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Happy 98th Birthday to Al Shade - 75 Years On the Air

J

John1

Country music singer, disc jockey and concert promoter Al Shade turned 98 last week. He started in 1950 with a 15 minutes a month show in the block programming era on WLBR Lebanon and soon became a full time personality as well as performing throughout the region. He soon married his female singer Jean Romaine and they toured together and did the radio shows together until she passed away in 2017. He was also stations in York- Hanover for years. He booked major acts at Williams Grove park in Mechanicsburg in the 1960’s. Most recently he has been on WWSM in Annville which went internet-only a couple years ago, now he’s on 5 days a week 11 am and pm, the shows recorded in his basement studio. Plays classic country and tells stories of the singers he met. Living history of radio in central Pa.
 
John1 said:
Country music singer, disc jockey and concert promoter Al Shade turned 98 last week. He started in 1950 with a 15 minutes a month show in the block programming era on WLBR Lebanon and soon became a full time personality as well as performing throughout the region. He soon married his female singer Jean Romaine and they toured together and did the radio shows together until she passed away in 2017. He was also stations in York- Hanover for years. He booked major acts at Williams Grove park in Mechanicsburg in the 1960’s. Most recently he has been on WWSM in Annville which went internet-only a couple years ago, now he’s on 5 days a week 11 am and pm, the shows recorded in his basement studio. Plays classic country and tells stories of the singers he met. Living history of radio in central Pa.
Click to expand...
Wow - 98 and still on the air? Amazing!
 
The move of WWSM to online only, looks like it's been a success. I believe they always have had more listeners streaming than the ones that were tuning into their AM daytimer signal. I'm glad that they are still around, including Al.

Hmmm .. those call letters seem familiar to me Where do you suppose they got the idea for them? 😁
 
The listen live link is on their WWSM.us website but everything there is unchanged from when WWSM dropped Real Country programming maybe 10 years ago. I think Al Shade is the only show left listed there under the Real Country logo. They run several syndicated bluegrass shows but mostly a wide range of classic country with no personalities. Al Shade still voices his commercials and some are voiced by his son Faron. Some of the sponsors have been with him many years, one candy store 70 years!
 


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