Spirit of the County, Carl Lamm

BROADCASTING LEGEND'S CAREER SERVES AS SOURCE OF COMMUNITY PRIDE

By Randy Capps

A fascinating and unique career ended on March 29 when Carl Lamm signed off WTSB AM 1090 for the final time.

That date marked the final broadcast of a 72-year career — and the culmination of a lifetime spent making memories and bringing joy and entertainment to countless people in the county, across the state and all over the nation.

That's why Lamm has been chosen as the 2019 Johnston Now Honors Spirit of the County award winner.

“I've been divinely blessed,” he said. “I want to give all the credit for everything to the Lord God of Eternity. I feel like the apostle Paul, that I am the chief sinner in the world, and I want God to have all the credit.”

It's the second honor for the broadcasting legend this year after being awarded the Ronald Reagan Legacy Award by by Rep. David Rouzer at the Johnston County GOP Awards Banquet in April.

“It’s not often in life that you get to a know a man who is truly a legend in his own time,” Rouzer told JoCoReport.com. “Carl Lamm has dedicated his life and career to radio and made Johnston County, our state and our nation a better place in his daily pursuit of excellence and truth.”

Those are just two of the many honors bestowed on him. Lamm is a member of the N.C. Broadcasters Hall of Fame, a recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine and a Paul Harris Fellow in Rotary — just to name a few.

After more than seven decades on the radio, it's not surprising to hear that he's spending his retirement talking to people.

“I have been contacting a lot of my friends across the country,” he said. “(I've met) some of the most outstanding talk personalities from across America. I just stay busy contacting my friends, and trying to help my family out as much as I can.”

But, as fulfilling as his career was, he was ready to step back a bit.

“Not necessarily,” he said, when asked if he missed broadcasting on a regular basis. “I think I was pretty well mentally prepared for it.”

But it sounds like there will be a few more chances to catch Lamm on the airwaves.

“I have some shows that I plan to go on, nationwide talk shows,” he said. “I haven't got a date set for a lot of them, but several people have invited me to come on their talk shows. Dallas, Texas, Boston, Massachusetts — places like that. I plan eventually to be on some of those talk shows.”

His love of broadcasting dates back to his childhood.“When I was a little boy, I'd sit under my mama's table and take an oatmeal box and mock the announcers at WPTF (in Raleigh),” he said. “I plan to be on the air with Don Curtis (owner of Curtis Media Group and WPTF) sometime (soon).

“When I was a little boy, I had three ambitions. I wanted to be a radio announcer on WPTF. I also wanted to be the heavyweight boxing champion of the world — and I got to meet Jack Dempsey later on. And I wanted to be a baseball player.”

It's an ambitious list, and during his time on the air, he managed to touch them all.

His career began in 1947 at WCEC in Rocky Mount, where he was hired by Ray Wilkinson, whom Lamm describes as “one of the most famous broadcasters this state has ever known.”

He then moved on to WCKB in Dunn before becoming part owner of WMPM in Smithfield in 1958. He and his son, Mickey, bought WTSB in 2007.

In his career, he's done more than 500 interviews with Major League Baseball players and other professional athletes. He developed an especially close relationship with Mickey Mantle, for whom his son is named.But it was another famous New York Yankee that provided a particularly poignant moment.

“One favorite memory of mine is standing on third base, talking to Joe DiMaggio,” he said. “Joe was voted as the No. 1 player in the first 100 years of baseball, married to Marilyn Monroe, you know. So, I was standing there on third base, talking to Joe. Jerry Coleman, who was a broadcaster that day, said 'Joe, you remember the last time you were in the ballpark?' And Joe said, 'Yeah. I hit a ball over here (pointing to the outfield) and I got thrown out here at third base. It was a double, and I tried to stretch it into a triple.'

“It's just so many memories. They just flood my soul day after day after day. … I could not have planned my life. It had to be planned, and you know who the planner is.”

He's also met roughly “25 percent of the members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.” While talking to a writer, Lamm effortlessly weaves in and out of stories about being a regular guest at the Grand Ole Opry, having breakfast with Roy Acuff, who he calls “the king of country music,” and his memories of Hank Williams, “the most prolific songwriter that ever lived.”

It's a career worth celebrating, but even in the midst of becoming somewhat famous in his own right, Lamm never lost sight of the things that mattered most to him — his family and his faith.

He was married to Marjorie for 63 years before she died in 2015, and he has three children, eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. He also taught Sunday School at Beulah Hill Christian Church in Four Oaks for 50 years.

“I have the most wonderful family in the world,” he said. “They are each one special. Special. I've had the greatest broadcasting career. But like I say, I consider myself like the apostle Paul. The chief sinner in the world. But I'm worthy if God makes me worthy.”