[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 45 (Friday, April 2, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E514-E515]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               CARL LAMM, DISTINGUISHED NORTH CAROLINIAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB ETHERIDGE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 1, 2004

  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, Carl Edward Lamm--a legendary pioneer in 
radio broadcasting will be honored on April 20 at the 2004 
Distinguished Citizen Banquet of the Johnston Community College 
Foundation. Lamm is president and general manager of Radio Station WMPM 
in Smithfield, North Carolina.
  Lamm, now in his 56th consecutive year as a full-time broadcaster, is 
sometimes referred to as the ``Voice of Eastern Carolina.'' His many 
awards have included induction into the North Carolina Broadcasters 
Hall of Fame and the awarding of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, North 
Carolina's top citizen award, by Governor James B. Hunt. He is one of 
the finest examples of North Carolina values in action.
  Lamm, born in Spring Hope, North Carolina, dreamed early on of a 
career in radio. As a 17-year-old, he did his first broadcasting on 
Radio Station WEED in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, took time out to 
join the Navy for World War II service, and returned in 1946 to finish 
high school. He then enrolled in the National Academy of Broadcasting 
in Washington, DC to pursue his dream of becoming a broadcaster. Within 
a year, he was hired at Radio Station WCEC in Rocky Mount. He followed 
that with a position at WCKB in Dunn, North Carolina. In 1958, he 
became a co-owner of and full-time broadcaster for WMPM in Smithfield, 
a career that continues to this day.
  It has been a labor of love for his adopted community. A national 
expert on country music, Lamm has one of the most extensive collections 
of historic country music in the United States. His station is 
considered a leader in the presentation of old time country music, 
bluegrass, and southern gospel music. During his long career, he also 
emceed a program for Radio Station WSM in Nashville, TN, interviewing 
Hank Snow, a member of the County Music Hall of Fame.
  On his Smithfield station, Lamm's interests have ranged far and wide. 
He was the 1971 Sportscaster of the Year for the Raleigh Hot Stove 
League. For 25 years, he hosted a program about North Carolina 
lawmakers, ``Legislative Report to the People.'' He covered the 
Smithfield tobacco market for 54 years and from 1993 to 2000 was the 
sales supervisor of the market. Lamm has interviewed more than 500 
major league baseball players and country music entertainers. Those 
interviews include Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Casey 
Stengel, Mickey Mantle, and Whitey Ford. Interviews with entertainers 
have included Hank Williams, Red Foley, Ernest Tubb, Roy Acuff, and 
Kitty Wells.

  Lamm, is a former president of the Smithfield Rotary Club. He 
initiated the annual ``Rotary Radio Day'' in 1971 that continues to 
this day. That event, it is estimated, has raised more than $100,000 
for the Smithfield Rotary Club's community projects. The club honored 
him with one of its first Paul Harris Fellowship Awards. In 2003, the 
club established the Carl and Margie Lamm Scholarship, which will be 
awarded annually to a graduating senior at Smithfield-Selma High 
School.
  Lamm was the first to broadcast the death of legendary Johnson County 
movie star, Ava Gardner, and was the natural voice to emcee the opening 
of the Ava Gardner Museum when it opened its new quarters in October, 
2000.
  Lamm taught a Sunday School Class at Beulah Baptist Church in Four 
Oaks for 48 consecutive years and now occasionally teaches the Evander 
Simpson Sunday School Class at First Baptist Church in Smithfield where 
he and his family are members.

[[Page E515]]

  Truly, Carl Lamm has been a unique man in a unique time in Johnson 
County. Through the radio, he has recorded the county's comings and 
goings, the births and deaths, the struggles and the triumphs, and the 
dreams of tomorrow.

                          ____________________