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Um, Is This A Little Bit Fishy???

D

DXDXDX

Curious about the Hap Richey news, I did some nosing around. First let me say, Hap was one of the BRIGHT LIGHTS at WVAM. The other being the GREAT Dick D'Andrea. I have nothing against Hap and he is not the focus of this posting. One of the places I thought would surely have some information about his condition was his station's website, WJSM which is formatted "Christian". As I said before...NOT ONE WORD! Nothing...absolutely NOTHING! Then I began nosing around their website hoping there's something there about Hap and I just didn't find it. Nothing about Hap. Ah, but tons about FUND RAISING! They say they've taken in over 87k so far. But wait, they are on 92.7 which is a COMMERCIAL frequency, unlike those of 91.9 and lower. So, I did a Pennsylvania corporation serch for "Martinsburg Broadcasting, Inc." There is NO LISTING of them being a "non profit"! What do we have here? Owners of a PROFIT MAKING corporation seeking donations from the public to ENHANCE THEIR PROFITS??? Unless I'm dead wrong here, this seems like an exceedingly crass operation.
 
A corporation can act as a non-profit even if it is not designated as a 501(c)(3) corporation. All that "non-profit" designation allows is for any donations to be tax deductable. In addition, it is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that creates the corporation and the state does not designate whether it is a non-profit. That designation is granted by the IRS under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code. Even without that IRS designation, it is perfectly legal for a corporation to ask for donations.
 
I think than rather going into & through the tax code, along with some sort of salute to DiAndrea, it might be simpler to place a call on a regular old landline to WJSM. Their number is listed in the regular old phone book.
 
Hap is/was a major part of WJSM. One would think they would keep their listeners up to date of his condition. He wasn't hired a day before the stroke!

As for Dick, I'm sorry there is someone who seems to be a bit jealous of his talents and skills. I suspect Mr. Fryman you've been around the market for a while and probably were decent on the air. Nothing wrong with that. Dick is one of the GREATS of Altoona radio. I described him as the "Dick Clark" of Altoona, which he was. Not only did he have great on air skills, he was far above all the BS going on at the stations he worked at. He wasn't involved in the back stabbing, the attempts to discredit others and all the other garbage which was extant at the time, most of which was connected to ONE particular person. Hap was above all that too. When you have great talent and are confident about yourself, you don't need to stoop to immature tactics. Some fantastic talent came out of Altoona. Dick was/is at the top. I'm sorry for your jealousy.
 
Anger? On who's part? I've always thought both Dick and Hap came from the same mold. Both were far above all the crap which went on at WVAM because they knew they were much better than all that. Every once in a while, you experience someone like that in radio...and they serve as examples as to how someone should conduct themselves in the profession. Both of those guys were the "stars" there. Many of us in the market knew that and respected it. There is so much negative about WVAM and especially the revolving door mentality which existed there. Not many people around these parts have much positive to say about the two guys in ownership there. Some of those negative feelings are justifiable. The two very bright aspects however...the positives...were Dick and Hap. I'm sorry if some don't like it, but I cannot cite WVAM without drawing attention to those bright lights. EVERYONE should learn from their examples.
 
"Thank Dick, from whom all blessings flow!"

I don't know which WVAM era you're speaking of and it has been a LONG time since I worked there (with Dick and Hap, I might add - I was the guy who hired Hap to originally work on the FM side) but the place was not the hell-hole you describe. We were one big happy gang. Some were actually friends, not just work associates.

Yes, we had a couple of whack jobs but even they were at least fun. Of the 21 people who worked there during my tenure, only one was a back-stabber. That ain't a bad ratio.
 
Perhaps as Christmas Eve draws near & we all have time to sit back, reflect & count our blessings, we should also take a moment to look to the east & give special thanks to the Great Dick DiAndrea for making broadcasting what it is today. I think I speak for all of us when I say the man is truly our shepherd & walks amongst all of us.
 
You have called Dick today, haven't you?

Today (12/19) is his birthday. Anyone who knows him should call and wish him a happy one.
 
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