2014 Legacy Inductee
Tom Maxwell
1911 - 1998
Thomas Herbert Maxwell, Jr. was born in Atlanta on October 7, 1011. His father was disabled on his job with the railroad and his mother made hats for Davison’s. He attended public school and after graduating from Boy’s High he attended Georgia Tech and studied engineering. In 1930 he began working as an announcer at WGST. He played the part of a bad guy in a live broadcast of "The Lone Ranger". His future wife Jean was in the audience; they were married in 1939. Along with four other investors, Maxwell built a new station in Macon. He selected WIBB for the call letters; wibb in Bibb, he reportedly joked. The station signed on playing the hits of the 50’s but the format didn’t seem to get much traction. That’s when they decided to shake up the Macon listeners with the hot new music called rock and roll. Tom hired the Three Horsemen, 2024 Georgia Radio Hall of Fame inductees Hamp “King Bee” Swain, Ray “Satellite Papa” Brown, and Charles “Big Saul” Green and WIBB became Macon’s hottest station. In 1955 a young performer James Brown recorded a demo tape of “Please Please Please” in the studios at WIBB. According to Maxwell’s daughter Glenda:“ Dad was to be honored that night, May 30, 1998, at the Macon Auditorium. He passed away at six that evening. My mom and I were holding his hands on either side of the bed. He had not spoken for a long time. As it got dark a long white limousine drove up to the front of our house and up to the door came none other than James Brown. He had heard of Dad’s death and came to pay his respects. He held hands with us and prayed for us and for Dad's spirit.”
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