What happened at WPHB?

[edarmsttrong]

WPHB was going to launch a new 'country roots' / Americana format, with Burr Beard running the show. Rumor has it that he is now outside looking in, and has 'parted ways' with his business partner. The word on the street is that he overpayed for a tower light replacement or work. Portelli probably overcharged him...being the greedy bastard that he is! I can't believe he has the nerve to call himself a broadcast engineer...what a tool!

 

[Stranger]

Don't know anything about 'PHB. But Portelli's a good guy and your words describing him are both wrong and out of line.

 

[fryman]

I always thought Portelli (or Bortelli as we used to call him) was a decent enough fellow. He packed a tight suit case and didn't wear his emotions on his sleeve but he seemed to have great empathy for the working man. I'll never forget the great Labor Day speech he gave one year at the company picnic up at Prince Gallitizin. He probably wasn't the great "people person" in the world but he always seemed to treat everyone fair. I'll never forget the time he was forced to make a major sales decision that would impact with programming and he took a month and a half to come to that decision and listened to and weighed all sides.

 

[allnitesatelite]

Is WPHB where the Sharpless boys used broadcast from? What's their status, still living or working? As for Portelli/Bochelli whoever...I think calling him a greedy bastard is way out of line, yea he may be money grubbing, but a greedy ______. come on!

 

[fryman]

I wouldn't even call him money grubbing. True, he could coax 30 years out of a piece of equipment and was known to bring his lunch to work in a paper bag but I remember one year he took his entire family to Sea World in Ohio and ate at the best restaurants along the way. He used to have his wife cut his hair with a pair of old fashioned clippers and that's one reason he always appeared a little lopsided.

 

[jimmiejames]

changes are coming to wphb - they have already announced their return to becoming a
community radio station, serving philipsburg and environs. sheldon sharpless still does
mornings and is beloved by the locals; the classic country/americana mix will remain.
with a revitalized staff and strong leadership, one of the few non-group radio
stations in the area will soon move ahead with their plans...

 

[fryman]

This is good. Local is good. I recall Portelli's always saying that "all politics are local". He used to try to buy parts only made in the USA although it got more difficult as the times went on.

 

[allnitesatelite]

Hats off to Sheldon Sharpless, good to hear he's still at it. I'll be going up to
Philipsburg Friday evening for the Huntingdon-PO football game. Huntingdon no longer has a radio station, wondering if anyone broadcasts the Mounties games?

 

[edarmsttrong]

I wouldn't even call him money grubbing. True, he could coax 30 years out of a piece of equipment and was known to bring his lunch to work in a paper bag but I remember one year he took his entire family to Sea World in Ohio and ate at the best restaurants along the way. He used to have his wife cut his hair with a pair of old fashioned clippers and that's one reason he always appeared a little lopsided.

We're talking about the same Portelli, right?
[EDIT]

The one that has 15 or so stations he is engineer for?
So many stations, he can't keep up with them all...


[EDIT-inflammatory]

 

[jimmiejames]

yo, ed - chill. i understand abilify will help make whatever mood stabilizer
you're taking work even better! now, breathe.....that's good....good.
so what's your problem with the wphb engineer, anyway?

 

[fryman]

Exactly. One time Poriborro (as we used to call him) said, "Ive got more stations under by belt than Carter has liver pills". I also can't keep from thinking that Satelite Man must have a lot of spare time on his hands if he's running all over hill and dale on Friday nights for football.

 

[edarmsttrong]

Exactly. One time Poriborro (as we used to call him) said, "Ive got more stations under my belt than Carter has liver pills".

Arrogance exemplified...nuff said!

 

[allnitesatelite]

The football is not only for pleasure, but a great marketing tool. Imagine the BIG satellite/bread truck parked at the main entrance with the custom 8 meter dish on top going round and round like a radar cone. Then I have my assistant Miguel walk around placing handbills under all the windshield wipers. If you want to have some fun...If you see Miguel yell I.N.S. it's a hoot.

 

[fryman]

That may be true but in a way we're all aliens. That what Portelli said one time when one of the part timers was making jokes about the Italians. Portelli said, "we all got here from somewhere" and look at all the stations I've got under my belt and I'm not stopping now." I remember another time he said, "the future belongs to the man who prepares for it" and "there is nothing worse than being financially embarrassed".

 

[Stranger]

All of the nonsense you guys are spewing doesn't take away from one fact: people on this board have maligned and possibly slandered a perfectly good guy and done so without facts and without foundation. While you sit on the sidelines and make jokes about fry wagons and fling maligning charges around: infidelity, arrogance, etc. And then, apparently worried, you hijack your own thread to talk about bread trucks and football, and hope that that'll cover your tracks.

Let me say the following:

1. I don't know anything about WPHB.

2. But I DO know Joe Portelli as a man of skill and talent, honesty and integrity who is keeping a bunch of stations with loose interpretations of FCC law in line and legal.

3. May I remind you of a quotation from New York's Robert Moses who built a road system and a park system second to none in the world: "Any damn fool can be a critic and most of them are."

 

[edarmsttrong]

I DO know Joe Portelli as a man of skill and talent, honesty and integrity who is keeping a bunch of stations with loose interpretations of FCC law in line and legal.

Can ya have him clean up the audio processing on WQCK? It's horrible...oh, by the way have him realign the State College booster, too...the multipath is killing the main signal in most of Happy Valley.

While your at it...have him figure out why the WQKK codec buffers all of the time...

Could you ask him to check out the hum on the WOWY main mic circuit? I don't think it's due to the fact that it doesn't know the words....

I could go on, but hell, I wouldn't want him to get overwhelmed. While the things aren't illegal, they are not what I would call in line. Sitting back and collecting a check from stations one is responsible for, when they need attention, isn't honest.

 

[fryman]

If Portelli was engineering this rig, all this would not be happening. The guy is a "built in" optimod. Talk about PERFECT modulation...Portelli is a human VU meter.

 

[jimmiejames]

good god, ed, if you're so upset, why don't YOU volunteer to fix all of these problems?
if you're as capable as you portend to be, then we can expect joe to be a little less
employed and able to better juggle all of his responsibilities. put up or shut up, mr
armstrong...

 

[nc radio vet]

Now let's not get testy...Armstrong must have known this week his Nits would take it on the chin from the Bucks...and he just needed to take it out on someone...even being from out of state...word travels fast about the quality of JP's work...EXCELLENT!!!!

keep working hard Joe!

 

[radioboss]

Joe Portelli is one of the BEST engineers in Central PA.

I wish that I had his talents. I would be a wealthy man.

I don't know what the one poster's beef is with Joe; but, you have to be definitely in the MINORITY.

There aren't many engineers around the area anymore. There's Bob Taylor, Dennis Sherman, John Hogg, and then, there is Mark Harley over in Clearfield.