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First Fave Central PA Station

> its sad to see the "museum" go,
> though...

The owners must have gotten a hell of a tax break from all the donations to the Smithsonian.<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
> > its sad to see the "museum" go,
> > though...
>
> The owners must have gotten a hell of a tax break from all
> the donations to the Smithsonian.
> sam i gotta ask is the old barber chair our beauty shop chair still adorning the studios on walnut bottom road?
 
> Music Radio WKBO (1230) ...although, I think I was a fan of
> WFEC in the '60s, KBO was the first staton that I was truly
> hooked on.
>
When FM started to take over South Central PA, Q-106 ruled, but I eventually converted to ROCK-99 WSFM, one of the automated TM Century stations that had no live jocks. The automation room was huge with four 16-inch reels, 1 back-up 16-inch that contained about an hour of pre-recorded programming, three cart carousels that could rotate 24 spots, and a single cart machine that AM jocks recorded the weather on every three or four hours.<P ID="signature">______________
Apathy is bliss.</P>
 
> AM960 WHYL. Playing your kind of music.*
>
> * I was paid to say that.

I sampled the station Friday and Saturday. Sounds kinda like the MORs of olde,
music and information; "Your Hometown Station."

Saturday, I heard the beginning of a talk show about cigars.
 
> Music Radio WKBO (1230) ...

Wasn't WKBO once THEE Top40 or Rock station for Harrisburg? Dusty Adams (Z-107) had old WKBO stories, I think he worked there in the '70s.
 
> > Solid Rock 92.7 - Starview.
>
> Speaking of shoddy buildings....

That ol' building was fine, it just needed some interior cosmetic improvements...

However, installing the low-quality, grey carpet (probably from the '91 expansion)
wasn't a great idea, since it couldn't withstand daily foot traffic, cigarette cherries
or spilled beverages. As for that AM studio (WOYK's '87-'96 home), yes, that part
of the building was shoddy. I think it was part of the original Starview trailer from
1971, which would explain its mobile home (kitchen, bedroom?) appearance. The
incomplete addition off of the break room was supposed to be the new AM studio,
but there were budget issues or whatever.

Although the building atop Rock Mountain was a series of remodels and additions,
it was a safe structure and a fun place to work.

A few years ago, someone told me that Hall had the building demoed. Glad I kept
my old station pix.
 
> I sampled the station Friday and Saturday. Sounds kinda
> like the MORs of olde,
> music and information; "Your Hometown Station."

Somebody changed something because a LOT of older stuff was playing.

> Saturday, I heard the beginning of a talk show about cigars.

I LOVED yesterday's cigar dave show...great segment on gratuity.<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
> > Music Radio WKBO (1230) ...
>
> Wasn't WKBO once THEE Top40 or Rock station for Harrisburg?
> Dusty Adams (Z-107) had old WKBO stories, I think he worked
> there in the '70s.
>
Yep, KBO was the #1 Top-40 station in Harrisburg from the early to late '70s. When Q-106 and ROCK-99 started grabbing some kids' ears (including mine), KBO started slipping. I don't remember a Dusty Adams. There was a Charlie Adams (passed away a few years back) who did middays until Slim Jim Buchannan came along and a wild part-timer named Freddie Adams.<P ID="signature">______________
Apathy is bliss.</P>
 
> sam i gotta ask is the old barber chair our beauty shop
> chair still adorning the studios on walnut bottom road?

Not in the studio, but it's there.<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
> > > Music Radio WKBO (1230) ...
> >
> > Wasn't WKBO once THEE Top40 or Rock station for Harrisburg?
> > Dusty Adams (Z-107) had old WKBO stories, I think he worked
> > there in the '70s.
> >
> Yep, KBO was the #1 Top-40 station in Harrisburg from the
> early to late '70s. When Q-106 and ROCK-99 started grabbing
> some kids' ears (including mine), KBO started slipping.

Q-106 grabbed mine at age 9 (1979). Wildman Johnny Ringo was the best,
he worked the 7-midnight shift.


> I don't remember a Dusty Adams. There was a Charlie Adams
> (passed away a few years back) who did middays until Slim
> Jim Buchannan came along

And now he does weather on the tube, and one or two radio air shifts.


> and a wild part-timer named Freddie Adams.

That's Dusty. He was still sorta wild for a guy in his mid-40s, though he
used to insist that I get adequate health insurance. At Z-107, he hosted
the "Z-Country Top-30 Countdown."
 
> > I sampled the station Friday and Saturday. Sounds kinda like the MORs
> > of olde, music and information; "Your Hometown Station."
>
> Somebody changed something because a LOT of older stuff was playing.

Well, the station has a decent daytime signal when you're driving around York;
not sure how it's received indoors.
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by AgingXer on 03/27/06 05:30 AM.</FONT></P>
 
> Q-106 grabbed mine at age 9 (1979). Wildman Johnny Ringo
> was the best,
> he worked the 7-midnight shift.

No one that I have met in my career was wilder than Johnny. We met back in the ROCK-99 days, and I was just a kid. He freaked me out. Still, he was pretty cool.

> > I don't remember a Dusty Adams. There was a Charlie Adams
> > (passed away a few years back) who did middays until Slim
>
> > Jim Buchannan came along
>
> And now he does weather on the tube, and one or two radio
> air shifts.

I've known Jim for a fairly long time; he's probably one of the nicest guys in the biz. In his KBO days, he was one of the reasons that I wanted to be a jock (combined with his then cohort John St. John).

>
> > and a wild part-timer named Freddie Adams.
>
> That's Dusty. He was still sorta wild for a guy in his
> mid-40s, though he
> used to insist that I get adequate health insurance. At
> Z-107, he hosted
> the "Z-Country Top-30 Countdown."
>

Freddie used to do the funniest presentation on the WITF TV auction. Watching his portion of the auction was something we would wait for anxiously.<P ID="signature">______________
Apathy is bliss.</P>
 
> Music Radio WKBO (1230) ...although, I think I was a fan of
> WFEC in the '60s, KBO was the first staton that I was truly
> hooked on.
>

Rock Solid W-K-B-O
Alexander in the Morning and John St. John on top of the rock in PM drive.
Top notch programming by Alexander. So sad to see it die.
 
> > 94KX. Tom Shannon and Terry Ford ruled
> >
> mix 99.3 1993-96 working with schteddy eddy and jeffro t
> mason what a hoot. what a dumpy building too. but then
> again the listeners could care less if your broadcasting out
> of a porta pottie as long as you have a godd product
>

Oh Todd, you make me blush. It WAS a hoot. And, it WAS something NOT being done at the time in the market -- at least from 8/94 through my departure in 3/95. We were "Top 40" in every sense of the term. No recurrents, no gold...just currents. Powers spun every 60-75 minutes. Secondaries every 3 hours at the least. We (sadly) were stuck with talk syndication in AM & PM Drive, yet we STILL outspun Wink on currents. What a time! It was that station that killed my friendship with Bruce, too. I remember him calling one day and saying "Sorry, you're the enemy now. I can't talk to you. Our friendship is just a victim of circumstance." When we first flipped CHR, I said I wasn't gonna attack him personally. After that call, I changed my tune. Fortunately, we patched up our friendship years later. We really were "the little engine that could" at Mix-FM.

God, I just remembered HOW BAD that building was. All the crossed wires in that dive. RF out the ying-yang. If you potted up a cart deck, you heard WCMB - almost louder than the cart itself! I miss a lot of that, though. I was fortunate enough to hire some great people at WIMX. Of course, we had you on the weekends. I gave Dennis Mitchell his first H'Burg gig there, and even NAMED him. I have that tape somewhere. John Beaston, who later went to Wink 104 as "Jay Beaston," and Bob 94.9 as "Wes Shore" did his time at WIMX. Jay Money was my 16 year old prodigy, and now he's at 93-3 FLZ in Tampa. And, of course, Steady Eddie August was a VERY memorable jock, and what a unique character he was. Radio was unfortunate to lose him. If only I knew then what I know now. I'd do the whole thing VERY differently. We live and we learn...
 
> John St. John from Q-106 and FM97?

Different John St. John - this John St. John was on KBO in mid 70s before going to Philadelphia. Not sure what happened to him after that.
 
> Rock-99, was that WFEC?

No, ROCK-99 was WSFM (WCMB's FM station) on the West Shore (Wormleysburg/Camp Hill). WFEC is at 1400-AM.

>
> > I've known Jim for a fairly long time; he's probably one
> of
> > the nicest guys in the biz. In his KBO days, he was one of
>
> > the reasons that I wanted to be a jock (combined with his
> > then cohort John St. John).
>
> John St. John from Q-106 and FM97?
>

No, this John St. John dates back to the early '70s on WKBO; when he left the Burg in the late '70s, he landed a gig in St. Louis (where the billboards read "The Saint is coming to St. Louis"). St. John was idolized by a lot of young area guys just starting out in the biz back then, me included. I believe he still runs a production company down south, but others here (Dan Steele or RJ Harris, if they still stop by here) would know for sure.<P ID="signature">______________
Apathy is bliss.</P>
 
>
> Anybody seen the ZBear??
>
Funny....I actually know where the ZBear is!!! and I'm not joking. Might have it make an appearance at my kids birthday party or something.
 
1130/WEEO in Waynesboro

Back before Arbitron made Hagerstown/Chambersburg/Wayesboro a "market," WEEO knocked down some incredible numbers in the ADI reports. Around '76 or '77, WEEO racked up an AQH Persons figure of 7,500 and a weekly cume of 75,000 (12+). Yeah, it's burned in my brain 30 years later (the 10X multiple probably helped). Plenty of stations in Harrisburg would kill for those numbers today!

But for personal faves, let's not forget Ray Thomas on Chambersburg's erstwhile Mighty 1590/Super CBG!

> My favorite: 1130/WEEO in Waynesboro. This kilowatt
> daytimer had a hell of a run as a hot CHR in the early 70's
> before FM took over. Sadly, the station went dark in the
> early 90's when the land its 3 towers were on became worth
> more than the station was worth, and it was too expensive to
> move them.
>
 
Re: 1130/WEEO in Waynesboro

> But for personal faves, let's not forget Ray Thomas on
> Chambersburg's erstwhile Mighty 1590/Super CBG!

High atop "Radio Hill." Now THOSE were the days!
 
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