s sad to me, very sad. It’s an icon,” Myers said. “I’m proud to be a part of the history.” Media personalities got their start at WILA, like Jessica Griffith of WGSR 47 Star News in Reidsville and documentarian John Fisher, who had worked at radio stations across the country. Both started there at age 15. Griffith, 29, called Toller her mentor. “It’s kind of bittersweet,” Griffith said. “It just doesn’t seem real.” “This place, it was more than just a radio station,” Fisher added. “It developed a life of its own, a personality of its own.” Toller will sell the station’s records to collectors and hold onto the memories. “Danville, I love you. Thank you for this opportunity to live out my dream,” Toller said. “I’ve enjoyed it immensely. It’s been wonderful. It’s been gratifying. But I’m signing off.” [source]
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