Burlington NC Radio: Olin Campbell Retires At WBAG

Olin Campbell

After more than 70 years in radio, Olin “Big O” Campbell with WBAG 1150 AM / 105.9 FM in has retired. His last day was Monday, Dec. 31.

According to the Times-News, Campbell, 84, got interested in radio when he was 5 years old. An evangelist had a tent in Campbell’s neighborhood in Anderson, S.C., and would do radio broadcasts remotely.

“That fascinated me,” Campbell said. “Radio was like the television of today. That was the TV of my era.”

By the time he was 12, Campbell was running a station out of his house — until he got a call from the Federal Communications Commission and had to shut it down. Two years later, he was working for WANS in Anderson, where he was a DJ in the afternoon for a teen show.

Shortly before graduating high school in 1953, Campbell answered an ad for an announcer at radio station WBBB in Burlington. But by the time he submitted his tape and letter, the position had been filled. The manager sent his tape and letter to a manager at WFNS, and Campbell was hired.

“I never saw him. He hired me over the telephone. I came on up here two days after I graduated high school,” Campbell said.

He worked at WFNS for five years before going to several stations in other cities, including New Orleans and Greensboro, before moving back to Burlington. He worked at WBBB and then moved to WSML in Graham when Gray Broadcasting bought the station in 1985.

“I have been working for them ever since: 33 years,” Campbell said. “They sold WSML and then bought WBAG.”

Throughout his career, Campbell interviewed dozens of celebrities, such as Joan Crawford and Jimmy Dean, as well as local leaders. He and his late wife, Fran, even hosted a segment together for 30 years.