If you could bring back a Central PA station, what station, format and era?

[RockofHBG]

Very good point! However, the real thing that would keep these stations in red is the terrific debt service. Prices would have to drop way down so that operators could invest in the product.

 

[bossjock 56]

This brings up another point. Clear Channel, under pressure from the FCC, placed many of their stations in what they call "THE ALOHA TRUST". These are the stations that are on the block. The problem is....Clear Channel is probably trying to get at least what they originally paid for the properties and nobody's buying. Could it be they are simply putting these stations in the trust to satisfy the FCC for awhile and that they really DON'T want to sell them in the first place. Maybe they are waiting for another rule change so that they can keep these stations, which at this point I don't see happening. I think their Lancaster and Reading properties are among the stations in the Aloha Trust....at least they were at one time. I think they had a buyer a couple years back....but the deal fell through.

 

[pdgreatness]

I may not have all of these details correct but in debt restructuring, Cheap Channel decided to sell off all markets 100+. They sold off their TV as well. Lancaster at least was originally in the sell-off group, probably one of the highest on the list. CC simply wants too much money for the properties. Lancaster may not be on the list now. There was no real FCC reason for selling the stations off other than maybe trying to make some politicians feel better. A group had been put together to purchase a large chunk of the Oloha group but the deal fell through.

 

[jhguthlac]

I agree with HardCore that I would like to bring back WSBA, but from 30 years earlier!

Then, it was also Ralphie in the morning (he put out a record called "Do The Ralphie!" around the same time in 1965 as Freddie & the Dreamers had "Do the Freddy"), followed by Ed Lincoln. Can't remember the name of the afternoon jock, but during the summer, he would run pool side sound effects and say he was doing the show "pool side."

They put out a Top 40 survey each week, but in reality they were what is now called Hot AC. Aimed for everybody in the morning drive, the "housewives" in the mid day, and the teen audience after school. Still have fond memories of listening to them.

 

[GuyFry]

I am wondering if that afternoon DJ on WSB radio was Doc Daugherty? Doc was really smooth. Before he came over to WSBA in '57 or '58...he was on the old WNOW-TV, Channel 49 up on Pleasureville Hill.
He was their principal on camera personality "live from the DuMont Telecenter" for their early evening newscast. Really smooth I never understood why WSBA management didn't have him do any on camera work at their sister TV station, Channel 43. What a waste of real class and excellence. I wonder if Doc Daugherty is still alive?

 

[jharmon]

"To dream the impossible dream"...
Nice thought for a conversation, but when I wake up it will be 2010 with it's challenges and opportunities.
Those glory days are gone, never to return.
I dreamed during this conversation about how good radio was back then, that I had hair down to my shoulders, was really cool, drove a mustang convertible and had all the chicks I wanted, because they were all beauty queens who called the request line.
Radio was fun back then, paid nothing and obviously had no future otherwise we all would be PD's of WABC.
Too bad,
"We now return to our regular programming"

 

[grandoleopry]

Yes Doc Daugherty was not only a great person but an outstanding
broadcaster. Doc was an institution in York radio. I had the opportunity
to work with Doc back in the mid 80s when he was at WOYK.
Even after he retired from the business I would invite him back every year
to do a Christmas show . Doc passed away about 5 years ago. But he ranks
right up there with folks like Ed Lincoln, Hal Raymond, and Ned Rutledge
who were among the most enduring personalities on local radio in the York market.

 

[loeper]

"Doc" daugherty was not only the best broadcaster I ever worked with...he was the best PERSON I ever worked with,in or out of radio. I had the opertunity to work with Doc from 1968 to 1975 at WORK/WZIX in York. I also was a fan of his years before that as a teen in York listening to his saturday morning show on 1350. He and his wonderful wife Betty Ann still hold a big part of my heart. I am really glad to see his name come up on this board. we all should remember broadcasters like him.

 

[vinyltapecd]

I would bring back the old WARM 103, from back when they used to play the "Best VARIETY of Soft Rock". Chicago, America, Fleetwood Mac, Santana, Carpenters, Stephen Bishop, along with a good mix of oldies AND current soft rock. Except for a few songs, I have to say that what they play today is total crap.

 

[bossjock 56]

It seems to me that Doc Daugherty was one of the very first WSBA GOOD GUYS in the late 50's, along with Ed Lincoln and Bob Shipley. If you're looking fot the summer of 65 timeline....PM drive may have been done by the late Bob Janis, who I understand was also PD during this time. I know that in the simmer of '64 Ed Lincoln did 6-9am, Ed Coles did 9-noon, Bob Janis did 3-6, Jim o'Leary did 6-9pm, Ralph Lockwood did 9-Mid, and Gil David did overnights. Who did NOON -3? I'm looking for that missing puzzle piece. Anybody know? Jog my memory..please! Back to 1965.....there was a guy named Dave Price..I believe who worked for a short time during this era and a guy named Jim Pride. I think Pride did middays. I remember the pool side thing later on around '68 or so with people like Don Steele(Heckman) and Dave King. Anybody with info on old SBA line-ups feel free to chime in.

 

[John-Summers]

Noon to 3 in '64...Wayne Trout, perhaps? Just a guess.

3 hour airshifts in a market the size of WSBAland. Can you believe it???

 

[bossjock 56]

I think the 3 hour shifts for everybody, except overnights, started to dwindle away around '65. I remember seeing one of their weekly survey sheets from around that year. Across the bottom there was a quick blurb promoting Ralph Lockwood 6-10 and Ed Lincoln from 4-8. I think there was quite a bit of turnover around '65 and '66 as I recall. I seem to remember a period in time in '66 and '67 when the shifts were:
6-10
10-2
2-6
6-10
10-1AM
1AM 'til ON THE FARM at 5:30
Don't know why 10pm-1am was the only 3 hour shift.

 

[bossjock 56]

WNOW AM/FM in the 60's and early 70's. Was owned by Rust Communications at the time. Most of the other Rust stations were top 40...in fact WNOW was top 40 until either late '63 or early '64 I believe. Rust programmed many of their stations the same. WAEB, Allentown, WRAW, Reading, and WPTR, Albany were all top 40 and were "clones" of each other for the most part. WNOW was taken country because WSBA was so stong at the time and they were for the most part a daytimer.....since FM wasn't much of a factor at that time. WNOW had formatics that were very similar to top 40 stations of the time....but they were country and proud of it. I guess you could say they were country when country wasn't cool! By 1970 or so they were using top 40 jingles, similar to their other stations. Great jocks like Phil Gardner, Jack North, Colonal Duane Beck, Danny Reese, Bart Holiday(Doug O' Brian), Paul Christy, and Lou Dark were part of their on air line-up. Until 1969 they were the only country station in York, Harrisburg, and Lancaster. WIOV came along in '69...the same year WNOW went 24 hours on the FM. They played alot of crossover stuff in the early 70's after Dave Marino arrived. If there was a country element, such as a steel guitar....it got played. Todd Rundgren's "I Saw the Light" was an example. In 1974, the stations spit off.....and Q106 was born.

 

[travist102]

I know I'm in the minority, but I liked Hot 105.7 in 91-92 before the switch to Mainstream that summer. Wink 104 in 99-00 was excellent.

I would have liked to hear WFEC late70s-to-HotHits, WLAN-AM's CHR days, WZIX's CHR days, and Mix 99.3.

 

[geostudent]

Casting my vote for The River during the Dame era..

I first heard them in March '92 when they were stunting with no air talent and no ads.. What a change from "beautiful" WHP-FM. My first impression was that they sounded like a soft version of WYSP (which was classic rock then). Chris Tyler's invention was terrific--no contests and an on-air classic rock library so large that I couldn't tell what they would play next, even if they said what artists were coming up. I still have some cassettes recorded back in '95. CC gave them a huge infusion of cash they really needed when Dame sold but they took the format in a direction I couldn't stand when they added '90s rock, increased repetition and contests, and switched from "Rock n Roll Without the Hard Edge" to "Real Rock n Roll Variety". Ugh, not really.

My runners up would be Q106 and WTPA FM-104.

 

[Seltzer]

Yes...I agree about the River. It was really an A/C station for guys. No contests, no silly DJs, When the early ratings came in and this station was a hit, it must have been difficult to tell agencies NO to some stupid ad on contest they would have wanted to do. But Chris Tyler held the line for a long time. Kudos to him for that. And BRAVO to Chris----The River was HIS creation and HIS idea.

 

[RockofHBG]

Although the River has evolved somewhat, some of it organic, some by edict, it has essentially stayed true to its original mission. For a station that is 18 years old, it has probably kept its focus consistently better than any other station I can think of. This tends to be true of stations who keep good PDs, instead of those who host a parade of programmers through the years.

 

[programmingrus]

I would Bring back the OLD KQV am and fm..with Jim Quinn at 7 to mid..Chuck Brinkman doing 3to7 dave scott doing mid days...10to 3 And The wird Beard doing 6 to 10 and Jim Mc laughlin doing over nights

 

[FreddyB]

I would Bring back the OLD KQV am and fm..with Jim Quinn at 7 to mid..Chuck Brinkman doing 3to7 dave scott doing mid days...10to 3 And The wird Beard doing 6 to 10 and Jim Mc laughlin doing over nights

I don't remember a KQV in Central PA. ???

 

[RockofHBG]

Programmingrus needs to be on the Pittsburgh board