UAFS Lions Coach Louis Whorton Hall of Fame
Greg Davis Sr.’s skills on the basketball court as a teenager playing for Fort Smith’s St. Anne’s Academy caught the eye of then second-year Westark College basketball coach Bill Crowder.
Davis Sr. was recruited and signed by Crowder and played two seasons for the Lions. His impact on the program, however, was much greater than just his accomplishments on the basketball court.
Davis Sr. was the first African-American to play a varsity sport at Westark College, and he and his brother, Fred Davis III, who played basketball for the Lions two seasons later, were instrumental in the integration of the school’s athletics program.
A 5-foot-11 guard, Davis Sr. played two seasons for the Lions (1966-68). He went on to play basketball at Lane College in Jackson, Tenn., and received his Bachelor of Arts in Biology. After serving in the United States Army, he returned to school and earned his master’s degree from Eastern Michigan University.
He then began a twelve-year television career that took him to a number of major cities, including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit. From 1982 to 1986, he worked as a national/local sales manager of Multimedia Broadcasting for WLW-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio.
He began his company, Davis Broadcasting Inc., in 1986, when he acquired radio stations in Columbus and Augusta, Ga. He later purchased stations in Macon, Columbus, and Atlanta, Ga., as well as in Charlotte, N.C.
In 2000, he sold the radio stations in Charlotte and Augusta to focus on building his operations in Columbus.
Davis Broadcasting Inc. consists of ten radio stations based in Columbus and Atlanta, Ga. – WFXE-FM, WEAM-FM, WIOL-FM, WIOL-AM, WOKS-AM and WKZJ-FM in Columbus and WCHK-FM (La Mega), WCHK-AM, WLKQ-FM (La Raza) and WNSY-FM in Atlanta.
These ten stations offer a variety of music genres, including urban contemporary, gospel contemporary, Spanish language programming, and sports. Its hip-hop and R&B station, WFXE-FM (Foxie 105), has been rated the No. 1 radio station in the Columbus market since 1993. In 2004, La Raza became Atlanta’s first Spanish language FM radio station.
In addition to operating several radio stations, Davis Broadcasting Inc. has hosted many annual philanthropic events. These include the Women’s Empowerment Luncheon, held each March for National Women’s History Month, Family Day in the Parks and the Needy Children's Christmas party, which provides three to four thousand needy children with gifts every Christmas.
Davis Sr. also serves his community by participating on boards both locally and nationally. These include the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, Columbus Regional Hospital, United Way, Better Business Bureau, First Union Bank, and First Citizen Bank of North Carolina. He has also served on the board for the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, the Georgia Association of Broadcasters, and the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters.
He was recently inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.
