Finger Studios

Built in just 15 months between 1938 and 1939, the Asheville Citizen Times Building was designed by architect Anthony Lord as the grand headquarters for the city’s two newspapers and radio station, WWNC.

Located at 14 O’Henry Avenue, the massive three-story structure, built of reinforced concrete, black granite, and limestone, remains Asheville’s finest example of Art Moderne design. With 22-foot ceilings, curved mezzanine railings, and 20,000 glass blocks providing natural light and insulation, there is no other space like it in the city.

For the past seven years, the building’s third floor has served as a restored broadcast and recording facility – formerly Citizen Vinyl Studios, and now reborn as Finger Studios – a modern analog recording studio and creative media space dedicated to advancing Asheville’s legacy of artistic innovation.

Both The Asheville Citizen (morning) and The Asheville Times (afternoon) newspapers were founded in the late 19th century but came under common ownership in 1930 by Charles Webb. Webb also owned WWNC Radio, and in April 1939, he brought his newspapers and radio station together under one roof… the newly built Asheville Citizen Times Building.

For nearly five decades, the papers were printed in the building’s basement until printing operations moved to Enka, NC, in 1986. The two papers officially merged in 1991 as The Asheville Citizen Times, which continues publishing today from offices on the building’s second floor.

On February 21, 1927, WWNC Radio – short for “Wonderful Western North Carolina” – began broadcasting from Asheville’s nearby Flat Iron Building. Its twin transmission towers on the rooftop made it the highest broadcasting station east of the Mississippi, and its 1,000-watt signal reached across the southern and eastern United States, sharing the region’s art, music, and culture with the world.

WWNC quickly became known for its live musical performances, featuring orchestras, choirs, and mountain musicians alike. In 1927, Jimmie Rodgers, the “Father of Country Music,” performed on WWNC; and in early 1939, Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys played daily broadcasts that helped launch the bluegrass genre itself.

That same year, WWNC moved into its new home on the third floor of the Asheville Citizen Times Building, with a cutting-edge studio complex built to the highest acoustic and technical standards of the era.

Today, that historic space lives on as Finger Studios: a meticulously restored recording and production environment that continues the building’s long tradition of broadcast, recording, and creative excellence, bringing Asheville’s sound into the modern age.