R.E. Winsett's Radio Revival

FOR USE IN RADIO PROGRAMS,
REVIVALS,
CAMP-MEETINGS,
CONVENTIONS
AND ALL RELIGIOUS
SERVICES

There isn't much to be said about Robert Emmett Winsett. He was born in Bledsoe County, TN, in 1876 That would make him 63 when this song book was published in Dayton, TN on August 4th 1939. Dayton is about 40 miles North of Chattanooga inside Rhea County. The man didn't travel far from home.

He graduated from the Bowman Normal School of Music in 1899 and he founded his own publishing company in 1903 and set upon publishing song books of hymns, but he didn't become a minister until 1923. His wife Birdie Bell wrote them as well. But there was something very significant about him. He wasn't just an obscure writer of praise music. The Southern Gospel Music Association describes him thus:

"...He devoted his life to the spread of Gospel Music. His music publishing company, headquartered in Dayton, Tennessee, stood as one of the strong holds of Southern shape-note publishing for most of the first half of the twentieth century. The author of more than a thousand Gospel songs, Winsett penned the words and music to the perennial favorite "Jesus Is Coming Soon," the winner of a Dove Award for Gospel Song of the Year in 1969."

But I cant find a reference to Robert Emmett Winsett preaching on the radio. His own biography didn't even hold up to light handed examination, conflicting even with basic census data. My overall impression is that calling this a "Radio Revival Special" was about marketing and not about Winsett . More here.

*******UPDATE********

 I found a second R.E. Winsett Radio hymnal. This one also references Dayton, Tennessee on the cover but is titled "Favorite Radio Gems" again a hint that he was preaching on the radio somewhere in Tennessee... probably near Dayton.

Today there is just one radio station in Dayton, TN, 1280 WALI-AM currently owned by Beverly Broadcasting. The brand is currently "Alive 96.9, Cleveland's Lite Rock". No, not that Cleveland. They mean Cleveland, TN; population 48,000. The station first signed on December 6th, 1957 as WDNT. It remained under the original owner Norman A. Thomas until he died in April of 1980 at the age of 79 and his estate passed ownership to his son who sold it in 1982 to Eaton Govan who sold it in 1986 to Dayton Broadcasting. Then Walter Hooper bought out Dayton Broadcasting in 1995... it kept changing hands. Beverly finally bought it in 2009.

In the text above his family pictures is the phrase "A choice collection of favorite song, for use over radio, in singing conventions, home singings, and of all church work where good songs are preferred." The reference is generic and not specific and no call sign is mentioned. The family names are Ruth E. Winsett, Ruth Naomi, Harold Gene, Marilyn Anita. The copyright above the text is given as MCMXLV, which is 1945— over a decade before WDNT signed on. So we know to a certainty that Winsett was not on that station, at least not when these were printed, but perhaps later. 

The 1947 Broadcasting yearbook only lists 44 stations in all of Tennessee at the time. Dayton does not appear in the list but Cleveland does with 1340 WBAC-AM. It first appears in the 1946 year book under the ownership of Robert W. Rounsaville. But I have not found any correlation between the two.