Next year, WKVA (920/Gold) in Lewistown begins planning its 60th year on the air for Central PA. We're looking for all past jocks to contact us about how they can participate in our birthday party & share some memorable stories (like the dolphin that swam up the Juniata River on April Fool's day) from Lewistown radio's heydays!
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- Thread starter ErikLane
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Sadly the guy who wrote the Dolphin story, Bat (Tab) Lyons died several years ago. It was a classic, and like all really good lies took on a life of it's own. I'm not sure who came up with the idea - Bat, Robert L. or someone else, but I think that either Dick Jones or Ron Patterson voiced the story - I think it was Ron Patterson, but it was a long time ago. I could write an entire post about Bat, but l'll just say that he was an incredibly intelligent, funny and special human being.
Most of the staff from the better days of WKVA are gone as well. A few are still around - including a couple of people still across town at WMRF and some others that are well known in the industry.
Robert L. had the whole Napoleon complex down. He was a very short man, a tyrant and while he could reduce anyone to a quivering blob in a sentence he was also brilliant and expected perfection. He was behind the times in many ways and ahead in others. Listen to any of the Froggy stations and you'll hear some of the influence - Yes, Kirby Confer is a WKVA Alumni.
He would only hire college graduates - and Journalism degrees were preferred. He had only a chosen few parttimers and worked his fulltime airstaff thru all shifts, so the morning guy monday-friday might do saturday night "so he could have sunday off" All shifts were 6 hours minimum. You also had to be able to read -- probably 1/2 of the commercials were live.
The staff were required to wear a jacket and tie while they were on the air. In summertime he allowed them to take off the jacket in the studio. He did not have any parttimers until the late 70s - instead he rotated his fulltime staff on all shifts, 5 AM - Midnight.
Most of the staff from the better days of WKVA are gone as well. A few are still around - including a couple of people still across town at WMRF and some others that are well known in the industry.
Robert L. had the whole Napoleon complex down. He was a very short man, a tyrant and while he could reduce anyone to a quivering blob in a sentence he was also brilliant and expected perfection. He was behind the times in many ways and ahead in others. Listen to any of the Froggy stations and you'll hear some of the influence - Yes, Kirby Confer is a WKVA Alumni.
He would only hire college graduates - and Journalism degrees were preferred. He had only a chosen few parttimers and worked his fulltime airstaff thru all shifts, so the morning guy monday-friday might do saturday night "so he could have sunday off" All shifts were 6 hours minimum. You also had to be able to read -- probably 1/2 of the commercials were live.
The staff were required to wear a jacket and tie while they were on the air. In summertime he allowed them to take off the jacket in the studio. He did not have any parttimers until the late 70s - instead he rotated his fulltime staff on all shifts, 5 AM - Midnight.
Yeah, well there was an owner/operator in the Altoona market who required his jocs to keep their headphones all the time during their boardshift. That way they were "tethered" to the controls. He also fired his son on Christmas eve but I don't want to mention names because he is still alive (but retired).
Robert L. Wilson never fired is son, but he fired several people on Christmas Eve. One of which was the 6 PM - Midnight guy. Right after the guy signed off the station, Robert L. (Mr. Wilson to the staff) was there by the door, final paycheck in hand.
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