Martin Risser Williams was born on April 12, 1905, in Cambridge City, Indiana. While in high school, Williams constructed an amateur radio station. He attended radio school at Valparaiso in Indiana and worked for RCA in Chicago and Cleveland. Williams installed the very first two-way radio in a commercial aircraft in 1929.
Williams returned to Indiana in 1930 as chief engineer of radio station WFBM. While he was in Indiana, he built the city’s first two-way radio mobile news and remote units, and he did the original engineering for the Indiana State Police communication network. After leaving WFBM in 1940, he became a consulting engineer and helped put a number of Indiana radio stations on the air.
On March 17, 1957, Williams founded WFMS (95.5 FM), the first permanent commercial FM station in Indianapolis. In December 1963, the outlet became the first in Indianapolis to broadcast continuously in stereo. Williams broadcast classical and popular concert music on WFMS, and the radio station’s motto was “Music in a polite way.”
Because Williams disputed repeated claims that WFMS had a small audience, he went on the air in 1971 and asked listeners to send him a dollar to show their support for the station. More than 500 people sent almost $700.
After rejecting a number of earlier offers for WFMS, Williams sold the station in 1972 to a Pennsylvania company, Susquehanna Broadcasting, for $605,000. Two years later, he became the principal owner and manager of WIUC, Winchester, Indiana. He retired from that station in 1979 but continued consulting work. In 1982, he was honored by being inducted into the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers’ Hall of Fame.
In 1976, WFMS changed to a country music format, which boosted ratings. The station received multiple awards from the Country Music Association after the transition.
Williams passed away on December 17, 1986.
