WNEG founder Roy Gaines dies at 94
Roy Gaines (center) accepts the Lifetime Achievement Award with Toccoa City Commissioner David Austin (left) and WNEG’s Connie Gaines (right) looking on.
Sad news from the WNEG family…Roy Gaines-The Founder of WNEG Radio and TV, former Toccoa Mayor, and father of WNEG’s Operation Manager and morning host Connie Gaines, passed away on Sunday night.
A World War II Navy veteran, Gaines arrived in Toccoa in 1946 to work for R.G. LeTourneau and WRLC Radio.
He and his brother then founded WNEG Radio in 1956 and in 1984, he founded WNEG TV.
Gaines was named the Georgia Association of Broadcasters Broadcaster Citizen of the Year in 1971 and entered the GAB Hall of Fame in 2002.
He also spent years in public service.
Gaines served for nine years on the Toccoa City Commission, including serving as Mayor in 1971, 1974, and 1977.
Among the numerous boards and committees he served on, he is a former member and president of the Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce, chaired the Toccoa-Stephens County 2000 Committee, is a former president of the Toccoa Rotary Club, and has received awards for his public service including the Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.
Roy Gaines was 94.