Can You Hear Me Now?

Did you know that Frank Spratlin, father of Bent Tree's developer H. Dean Spratlin, helped build a radio tower for Georgia Tech on Burnt Mountain?

While exploring the ruins of the Connahaynee Lodge upon Burnt Mountain, some 500 yards southeast of the lodge, I had discovered an abandoned cement building with an electrical line connected to it. There no longer was a door or any signage. However, based on the construction materials, this clearly was not part of the lodge nor built at the same time. I wondered for a moment what it was, and then remembered seeing a radio tower on the old topographic maps on Burnt Mountain.

In one of my previous posts, you learned that the founder of Bent Tree’s father, Frank Spratlin, used to frequent the Connahaynee Lodge before it burned down in the spring of 1946. What many of you may not know is that the now abandoned radio tower building, that was built in 1947, was applied for by the Chairman of the Radio Committee for the Board of Regents of Georgia Tech within six months of the lodge’s destruction. Who was that Chairman? None other than Frank Spratlin himself.

Georgia Tech was granted a license to build a 50,000 watt radio station, (which was at the time the most powerful FM radio station in North Georgia) in late October of 1946. The land for the tower was acquired from Tate Mountain Estates and the Atlanta Constitution was the first company to be granted access to the WGST (Georgia School of Technology) station.

A lesser known fact was that this station was the first station to play rock ‘n roll music in Atlanta back in the Fifties!

The Spratlin Family has had a long history of entrepreneurship and integrity that left an indelible mark upon our area, Atlanta and even the nation. If only more people remembered their contributions. Maybe this article will help. Can you hear me now?