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Calling any on who worked for Beacon Broadcasting

R

Roger

I am working with a man down here in Scranton, PA who worked for Beacon Broadcasting down here in Scranton, PA on WBQW 1320am and then later WSCR 1320am and he has told me alot of stuff. I lived in Poughkeeise, New York were I could pick up WBNR, WSPK they were Beacon Broadcasting stations at the time. I think it be nice would be for for every one who worked at WINR, WENE, and WMRV at the time to post about their time and what you recall about the owners. <P ID="signature">______________
Roger</P>
 
I'm about to send some pictures of WBNR/WSPK studios that I took in the mid 80's while visiting Beacon to Jon Scaptura's Binghamton Radio web site (www.scaptura.com). (I know those are not Bingo stations, but maybe he'll post them so those of us who worked at the dump on the hill can see how the other side lived downstate.) There are already several pictures of WINR that I have posted that were taken while The Brothers owned the place.

My story? Well, one day I was working hard on recording a commercial at WINR's downtown studios when this balding older fellow with glasses walked in while I was recording. I asked him to leave and not barge into a studio while the air-light was on, and he left.....That man was Al Lessner, who commended me later for tossing him out of his own facility. Talk about 'er faux-pas's!
 
> I'm about to send some pictures of WBNR/WSPK studios that I
> took in the mid 80's while visiting Beacon to Jon Scaptura's
> Binghamton Radio web site (www.scaptura.com). (I know those
> are not Bingo stations, but maybe he'll post them so those
> of us who worked at the dump on the hill can see how the
> other side lived downstate.) There are already several
> pictures of WINR that I have posted that were taken while
> The Brothers owned the place.
>
> My story? Well, one day I was working hard on recording a
> commercial at WINR's downtown studios when this balding
> older fellow with glasses walked in while I was recording. I
> asked him to leave and not barge into a studio while the
> air-light was on, and he left.....That man was Al Lessner,
> who commended me later for tossing him out of his own
> facility. Talk about 'er faux-pas's!
>
I was the Operations Manager of WINR from 1982 until David Mitchell left in late 1986. Bob & Al..or, uh Heckle & Jeckle.. Bob & Al who never paid a bill until the last possible second. They'd pay the electric bill when NYSEG was standing at your meter ready to pull the plug. Bob & Al..who whenever you called any supplier you always got to hear.."I'm sorry, we can't ship {insert item here} because there's been no payment on this account for the past 2 years." Bob & Al who actually thought they had something to do with the phenominal success of WINR when it was David Mitchell and his assembled team who made that place work at about 300% above it's actual ability. Bob & Al..one with hair and one without. What a pair!!!!
 
> I am working with a man down here in Scranton, PA who worked
> for Beacon Broadcasting down here in Scranton, PA on WBQW
> 1320am and then later WSCR 1320am and he has told me alot of
> stuff. I lived in Poughkeeise, New York were I could pick up
> WBNR, WSPK they were Beacon Broadcasting stations at the
> time. I think it be nice would be for for every one who
> worked at WINR, WENE, and WMRV at the time to post about
> their time and what you recall about the owners.

They arn'tthe most honest guys in broadcasting!..(do they own any stations now?)and did they ever screw up two great radio stations...
 
I was at WINR at the time of the takeover in 1975/1976. I remember quite clearly the day when they fired most of the air and news staff. WINR was moved from the Vestal Parkway to Windy Hill shortly after the takeover. The access road to Windy Hill was full of holes, and they did straighten it out and put stones on it.
 
My Last Day on Windy Hill

> The access road to Windy Hill was full of holes, and they did
> straighten it out and put stones on it.

Ah, Windy Hill. Jerry Reed hired me to work at WINR in December of 1977. I got there just in time for winter. Anybody else remember parking their car after a snowfall where the pavement - and salt - ended because you couldn't get the rest of the way up the hill? The station did have a snowmobile, and they'd come and get you if you called ahead. Boy would a cell phone have been nice back then.

But Jerry was a great guy to work for, did a nice job of putting together a competitive radio station, and ratings were growing. We had some personnel changes, but generally had a pretty good and/or interesting crew doing battle with the elements up on Windy Hill, as well as WNBF and the rest of the stations in town.

Then, in the summer of 1978, Dave Mitchell was promoted from Sales Manager to Station Manager. Let's just say that things changed, and I had some creative disagreements with Mr. Mitchell. Sensing that it was time to move on, I made a few suggestions in mid-August that were not well received, and I was asked to complete my service two weeks hence. To my chagrin, I was actually asked to work out the last two weeks instead of just collecting the pay. Oh, well.

My last day was a Saturday morning show, with the lovely and talented Judi Gross as my newsperson. We were alone up on Windy Hill when a thunderstorm rolled in. This was not an unusual occurrence. A brilliant flash was followed immediately by a loud clap of thunder, and the radio station went off the air. This was also not a particularly unusual occurrence. I checked Judi out to make sure that she was OK, then made my way from the studio to the transmitter. The transmitter filaments were on, the plate was off. I pushed the "Plate On" button, heard the relays click, it powered up for a moment, then dumped again. Tried again, dumped again.

Now, having been through things like this a time or two before, I went to the Aux and turned the filaments on. While the filaments were warming up, I walked around behind the transmitters where the coax relay was located to switch the transmitter feed from main to aux. That's when I noticed the phasing rack - or perhaps I should say what used to be the phasing rack. The back door of that steel cabinet was blown open, and the spaces that used to house the tomato-juice-can sized capacitors were empty. The back room was littered with ceramic shrapnel.

Sensing that this was beyond my meager engineering capabilities, I called our chief engineer, a youngish fellow from Beacon Broadcasting who had arrived recently from the Hudson Valley to replace our old engineer. He asked me why we were still off the air, and started to tell me how to get the transmitter back on the air. I managed to stop him long enough to notify him of the condition of our former phasing rack.

I'm not sure if you can say that you heard someone "blanch" over the phone, but that's the best description I can come up with. A single expletive escaped. A tirade would have required a lesser degree of shock. He said "I'll be right there", and hung up.

I don't remember the exact sequence of events, but that was the end of my broadcast career at WINR. I do remember that Judi and I went to breakfast, and that weekend I completed packing my apartment into a U-Haul. I picked up my last check Monday morning, and headed home to Buffalo.

My understanding is that WINR was off the air for over a week.

Quite the exit, huh? Better than a party, as far as I was concerned.


Brian J. Walker, aka Dr. Don Ryan, WINR 1977-78


PS - Seems that things eventually worked out OK for all parties involved.
 
Damn..

> > The access road to Windy Hill was full of holes, and they
> did
> > straighten it out and put stones on it.
>
> Ah, Windy Hill. Jerry Reed hired me to work at WINR in
> December of 1977. I got there just in time for winter.
> Anybody else remember parking their car after a snowfall
> where the pavement - and salt - ended because you couldn't
> get the rest of the way up the hill? The station did have a
> snowmobile, and they'd come and get you if you called ahead.
> Boy would a cell phone have been nice back then.
>
> But Jerry was a great guy to work for, did a nice job of
> putting together a competitive radio station, and ratings
> were growing. We had some personnel changes, but generally
> had a pretty good and/or interesting crew doing battle with
> the elements up on Windy Hill, as well as WNBF and the rest
> of the stations in town.
>
> Then, in the summer of 1978, Dave Mitchell was promoted from
> Sales Manager to Station Manager. Let's just say that things
> changed, and I had some creative disagreements with Mr.
> Mitchell. Sensing that it was time to move on, I made a few
> suggestions in mid-August that were not well received, and I
> was asked to complete my service two weeks hence. To my
> chagrin, I was actually asked to work out the last two weeks
> instead of just collecting the pay. Oh, well.
>
> My last day was a Saturday morning show, with the lovely and
> talented Judi Gross as my newsperson. We were alone up on
> Windy Hill when a thunderstorm rolled in. This was not an
> unusual occurrence. A brilliant flash was followed
> immediately by a loud clap of thunder, and the radio station
> went off the air. This was also not a particularly unusual
> occurrence. I checked Judi out to make sure that she was OK,
> then made my way from the studio to the transmitter. The
> transmitter filaments were on, the plate was off. I pushed
> the "Plate On" button, heard the relays click, it powered up
> for a moment, then dumped again. Tried again, dumped again.
>
> Now, having been through things like this a time or two
> before, I went to the Aux and turned the filaments on. While
> the filaments were warming up, I walked around behind the
> transmitters where the coax relay was located to switch the
> transmitter feed from main to aux. That's when I noticed the
> phasing rack - or perhaps I should say what used to be the
> phasing rack. The back door of that steel cabinet was blown
> open, and the spaces that used to house the tomato-juice-can
> sized capacitors were empty. The back room was littered with
> ceramic shrapnel.
>
> Sensing that this was beyond my meager engineering
> capabilities, I called our chief engineer, a youngish fellow
> from Beacon Broadcasting who had arrived recently from the
> Hudson Valley to replace our old engineer. He asked me why
> we were still off the air, and started to tell me how to get
> the transmitter back on the air. I managed to stop him long
> enough to notify him of the condition of our former phasing
> rack.
>
> I'm not sure if you can say that you heard someone "blanch"
> over the phone, but that's the best description I can come
> up with. A single expletive escaped. A tirade would have
> required a lesser degree of shock. He said "I'll be right
> there", and hung up.
>
> I don't remember the exact sequence of events, but that was
> the end of my broadcast career at WINR. I do remember that
> Judy and I went to breakfast, and that weekend I completed
> packing my apartment into a U-Haul. I picked up my last
> check Monday morning, and headed home to Buffalo.
>
> My understanding is that WINR was off the air for over a
> week.
>
> Quite the exit, huh? Better than a party, as far as I was
> concerned.
>
>
> Brian J. Walker, aka Dr. Don Ryan, WINR 1977-78
>
>
> PS - Seems that things eventually worked out OK for all
> parties involved.
>

When is your autobiography coming out?
 
Re: Damn..

> When is your autobiography coming out?

Do you mean that you want me to write something LONGER than that last post?
 
Re: Damn..

> > When is your autobiography coming out?
>
> Do you mean that you want me to write something LONGER than
> that last post?
>

NO! That was my point...(no offense:)
 
Re: Damn..

> NO! That was my point...(no offense:)

Hey, sorry if I exceeded your attention span. Next time, feel free to stop reading at any time. ;-)
 
Re: Damn..

> > NO! That was my point...(no offense:)
>
> Hey, sorry if I exceeded your attention span. Next time,
> feel free to stop reading at any time. ;-)
>

NEXT TIME, WRITE A FRIGGIN NOVEL!
 
Novel Idea...

> NEXT TIME, WRITE A FRIGGIN NOVEL!

Hey, Junior, it seems to me that the guy was being nice to you. You don't want to read his post? Then DON'T.

I thought is was a pretty interesting story.

BTW, there are MUCH longer posts around.
 
Re: Novel Idea...

> > NEXT TIME, WRITE A FRIGGIN NOVEL!
>
> Hey, Junior, it seems to me that the guy was being nice to
> you. You don't want to read his post? Then DON'T.
>
> I thought is was a pretty interesting story.
>
> BTW, there are MUCH longer posts around.
>

JUNIOR this beotch!
 
Re: Novel Idea...

> JUNIOR this beotch!

Well, JUNIOR, the use of BEOTCH pretty much proves my point...

BTW, the JUNIOR is based on your juvenile behavior, not necessarily your age.


PS - How do you make a MORON continue to post?
 
> I'm about to send some pictures of WBNR/WSPK studios that I
> took in the mid 80's while visiting Beacon to Jon Scaptura's
> Binghamton Radio web site (www.scaptura.com). (I know those
> are not Bingo stations, but maybe he'll post them so those
> of us who worked at the dump on the hill can see how the
> other side lived downstate.) There are already several
> pictures of WINR that I have posted that were taken while
> The Brothers owned the place.
>
> My story? Well, one day I was working hard on recording a
> commercial at WINR's downtown studios when this balding
> older fellow with glasses walked in while I was recording. I
> asked him to leave and not barge into a studio while the
> air-light was on, and he left.....That man was Al Lessner,
> who commended me later for tossing him out of his own
> facility. Talk about 'er faux-pas's!
>
Can you send me the photos. I would like to see them. E-mail them to [email protected] <P ID="signature">______________
Roger</P>
 
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