WKBO was the first station
to sign on in Harrisburg circa 1923 with the call letters WABB and was
owned by Dr. John B. Lawrence. The station was owned by a number of different
people in the early years. In 1924, Harrisburg Sporting Goods owned the
station. In 1930, the station was owned by Norman R. Hoffman and the call
letters were WCOD. And in 1931, the station was purchased by Keystone Broadcasting
Organization. Sometime by 1934, the call letters were changed to from WCOD
to WKBO (for Keystone Broadcasting Organization). The call letters WKBO
had originally been assigned to a station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Steinman
Broadcasting acquired the station sometime in the late 1930s. Steinman
also owned WGAL AM-FM-TV, Lancaster (now 1490 WLPA and 101.3 WROZ) as well
as WORK, YORK (now 1350 WOYK). Steinman also owned the Intelligencer Journal
Newspaper in Lancaster. All of the broadcast properties were eventually
sold except for Delmarva Broadcasting consisting of WDEL and WILM. Also,
in the 1930s, the station moved its facilities to 31 North Second Street
in Harrisburg in a building that still exists today.
Call Letters
& Frequency:
The call letters:
WABB ---> WCOD ---> WKBO
The frequency: WKBO
was not always at 1230.
Originally WKBO was located
at 1130. In 1930, WKBO moved down to 1200. In 1941, the North American
Regional Broadcast Agreement rearranged the radio dial, and on March 29,
1941, 802 of 893 AM stations shifted frequency. WKBO moved to it's new
home at 1230 am. |
WKBO was the first of the Steinman
stations to be sold. In 1971, Hurrea Broadcasting, with Michael Rea
as principal and J. Albert Dame as 25 per cent owner, acquired the
station. Steinman, however, was not known for lavish spending and WKBO
had not performed very well over the years. It certainly was not without
notoriety, as it broadcast live Wilt Chamberlain’s record breaking 100
point game at Hershey Sports Arena in 1962. With more on the pre- Hurrea
era, here’s John Summers who worked at WKBO from 1971-73:
| “WKBO had a non-descript
middle-of-the-road format of the Englebert Humperdinck/Tom Jones variety.
NBC News on the hour. NBC Monitor, a music-and-personality service
used by many small NBC stations, ran all weekend. Not a bad station,
really, just no real need for it. A typical low-budget Steinman operation,
almost totally dependent on downtown advertisers, who were closing-up fast
by 1970. Good personalities, Charlie Adams and Gary Brooks among
them.” |
 |
| ”The old WKBO was not without
merit, however. When hearings were held into Harrisburg’s racial
disturbances of the late 1960s, WKBO carried them gavel-to-gavel, the only
Harrisburg station to do so. They allowed Toby Young to do a “soul”
show from 6-9pm weeknights, and for a while in the summer of 1970 there
was a guy who did a sort-of progressive rock show from 9 pm - 1 am.
They also had a talk show, “Voice of the People,” which aired mornings
from 9 til 10. The host was a guy named Joe Thomas, a real rabble-rouser
and very entertaining.” |
In 1971, WKBO was in a bad
way. It was generally 4th in a then 4-station market (FM hadn’t really
begun to develop yet). It’s 1930s era equipment, including the 1938 Western
Electric Board, was showing its age. The transmitter and tower were located
on top of the Old Penn Harris Hotel (now where Strawberry Square is located).
The ground system wasn’t maintained and hence, WKBO’s class IV 1,000 watt
day/250 watt night signal was the worst in Harrisburg.
Hurrea Broadcasting had a
lot to gain and little to lose. |
