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WSPI 95.3 shamokin

W

WISL4EVA

Hi,Long time reader first time poster!!Longing back to my early days of just dreaming about being on the radio I listened to a station Called WSPI,in Shamokin( has snce gone dark,back in '93). they were a Continuous hits station back when they were good. Does anyone remember some of the jocks from there? I remember Tony Tophoney was one, I actually won a Mrs. T's t shirt( try saying that 3 times fast) from him back in '88. but I can't rememebr who the other guy was that did the AM show with him. The jock in question passed away back in the early 90's and I can't seem to find anyone who can remember anyone from that station besides Tony. I just thought of another Joe Daniels, but he just did some voice over and sales I believe. If anyone has some recollection it would ease my mind. Thanks!WISL4EVA
 
Some background on SPI95. While I was working in Lebanon I was hired to do mornings on that station even befiore it went on the air. That was in January, 1980. A few days after interviewing for the job (and accepting the gig) at sister station WMIM, I came to my senses. While driving north on my way to the interview I saw nothing but pine tree after pine tree and I'm thinking, "Is this what I want to do? Do I want to be the wake up guy, broadcasting to a bunch of pine trees?" The station manager for WMIM (that was before station manangers started calling themselves general managers and before general managers started calling themselves market managers) offered me a whopping 185 dollars a week, an increase of 6 dollars and 50 cents per week from what I was making in Lebanon. I probably would have actually gone through with it had I been offered 200 per week. Luckily I turned the job down a few weeks later. The program director told me I'd regret it, but I never did regret it. Instead I went to work for a Lancaster radio station, making a lot more than 200 per week and I never looked back. At least in Lancaster I was talking to a pool of 50-thousand people within the city limits....not 500-thousand pine trees! PINE TREES!!!!!
 
JOCKSTAR said:
Some background on SPI95. While I was working in Lebanon I was hired to do mornings on that station even befiore it went on the air. That was in January, 1980.

CORRECTION: That was in January of 1982, not '80.
Click to expand...
 
I have posted on this topic before...and for vets, maybe it wasn't the best gig. But, as a newbie who worked at an AM station for a time before going to SPI on weekends, I learned an AWFUL LOT about the business working 3 years there. The PD was a long time friend, who wouldn't hire me without experience.

The place was alot of fun to work at, and the people I worked with were some of the finest people I ever came to know in radio. It sounds like you made the right decision for you at the time...but it was the right decision for me to work there.

We all take different paths, that suit our individual wants and needs.

Thanks for sharing your experiences, and allowing me to share mine.

Big Man
 
Hey bigman....I'm glad you enjoyed your time at SPI95. I'm curious about the setup. I was told the studio would be located in downtown Shamokin with a huge window where passersby could could look right in and see the jocks on the air. Any truth to that? Also, who did wind up doing mornings when the station signed on? He/she should be thanking me for for turning down that job....just kidding. At the time the PD's name was Rick Rasigliano. That's a quess at the spelling of his last name. Does that sound familiar?
 
I believe Rick Ricigliano was there. There was also a time when Mickey Hagerty was operating and may have owned that frequency. That's going back a few years. Any idea what happened to him and the station?
 
JockStar:

Thanks for the comments. When I went to work there PT, they were still on Independence Street in Shamokin, and yes, it was a store front with big windows. The front was for traffic and bookkeeping, with the studio right behind it. I don't know how they did it, but that studio was really soundproofed well. We ran most of the music on four Otari reel decks. The currents came from TM, with recurrents and oldies made with a tone generator. The new releases were carted up as the records were received from the labels.

The news was produced in Shamokin, and sent over the phone to sister station WMIM. I am not certain, but I think that the lineup was:

Mark Steven Clifford
Rick Ricigliano
Jim Crouse
DC Day overnights

It was a 24 mile trip one way for me on weekends, but was well worth it.

Then...they consolidated studios on the 2nd floor of the Union National Bank building in Mt. Carmel a short time after I started. Spent many Friday nights on the floor in the control rooms when it snowed.

Ah...the memories

Big Man
 
bigman:
Thanks for the info on SPI 95. It sounds like the best place I never worked at. Did Mark Clifford (I've heard the name before) go by any other air name?
 
As far as I know...he went by Mark Stephen Clifford, Mark Clifford...that's all I know.

He was at WPPA, Pottsville in the early 80's, doing news, morningdrive and middays. Then to SPI, with a stop at Q-100 and now is in northern VA or Maryland, I believe.

Thanks,

Big Man
 
Re: WMIM Studios

An old Broadcasting Yearbook lists WMIM studios as Third and Oak Streets. Was that the Union Bank building and did the calls have a special meaning?
 
yes...third & oak was the bank building. studios on the second floor.
the first owner of the station ed romance came up with the calls
mim.....that was his wife's name.
 
Toanser your question..Yes the bank was on 3rd and oak...it burned down a few years back and the calls WMIM were for the owners wife who's name was MIMI.
 
Hello...also first timer here...Rick Ricigliano was on the "Yawn Patrol" w/Tony Taphoney on WSPI, Mt. Carmel...some other names you may be familiar with from the later days of SPI 95.3 are Todd Michaels, over-nights, Toni Petrovia, Samantha Adams and Courtney Roberts.
 
Samantha Adams lived acroos the street from me when I was a kid....and now I'm in radio too always found it sort of interesting that 2 people from the same block got involved in radio, 20 years apart. Don't exactly remember Toni Petrovia? Todd Michales sounds familiar..but can't place him. Courtney , remember her well from SPI, Then WISL and now you can hear her again on T102 in Pottsville, along with other 95.3 WSPI alums.. Jay Levan and every once in a while Toni Taphoney
 
Toni Petrovia is now the PD of WZZO-FM in the Lehigh Valley. She worked really, really hard to get to that point, and sounds even better than ever.

Isn't it amazing how things come full circle.

Big Man
 
Yes, I read her profile info on the station's website. I must say I'm thoroughly impressed... What a woman. Every girl should aspire to be just like her! I'd write more but the time has come for me to worship the crystal pyramid which is facing east. Not only that, my brain wave analysis tells me the electromagnetic fields here are not in sync with those eminating from Sedona. I need healing for my hang nail. I need to stare at the crystal until it faces west.
 
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