Gospel Homecoming
Gospel Homecoming premiered on WPLA in 1959 and was hosted by deejay Don Heither who worked at the station part-time. The show’s opening theme song at that time was Hide Me Rock of Ages by the Stamps Quartet, and the closing song each week was The Touch of His Hand by the Blackwood Brothers.
After Don left, other deejays took over the program. Jim Maloy did the program for about a year in the early 1960’s, but it was Dick Shiflett (pictured) who took control of the program in 1965 and continued the Sunday afternoon tradition for more than 25 years. After WPLA took on new owners in 1987, the program was dropped when Dick left the station a few years later.
When Dick went to work for WTWB in Auburndale, it was only natural that he take the program with him. After all, he was the one, more than anyone else, who had made Gospel Homecoming the longest continuously-running gospel music program on radio in Central Florida.
Station History
1959 - 1990 WPLA (Featured Program)
|
