Who's Who at WONN

Garland Burt

Garland began his radio work in Polk County at Lakeland’s WLAK in 1948. He was there for eighteen years and during that time was a Program Director, staff announcer, and host of the popular 1430 Club. In 1966 he moved to 50,000 watt WGTO at Cypress Gardens to do engineering work but returned to Lakeland in September 1967 as an on-air personality and Operations Manager for WVFM, Lakeland’s first stereo FM. He moved to WONN in 1968 and worked in traffic for three years, then left to return to WLAK in 1971 (which by this time had become Top 40 WQPD) to handle Operations.

At the time of his death in 1981, Garland was Operations Manager for WPCV, a position he had held since 1973 when the station first went on the air from studios at the Florida Citrus Showcase in Winter Haven.

Station History