> Not a person known to me, but he was in advertising for
> radio stations WBRE and WNAK. Life-long Nanticoke resident.
>
I first met Franklin Hill in 1976 when I interned at
WBRE AM and FM Radio. They were All News/NBC then and I
had the opportunity to ride with "Frank" back then. As a
sales rep, he was a consumate professional. Very refined,
very low key in terms of ad reps. He never pushed the client
into any high pressure shenanigans. The sales manager there
was Joe Gries and Joe loved his local sports so he let the
boys alone as long as they brought in revenue. Franklin's
clients loved him and respected him. One thing though about
him, he had to be the slowest moving, most deliberate man I've
ever seen. I noticed with amusement how it would drive his
collegues crazy. One time I'm at a meeting with a major
client, I think it might have been First Eastern Bank. The
Marketing Director was the late Blanche Coslett, a very
nice lady and professional. I'm in there with Franklin and
he's getting the signature on this huge deal, but before he
does, he starts digging in his briefcase for a pen. He pulls
out three and actually deliberates for at least 5 minutes as
to which pen he wants to use. I'm looking at him, then at Ms.
Coslett, then back at him. We're waiting. Franklin wasn't
concerned by it. He was deciding on the type of pen to use.
I had visions of Joe Gries bursting through the door and
saying to Franklin, "use any pen!!!!! please!!!!!" Finally,
he had her sign the deal and that was that. But he did it at
his speed. He never drove past 35mph when he was going to
see clients and was again very deliberate in all of his
movements.
I last saw him in 1987 when I ran a few shows at the Kirby
with its director John Loesser. Franklin was again teamed
up with Joe Gries. Both were working for Jim Ward. I had
advertising buys out there for the Tony Bennett concert (this
was the first concert managed by Bennett's son and Wilkes
Barre was one of the first stops) and gave WARD a modest
amount. The night of the concert, I see Joe Gries and his
wife there along with Franklin and his wife. "I would've
comped you" I said to both men. Franklin said, "No, no, that
wouldn't be proper". And this was a radio rep??????
I know he was a vet of WWII but like most men of that
generation he hardly spoke of his service. He was in
business earlier in his career with his father. I'm not
sure how he'd cope with the radio of today but for the
time period he was in it, his clients and bosses enjoyed
his sincerity and kindness. As long as you knew when you
were riding with Franklin it was going to be a long,
leisurely day, then life was good. You'd chill. But if
you were a type A personality, you wouldn't last past
lunch with him.
Yonkstur
