As WWL Radio approaches its 100th anniversary on Thursday, the station has been celebrating its long history with some of the Crescent City’s most notable residents and exports.
In his role as executive vice president of ASM Global, the company that oversees the Caesars Superdome, Doug Thornton has seen his share of big moments, both good and bad, and he says many of them have been tied to WWL.
Thornton said, even before he arrived in the Big Easy from his hometown of Shreveport, he was aware of the radio station’s reach.
“Over the years, WWL’s been just a beacon throughout the state,” Thornton told Newell Normand during an appearance on 870 AM and 105.3 FM.
Thornton said his earliest fond WWL memories came courtesy of the station’s original sports icon, Hap Glaudi.
“He was one of the first in terms of talk radio and always had interesting guests,” Thornton said.
And while WWL has walked hand-in-hand with the Caesars Superdome’s most high-profile tenants, the New Orleans Saints, over the years, Thornton said the station is so much more than just sports.
“During [Hurricane] Katrina, WWL was the place everyone went to to get their information,” Thornton said. “I can recall that when we were here during those five days in the Superdome with all of the 30,000 evacuees, many of the evacuees were listening to WWL Radio on their transistor radios inside the building.”
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