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You've gotta see WLBR

R

RockofHBG

If you got into the radio business post 1996, then you’ve got to visit 1270 WLBR. Better yet, if you were or have been in radio since the early 80s or before, you’ve got to go there. They’re still in that little brick building on Route 72 North in Lebanon where they’ve been since they signed on in the 1940s. They are still owned by the original owners and the pride is still there. When you enter the building, you feel like you’re in WKRP in Cincinnati. And I mean that affectionately. You expect “Big Guy” Arthur Carlson to walk out into the reception area at any minute.

The grounds and building are well manicured. The hallway back to the studios is lined with decades of photos and community service awards. Sadly, though, there doesn’t seem to be many awards from 2000 forward. I guess a lot of these organizations no longer have the resources to recognize the media. Most probably have nothing to recognize radio stations for any more.

Wildly, the AM 1270 WLBR is still king! The FM call letters, WQIC, aren’t even on the building. When we were there on a Saturday afternoon, there was a body in the building. A part-timer named Carson, who actually knew quite a bit about the station’s history and operations was on duty. However, he was not jocking on the FM AC station, Oh no, he was manually board oping the syndicated Sean Hannity Show. I told you the AM was king!

There are still working ITC cart machines in just about all studios. The AM studio still has a music library on green Fidelipac carts, used only in an emergency, even though the station hasn’t played music in over a decade. Even saw some 45s in that studio. Yes there are working turntables!

There is a real, honest-to-God working newsroom that employs more than one person. Employing people is what this company still does. It’s neat to feel that when you walk around the hallways. It was cool to see a jock schedule posted on the AM studio wall. We were saddened that the station lost some of its heritage, including its original transmitter, when their basement was flooded last fall.

The building still has that faint smell of stale cigarette smoke, just like most stations used to have, even though smoking has been banned there some years.

Yeah, there used to a lot of WLBRs. Most are gone, swallowed by consolidation. Most AMs on are on life support. The business model mostly outdated. But definitely a neat situation. I hope that WLBR can be sustained for many years to come. You gotta see this station.
 
WLBR was my second actual "audition" right out of college in the early 70's. They were a union shop back then...looking for a morning person. The GM took my 5" reel of tape into the production room, called an engineer in to thread the tape and start the machine, then left to perform some other duty (I assume he was running the live on air board). When the tape was finished, the GM made sure no one was looking and turned the tape deck in the rewind mode and handed me the wound tape. I didn't get the job...I was much too young and with absolutely no experience. All I rememeber was, they "looked" like a small town radio station...nothing wrong with that mind you. Small town radio was and still should be the backbone of this business!
 
Very good item here! Just goes to show you that true local full service radio CAN and STILL WILL work! The only change I've recently heard is there is a Spanish program on WLBR on Sunday afternoon in the time slot Al Shade was on at one time.
 
RockofHBG said:
If you got into the radio business post 1996, then you’ve got to visit 1270 WLBR. Better yet, if you were or have been in radio since the early 80s or before, you’ve got to go there. They’re still in that little brick building on Route 72 North in Lebanon where they’ve been since they signed on in the 1940s.This is their 3rd location They are still owned by the original owners Not the original owners (do the math) but kind of the same family and the pride is still there. When you enter the building, you feel like you’re in WKRP in Cincinnati. And I mean that affectionately. You expect “Big Guy” Arthur Carlson to walk out into the reception area at any minute.
The grounds and building are well manicured. The hallway back to the studios is lined with decades of photos and community service awards. Sadly, though, there doesn’t seem to be many awards from 2000 forward. I guess a lot of these organizations no longer have the resources to recognize the media. Most probably have nothing to recognize radio stations for any more.

Wildly, the AM 1270 WLBR is still king! The FM call letters, WQIC, aren’t even on the building. When we were there on a Saturday afternoon, there was a body in the building. A part-timer named Carson, who actually knew quite a bit about the station’s history and operations was on duty. However, he was not jocking on the FM AC station, Oh no, he was manually board oping the syndicated Sean Hannity Show. I told you the AM was king!

There are still working ITC cart machines in just about all studios. The AM studio still has a music library on green Fidelipac carts, used only in an emergency, even though the station hasn’t played music in over a decade. They still play music Even saw some 45s in that studio. Yes there are working turntables!

There is a real, honest-to-God working newsroom that employs more than one person. Employing people is what this company still does. It’s neat to feel that when you walk around the hallways. It was cool to see a jock schedule posted on the AM studio wall. We were saddened that the station lost some of its heritage, including its original transmitter, when their basement was flooded last fall.

The building still has that faint smell of stale cigarette smoke, just like most stations used to have, even though smoking has been banned there some years.

Yeah, there used to a lot of WLBRs. Most are gone, swallowed by consolidation. Most AMs on are on life support. The business model mostly outdated. But definitely a neat situation. I hope that WLBR can be sustained for many years to come. You gotta see this station.
Click to expand...
 
this is kind of wild. I just heard this station for the very first time last thursday afternoon while in my car. It was around the noon hour and they were doing a news block. I thought " this station is doing it Old School". The person doing the news sounded like a pro and I am pretty sure I heard someone from Accuweather. There was even a decient amount of LOCAL SPOTS. Glad to hear there is still a full service am on the air that trys to serve its community. BTW. I still remember when there FM was automated playing Drake Chenaults "solid Gold"....1975 I think.
 
[t's also interesting to see what's happened to the old WLBR-TV (later WLYH) building at Mt. Gretna since operations shifted to Harrisburg. Before it was WLBR-TV starting in 1953...it was home to a brief FM operation called WLAB. That's how small the original part of the building was before Channel 15 was born there.
 
Yes, WLBR is "old school". They have no website for either AM or FM. But, when school might close due to bad weather, nearly every family in Lebanon County seems to head towards that station for the "official" word. When fire trucks travel down the street, the dial goes over to 1270 for the latest news. Some businesses complain airing commercials on either station do nothing...but they still go back, year, after year after year. It's almost like they are told their business will fail if they do not use WLBR. I think it's more of a Lebanon County thing however. Very stubborn folks, everyone's PA Dutch-like in their thinking...even those from out of town. WLBR is a very successful operation. But take it out of Lebanon County and I would almost guarantee it would fail. I lived there for close to 20 years.
 
I remember WLBR in the mid to late 60s when they played top 40 hits at night. A guy named Al Bruce was the host of "Bruce's Beat". Between 9 and 10 he would do a dedication show. It was based on cards and letters. He would read the dedication and play the next song up in his rotation...even if it was Tiny Tim. During the summer months he would read partial baseball scores between every song. The station was MOR during the day...but sometimes the on air jock would slip something in from Al's stack. The local news was often too much information...like a kitchen fire started by a piece of meat frying on the stove.
 
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