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When Pittsburgh Radio Was

K

KeyTimes950

Occasionally I reminisce about stations and/or formats that no longer exist. I go back to a brief time when WEDO-810 was Pittsburgh's CBS affiliate. It had block programs even then, including the "Voice of Americanism" and "The World Tomorrow" prior to the CBS World News Roundup, carried such daytime CBS shows as "House Party" and had a local news service anchored for a time by Earl Bugaile.

I also recall when I could pick up the beautiful and classical music of WLOA-1550 on a crystal radio during its daylight hours.

My inspiration here is a St. Louis posting about what stations and/or formats a listener would bring back if possible. There's a lot more I could say about Pittsburgh and suburban radio (especially that east of the city, around McKeesport and Greensburg), but what would you bring back, AM or FM, from any period of radio history?
 
KeyTimes950 said:
...what would you bring back, AM or FM, from any period of radio history?
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WWSW from the Sherwyn Hotel era. The format was essentially unchanged from its days on 1490 with the Fineview tower to the frequency change to 970.

Double-Double played a good variety of music, with a polka show in midday and a segment of classical works at night. The melodic jingles were unchanged for decades as were most of the personalities like Bill Hinds. And, perhaps because of the affiliation with the Post-Gazette, the news content was solid. Joe Tucker's nightly sports roundup was a favorite of mine.

Although the target was adults, it was an old-line station that appealed to anyone in the family. Although I was a teen at the time, my preferences tended toward WWSW over either KQV or KDKA.

I realize it would NEVER work today and even by 1968, when it changed format to easy listening, WWSW had largely become a period piece.
 
WTAE from about 1989 to 1995. I know Doug and some of the others are dead but that was a REALLY good talk radio station in those days.
 
I miss 96KX sometimes, but I don't think I'd bring it back. Some things are meant for their time, and
should be left there.

What Pittsburgh does need, as noted in another thread, is a fulltime Oldies station along the lines of
3WS at its peak. This might have to be an AM station, since the format is no longer attractive from
a demographic standpoint. I had hoped either 620 or 770 (plus translators) would fill the void, but it
wasn't in the cards.

C.
 
loeper said:
WTAE from about 1989 to 1995. I know Doug and some of the others are dead but that was a REALLY good talk radio station in those days.
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Could not agree more, the L.A.P.D. lineup of Cullen, Devlin, Musick, and Hoerth was top-notch.
 
corporateradiosucks said:
WJAC in Johnstown - easy listening. I miss this so much sometimes.
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Me, too. I worked years ago 30 miles northwest of Johnstown, could not pick up AM 850 because of its horribly-narrow directional signal but thoroughly enjoyed FM 95.5. And FM 87.7 (WJAC-TV), for that matter.
 
For me of course, would be 1250 WTAE during the hey day of its full service music days. I regret at a recent WTAE radio get together, that I didn't walk up to every single attendee there and say thank you!!
 
1250WTAE said:
For me of course, would be 1250 WTAE during the hey day of its full service music days. I regret at a recent WTAE radio get together, that I didn't walk up to every single attendee there and say thank you!!
Click to expand...
Yep...Remember the "I love you Pittsburgh" Jingle package they had?
 
I'd want to go back to Rush Limbaugh's days as Jeff Christie at KQV so I could try to convince him that radio was not the career for him......
 
jackb said:
I'd want to go back to Rush Limbaugh's days as Jeff Christie at KQV so I could try to convince him that radio was not the career for him......
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Apparently many people did just that. None of them succeeded.
 
I would have to say the late 60's, early 70's with Bogut doing mornings on KD, Little Jimmy Roach, Steve Downs, the Electric Lunch sponsored by Heads Together, not to forget some great stuff out of YDD, Paul Long/Don Cannon/Ed Conrad/Joe D on 'TAE, Patty & Bill Burns on KD, Chilly Billy Chiller Theatre Saturday nights on 11 not to mention his studio wrestling, while at the same time so many remember Rege Cordic at KD, ah, those were the days. Probably one of the best TV/radio markets in the country as good as any and way better than most.
 
Most definitely, 1250 WTAE back in the late '70's. I don't think I ever enjoyed listening to the radio more than back in the glory days of "the Nifty 1250". You had basically top 40 radio during the daytime hours, and when evening rolled around, you had "nightime at the oldies", with the greatest playlist of songs from the '50's & '60's around. On top of that, they had one of the best lineup of DJ's this city had ever seen, namely, Larry O'Brien and John Garry in the mornings, Chuck Brinkman, Jim Quinn, Mark Roberts, Johnny Williams, Don Berns, Bob Dearborn, Jay Mitchell, and Tom Lyons, at one time or another.
 
WCRO in Johnstown was very popular both day evening broadcasts. Top popular hits with minimum commercials during the day and all request nites with 'Uncle Herb'. It would be interesting to hear you name on his show with a song request from a secret admirer.
 
In retrospect, Ted Atkins' ability to attract the best of local talent to WTAE is not too surprising. It is, however, remarkable that he brought successful talent from larger markets to Pittsburgh: Larry O'Brien, Johnny Williams, Don Berns & Bob Dearborn. It is possible that they were coming off gigs that ended, but none of them "bounced" away for greener pastures right away. Bob Dearborn said in an email not long ago that he would welcome a return to Pittsburgh.
 
tce said:
In retrospect, Ted Atkins' ability to attract the best of local talent to WTAE is not too surprising. It is, however, remarkable that he brought successful talent from larger markets to Pittsburgh: Larry O'Brien, Johnny Williams, Don Berns & Bob Dearborn. It is possible that they were coming off gigs that ended, but none of them "bounced" away for greener pastures right away. Bob Dearborn said in an email not long ago that he would welcome a return to Pittsburgh.
Click to expand...

Larry O'Brien was already at WTAE when Ted got there. So were John Garry, Chuck Brinkman, Mike McGann, Tom Lyons, Mark Roberts and Bill Hillgrove. He inherited a pretty good staff that was saddled with a terrible format.

Johnny Williams was out of work in LA when he was hired. Dearborn was between stations and took WTAE over KMOX, with his old WCFL pal O'Brien helping to broker the deal.

Also remember that Pittsburgh was market No. 9 in the mid-70s. It wasn't as far down the list as it is now.
 
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