The golden age of Altoona radio?
Johnstown-Altoona-State College: Before deregulation, even small towns often had spirited radio competition, noted Walt Frank recently in the Altoona Mirror.In a feature story for the Sunday paper, Frank looked back at the wild and wooly 1960s and '70s days of that city's WFBG and WVAM.
"It was a hate relationship," remembered Dick Richards, former WFBG disc jockey. "They didn't like us, and we didn't like them. We were the top dog, and that stuck in their craw."
Former competitors WFBG and WVAM are now both part of Forever Broadcasting's Central Pennsylvania cluster.
Longtime local radio station owner Cary Simpson says the rivalry between Altoona broadcasters "was extremely flamboyant," but not "cutthroat."
"You want to win but you don't want to kill the other team," he said.
Readers’ Forum
Thank you for a great story and fantastic memorories. I had the best of both worlds. Growing up in Brooklyn, NY I had the WABC vs. WMCA music wars. I would visit my relatives in the summer so I had WFBG vs. WVAM. The adults had WFBG-FM or a small community had WNCC. One time I remember Gene Whirley trying to go up in a hot air baloon from a parking lot in Altoona for some promotion. It failed but it was live radio and unique. Either way the listener won because you knew the DJ’s cared about them.
I wish radio was like that now.
Bob Jones - April 16, 2008 at 10:33 am