Former KQV newsman, Schaefer dies
Pittsburgh:KQV Radio (AM-1410) is reporting the passing of Otto "Mark" Schaefer at the age of 84. Schaefer was a newsman at the station from 1966 until the early 1990's. A New York native, he was once batting practice pitcher for the Giants before serving in the Army Air Corps in World War II. Schaefer began his news career at stations in Alabama and worked his way to Pittsburgh where he was one of the original anchors at WIIC-TV (now WPXI-TV 11). He left Channel 11 to work for KQV.
Schaefer is survived by 5 children and their families.
Hat tip to Jeff Roteman who has an aircheck of Schaefer here.
5 Beacon Broadcasting Radio Stations For Sale Following Owner's Death
Youngstown, Misc. Pennsylvania, Misc. Ohio:The Executor for the estate of the late Harold Glunt has announced that the 5 Beacon Broadcasting, Inc. radio stations in Ohio and Pennsylvania are being put up for sale.
The Media Broker for the sale is Ray H. Rosenblum of Pittsburgh, PA.
According to Mr. Rosenblum, the stations are WANR (AM-1570) in Warren, OH; WRTK (AM-1540) in Niles, OH; WGRP (AM-940) and WEXC (FM 107.1) both in Greenville, PA; and WLOA (AM-1470) in Farrell, PA.
Harold Glunt, the principal owner of Beacon Broadcasting, died on January 25th. The Executor of his estate is his son, Dennis Glunt. In a statement to Beacon employees, Dennis Glunt said that "this move will help to stabilize the employment at the stations and best preserve value for the estate.
Book Review: Pittsburgh's Golden Age of Radio, by Ed Salamon
Pittsburgh:
"I am glad to have the opportunity to write this book because it preserves history that is important to a lot of Pittsburghers," says Ed Salamon, in the Introduction of his new book, Pittsburgh's Golden Age of Radio, [$21.99, Arcadia Publishing; Available at local retailers, online bookstores or through Arcadia Publishing.com or (888) 313-2665]. The book will be released on March 8 as part of Arcadia Publishing's "Images of America" series.
This book is a must-have for anyone who remembers, or has an interest in the history of Pittsburgh radio. Ed Salamon has made the effort to write about stations and personalities ignored by other sources over the years. As is the case with the majority of the Images of America books, Pittsburgh's Golden Age of Radio features over 200 vintage pictures, broken up in 3 chapters, showcasing behind-the-scenes stories never told outside of the industry. Many of the photographs are the property of the author, but also featured are pictures from the private collections of Jack Bogut, Carl Eckels, Terry Caywood, Bobby Vinton, Mike McGann, the late Ira Apple and more! I found photos of a young Frank Gottlieb and a young Clarke Ingram - neither one of whom have aged a bit!
When was the last time you thought about stations like WPEZ (94.5) or WAMP (1320)? When did you last hear of on-air personalities like Frank Tomasello or Buzz (Aston) and Bill (Hinds)? Did you know that WPGH was once an AM station at 1080 and "PGH" didn't stand for Pittsburgh? Whether you lived it or whether you're learning about it for the first time, you'll be enthralled by Pittsburgh's Golden Age of Radio.
Ed Salamon is no stranger to Pittsburgh radio. In 1970, the Pittsburgh native was hired by KDKA Radio to publicize the station's 50th anniversary. From there he had a successful career in radio including programming a New York radio station, partnering with Dick Clark in a radio network and serving as the president of programming for Westwood One. He also taught radio programming at two universities.
Salamon will be doing a book tour the week of the book's release. On Friday, March 12 at 7:00 p.m. he will be at Borders at the Northway Mall in Pittsburgh's North Hills. On Saturday, March 13 at 1:00 p.m. he'll be at the Barnes & Noble at South Hills Village; and 4:30 p.m. at the Borders in East Liberty.
Baumann returning to DVE morning show
Pittsburgh: He's back on the DVE website, and tomorrow morning, he'll be back on the air. Randy Baumann is returning to the WDVE (102.5) morning show. Still no official word on what the reason for his disapperance was, but most believe it to be over a contract dispute. Both Baumann and Krenn have signed multi-year contracts with Clear Channel - Pittsburgh. Krenn has been with WDVE for 22 years and Baumann has been there for 10 years. Also signing new contracts are Val Porter and Mike Prisuta keeping the entire morning show crew in tact.Notes...
Misc. Pennsylvania, Misc. Ohio:- With Rob Mangino moving from mornings at WKBN (570) Youngstown to evenings at KDKA (1020) Pittsburgh, 'KBN needed someone to fill in for the mornings. Their choice? Mike Romigh who, was blown out of KDKA several years ago in a round of firings, but has recently been filling in at the station again.
- Larry Aiken, former music director and DJ at KQV (1959-1962) passed away on Saturday, February 13 in Evansville, Indiana after a long illness. He was 69.
Terry Lee makes an appearance
Pittsburgh:Legendary Pittsburgh DJ Terry Lee held a dance at the McKeesport Palisades on February 13. The event was his first public appearance in Pittsburgh in over 20 years and, reportedly, there were over 400 people there.
According to DJ George Lambl (who supplied us with the photos below), Lee, "for the most part stayed in the background, speaking only a handful of times while I was there, and then only briefly." Lee apparently choked up when another legendary DJ, Porky Chedwick, showed up. McKeesport Mayor James Brewster presented Lee with a key to the city and a state representative issued a proclamation.
There is talk of another event coming up this spring.
WTAJ off air for a time; service operating normally
Johnstown-Altoona-State College: Avid reader, Jerry, mentioned to PBRTV that WTAJ-TV (10) Altoona was off the air for quite some time this week due to an apparent "power bump" at the transmitter site on "Wopsy" (Wopsononock) Mountain. Massive amounts of snow prevented crews from getting to the site in an orderly manner to fix the problem. The outage seemed to have affected transmission to the local cable and satellite companies. Further investigation on PBRTV's end leads to WTAJ's Facebook page where a number of viewers left their comments. The station mentioned late Friday afternoon that the problems had been fixed and that the station had returned to the air, cable systems and all.WAOB-A/F and WPGR-A expected to kick off on Sunday
Pittsburgh: WAOB-AM/FM (860 Millvale/106.7 Beaver Falls) and WPGR-AM (1510 Monroeville) are all expected to return to the airwaves on Sunday with what Scott Fybush calls a "Catholic Radio trimulcast". The stations will air a live broadcast of the Mass from the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg. All three stations have been off the air since September 8 when they were formally taken over by St. Joseph's Missions. Sheridan Broadcasting sold the old WAMO-AM/FM and WPGR-AM to S.J.M. for $8.9 Million last summer.McIntire to do Comcast On Demand
Pittsburgh:John McIntire, the former host of "NightTalk" on PCNC and a panelist on WQED's "Off-Q" is launching a new talk show on Comcast's On Demand feature. The first edition of "The John McIntire Show" will be available on Thursday.
McIntire says in his blog that the program is not going to be political, rather more entertaining, "although I suppose that remains to be seen." The first episode features comedian Gab Bonesso (who also dates McIntire) as his sidekick, filmmaker Carl Kurlander and Cyril Wecht. It will also feature his "scintillating commentary" much like that which he did on "NightTalk".
A production schedule has not been determined, according to the Post-Gazette, but another episode is expected to be taped in March.
WKVE operations temporary; may return with next storm
Pittsburgh:For those who heard WKVE Mt Pleasant (103.1) operating over the weekend may be surprised to learn that the move was only temporary. Station owner, Bob Stevens of Broadcast Communications, Inc., made the decision to put the station on the air after most of the Waynesburg area lost power due to the snow storm. "I made the decision to put the Mt. Pleasant site on because it still covers Greene and Fayette Counties and we could broadcast emergency information for those regions," Stevens said.
The Mt. Pleasant station was back off the air this morning despite the fact that power has not returned to WANB's tower. Stevens added, "We may turn the Mt. Pleasant site on again depending on the outcome of the predicted snow storm due in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday."
Stevens went on to say that he expects to turn the new WKVE on by late February or the beginning of March. "The first indication listeners will have is when we start running announcements for WANB listeners to tune their FM dials to 105.1 and stay tuned for a new format on 103.1 coming soon," he said. And by soon, Stevens means a few weeks.
DISCLAIMER: If you haven't heard by now, this editor works part time for Broadcast Communications Inc.
WGSM officially WHJB
Pittsburgh:A few Westmoreland listeners have pointed it out, but today marks the official change in callsign for WHJB-FM (107.1) in Greensburg. Renda Broadcasting wing, St. Pier Group, owns and operates the station and applied for the letters back in October, 2009. With the announcement of the new ID, Tony Renda, President of Renda Broadcasting said, "I am very excited that we were able to bring the WHJB call letters back to Greensburg and Westmoreland County. It returns a heritage that goes back to the beginning of radio."
The WHJB call letters graced Greensburg's only AM station (620, now WKHB) from 1934 - 1999. The callsign when to 1600 AM in Bedford PA where they were recently dropped.
The new WHJB is known as "Classic Hits 107.1 WHJB".
A new website appears to be in the works at www.whjbfm.com
Wild weather weekend brings problems and solutions
Pittsburgh:Fybush.com reports that two stations were knocked off the air over the weekend as a result of the storm. WJAS (1320) and WBGG (970) were off the air for quite some time as a result of power outages and heavy winds. Yet WKVE-FM (103.1) managed to go on the air with its new Mt. Pleasant transmitter airing a loop of emergency information for Greene and Fayette Counties.
KDKA-FM announces line up.
Pittsburgh:CBS Radio Pittsburgh announced today the lineup for the debut of the market's first FM sports radio station signing on the morning of February 15 as SPORTSRADIO 93.7 The Fan. The station is expected to be local sports programming 24/7 and will be available on the air, online at www.937thefan.com and streamed to mobile devices including iPhone, iPod Touch and Blackberry.
Programming the station will be Terry Foxx who has served as PD for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. The weekday programming schedule will be as follows:
6-10 a.m. - Paul Alexander, Jon Burton and Jim Colony
10 a.m. - 2 p.m. - Vinnie Richichi & Ron Cook
2-6 p.m. - John Seibel & Joe Starkey
6-10 p.m. - Gregg Giannotti
Paul Alexander has been with FSN Pittsburgh since 2006 and has worked at KDKA-TV/KDKA-AM and WTAJ-TV in Altoona. Jon Burton worked at WTAE-TV until 2009 and is also an ameteur athlete and avid sports fan. Jim Colony will not only serve as morning co-host, but as sports anchor and reporter. He has worked at WTAE-TV and ESPN Radio 1250 (WEAE).
Midday co-host Vinnie Richichi worked at Seattle's Newsradio 710 KIRO and "Q13 Fox Ten O'Clock News. His partner is Ron Cook who is also a columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Afternoon host John Seibel previously hosted the ESPN Radio show "Sports Nation" and has contributed to ESPNEWS and ESPN Radio. Joe Starkey is a former sportswriter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and has also contributed to ESPN.com and ESPN Radio 1250.
Finally, Gregg Giannotti comes to Pittsburgh from WFAN in New York where he started as an intern and moved up to producer of the midday show with Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts.
As previously announced, KDKA-AM Sports Director Jeff Hathhorn will assume the same position for the FM and will provide updates and reports from the field alon with Kalena Bell and Jim Colony. Personalities for the remaining two time slots (10 p.m. - 2 a.m. and 2-6 a.m.) will be announced later. Many of the station's personalities will be heard on the weekends in addition to their weekday positions.
The aforementioned website is will be in-depth where fans can access text, audio and video about their local sports teams and national storylines along with sports scores and schedules. It will also feature personality blogs, message boards and community groups.
WWSW tops numbers for the holidays
Pittsburgh:Christmas music was good for WWSW-FM (94.5) this past year. The format "switch" brought the station to the top of the 6+ category marking the first time in 43 years that KDKA or WDVE were not at the top of the list. Pittsburgh's other major Christmas station, WSHH-FM (99.7), came in 3rd under DVE and tied with KDKA. Wish's cume was much larger than KDKA.
Ratings all over the country have shown the trend toward "all-Christmas" to be beneficial for stations, particularly this year. Many all-Christmas stations went to the top of their ratings books.
Complete 'Holiday 2009' numbers are here.