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"I am impressed with the WKBO tribute site. I was at WKBO twice; first
in about 1975-76 (as Greg Scott) and later in about 77 or 78 through 1980
(as Greg Allen). In early 1976 I went across town and joined Bob Alexander
at WFEC doing the six to midnight shift. In 1977 I was PD at WRSC in State
College. I returned to WKBO and stayed until I left radio in 1980 relocating
to San Diego. I am doing voice over work as Gregory Best I
have very fond memories of those years."
Greg Allen 12/28/07 "Thanks so much doing this! From an amateur web designer myself (www.kcbucks.org), you really did a very nice job and included a lot of great information. And wow... what a flood of flashbacks! I think I'm going to do some 'KBO' shopping for my office." Paul Dulac 12/25/07 "Just found your site WOW brings back a ton of great stuff. My name is Gary McGhee I met Al Dame at Titus Cadillac Olds on Paxton St in 1980. I took him back to the station (up on the hill behind the drive inn) I was just a kid. I told him I would like to get into radio so he set me up with Slim Jim. He was the pd then. Not sure what happened. Shortly after that he called me again and set me up with Tim Burns. Things were great. He asked me to come in on the over nite with Gary Jadus and watch. Really cool. The next Saturday nite he had me go on the air for an hour scared to death. I did it and was hooked. I worked every shift I could. I owe my career to Tim Burns. He worked with me and made it fun. I left after about 5 years or so and went to Z-107 fm. Thanks for keeping KBO around. Gary McGhee12/18/07 "Thanks for the great site and a trip down memory lane to the place that was BY FAR the best I've ever worked for and and the best radio people I've ever had the opportunity to work with. Slim Jim, Tim + Heidi, Neil, Chris, Rick, Mike, Dennis, and others! I was mostly overnights on "The station of the year" in '80. I left in '82, spent 5 years in VA, came back to PA and left the biz in '94. Now working in Harrisburg at UCCI, an insurance company. Oh. and thanks for finally making it possible to "Google" myself on the Internet! I'm finally somebody!" Gary Jadus12/08/07 "These were the best days of my radio career! It was great to work with all of you. Pintek, Goslin and I often remember the good days." Fred Honsberger 12/08/07 "Attached is the file I made from the old reel-to-reel I found in a closet box just this morning. Hard to believe this is now 33 years ago. And the beat goes on. Keep up the fantastic job with the website. (re: new Bob Alexander Aircheck on the WKBO Aircheck Page) This file is a real hoot! Smooth Charley, as usual and just as I remember him, surrounded by some great production. Love Carol Crissey's appearance on the EW spot and the White Whale spot, plus Klepic - together with Jeff Kauffman vocalizing one of his first spots - for the Beat of the Drum, even a whole-voiced spot by Captain Dave Edwards. Too much." (re: new Charley Adams Aircheck on the WKBO Aircheck Page) John St. John 08/07/07 "I was born and raised in Harrisburg (Harrisburg high class of 1973) and weaned on Harrisburg radio. I grew up listening first to WHP and the legendary Ron Drake then of course WKBO and WFEC. In an effort to meet their "public service" commitment WKBO ran a Sunday morning gospel music program targeted to the African-American community called "Gospel Reflections" in the early 70's with host Brother Bob Bady a local minister. I used to help "Brother Bob" by answering phone requests and later he let me read the "weekly announcements" every Sunday. It was at that time I met guys like Lou Raymond (Dan Steele), J C Floyd (who was still in high school) and Freddy Adams (who helped me study for my 3rd class element 9 license). I went off to "broadcast school" came home and in 1975 was hired to do over-nights at WFEC. The PD was a guy from Texas, Brian Christian, and we were consulted by Jim Ryan (now Program Director of WLTW New York) who did nights at (then) WPEZ Pittsburgh. Our night guy was Tom Rivers (Fred Flanders) who is now Smokey Rivers was last PD of KVIL Dallas (he may be in Phoenix now). WKBO was always the radio station we were shooting for to no avail. Richard W became program director right before Bob Alexander left to lead us (WFEC) into the fight. Bob was really the first PD to sit down with me on a weekly basis to review "air-checks" and talk radio. I remember asking him how we were going to beat WKBO when they were such a monster (we were having lunch at the "Spot"). He told me something I will never forget and still use to this day. He said there "there is one thing we all have in common" ... He then pointed to the clock on the wall and said "We all have 60 minutes in the hour to do something. It's what we do in that 60 that will make or break us". I didn't stay long enough for the outcome, I got a job offer in Washington D.C. and left but I remembered his words. Love
your web-site it brought back great memories.
"As a young kid growing up on the "hill", I remember WKBO well. Here it is 25+ years later and I stumble upon this site. Very cool! Thanks for the walk down memory lane :) Andy Elwood 05/10/07 "I am now a grand father with a 10 weeks old baby boy born to my daughter Jill and Husband Tony. My loving wife of 24 + years is Betty and I also have two boys who are over the 21 year age. I have been off the air for 5 or 6 years now after 30 some years finishing up doing country and when I retire I might get on an oldies station. I have 25 years at HERCO as a telephone/network tech and I work all over the company keeping the phone/network system running. I leave you now with one word of advice - Plastic surgery is nice but don't get to close to an open flame. Fred Adams - 04/29/07 "I knew of the great heritage of WKBO during my two year stint there (85-87). But it looks like you guys have really done a bang-up job with this site. Sure remember Fennessey, Dennis Edwards, Parksie (he never liked my Motown preference), Trousdale (all too briefly, unfortunately), Neil Howard, Tom Brown...and of course RJ Harris. (By the way, I still have the brick. Does he still carry the cattle prod?) Don't forget, of course, the time Tony Romeo spent there. With us both at KYW, people still have trouble telling us apart. (No, we weren't seperated at birth and besides ... Tony looks better.) Anyway ... thanks for the great trip down memory lane. Although Philly is my home, Harrisburg was a very pleasant stop along the way." David Madden 03/01/07 "What a wonderful website. I used to go over to WBVP Beaver Falls, PA as a kid and marvel at Bob on the air there. He even did some promos for my little basement station when I was in high school in western PA. Bob was one of those that inspired me to get into radio fulltime and I later ended up at Florida's #1 rated WQAM Miami in 1968-69. Bob is a hometown friend and we have kept in touch over the years. It was nice to have accidently discovered this wonderful website and such nice comments about my friend Bob. John Paul Roberts 02/09/07 "Is your personalities section complete or WHAT? I was an OVERNIGHT Weekend Warrior there, Nov. '76 thru April '79. I'd drive an hour and a half each Saturday night from down in Waynesboro where I lived while working full time further down at WRNR/Martinsburg, WV. I remember I came up to Harrisburg for a concert one weekend, and PD Dan Steele had any of the airstaff come up on stage before the show to be introduced to the crowd. Afterward we took off our KBO hats, bowed, and tossed our hats into the crowd. They were those odd looking NYC cabbie type hats that were the fad then. It was great to be a weekender and still part of that. KBO didn't pay any more money for weekenders than WE did, but KBO was the big time! I dubbed off the actual teletype sfx we used as the news bed at KBO and used it for the same thing when I became PD at WRNR a few years later. But I still did weekends at KBO. That was too much fun! Throughout the '80s I programmed public radio above the Arctic Circle in Kotzebue, Alaska. And then throughout the '90s I did the evening show as Ed Alexander The Ol' Prospector at WOW/Omaha. Now I'm the Ol' Prospector overnights on the Waitt Radio Networks "Country Classics" format. I loved hearing the John St. John aircheck ... and I got to click an honest-to-got cart to hear it! What a site!" Ed
Roman 02/15/07
"This site is just amazing...it brings back sooo many memories. The time Hbg was really the best time of my career. I've remarried (just a year ago) and am now in Palm Springs, CA. Jondra Phillips Pennington 01/28/07 "Just stumbled upon the KBO website and it's fantastic. Here's an update: I retired from broadcasting in June of 2002, after a 23-year anchor career at WIVB -TV (CBS affiliate) in Buffalo, NY. My name was Carol Jasen then. I remarried in 2002 and am now Carol Crissey Nigrelli. My husband, Craig Nigrelli, is the weekend anchor at KCTV 5 in Kansas City, MO. My two daughters, Ana and Cristina Jasen, graduated from college ( Tulane and Sarah Lawrence respectively) and are on their own. Ana is a TV reporter at the Fox affiliate in Sioux City, Iowa, just 4 hours due north from our house.
Would love to get in touch with John St. John and the rest of the boys.
Carol
Crissey 01/17/07
"Nice work on the site. It was nice to tip toe ever so lightly down memory lane listening to the various air checks and looking at the pictures. On your Where are they now I can fill in the Fred Adams Blank: After WKBO I went full time at WRKZ 107 in E-Town doing mornings as Dusty Adams (I was the only air personality that Bob Zimmerman the owner liked. You have to know him to understand that last statement). I worked there full time for 1 yr and 3 months then took a leave for a couple of years got married and went back part time doing the Z country top 30 countdown. My last day there was the day the new owners took over some 4 or 5 years ago. My full time job for 25 years is with Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Co. where I do telephone and computer wiring, telephone switch software and what ever else is needed. My wife Betty and I have 3 kids and are about to become grand parents. Maybe some day when I retire I might go back on the air as ONE OF THE WORLDS SMALLEST RADIO PRONOUNCER'S PRONOUNCING SOME OF RADIO'S BIGGEST WORDS. Keep up the good work and thank you for the great memories. Fred Adams 01/01/07 "Hi, Just thought I'd send my info for the page....after working at KBO, I left for Washington D.C., worked at AP Radio and then WASH-FM, again doing morning anchor. Moved to San Francisco where I worked at KNBR and KGO radio. Left the business in the mid-80's and am now a licensed psychotherapist in the Palm Springs area of California. Thanks for the website..it's brought back tons of wonderful memories." Jondra Phillips 07/21/06 "Thanks for putting together such an interesting web site on WKBO, which I've just enjoyed exploring. I teach a course on the History of Mass Communication at the University of Delaware as an adjunct, I use audio-clips from various periods when we study radio. The station's role in Three Mile Island is interesting and I suspect students would enjoy some information on the role radio news played in covering that story. Do airchecks exist of Harrisburg area radio stations covering TMI? ...
Michael Dixon, Historical Society of Cecil County, Elkton Maryland 07/20/06
"Loved the WKBO tribute site. I never lived in Harrisburg, but got to hear WKBO (and WIOO and WFEC and others) each summer when my family would cross the state on our way to spend time in Atlantic City, years before the casinos. I looked forward to those road trips every summer. Many years later, I finally visited the city of Harrisburg (in 1979) and taped some of WKBO in its final Top 40 throes along with WLAN, WZIX, and some very early Q-106. ... Clarke Ingram 07/19/06 "Hey, great site! Especially as I even found "ME" on it!!! Thankx a bunch for putting this together - I appreciate the tremendous amount of work it must take... Terry Snyder, past Chief Engineer, at 'KBO, let me know about the site this morning (3 o'clock this morning ! Yawn ...) as we chatted on the "ham radio" - he coming back from a DJ gig in York and I setting-up a new ham radio ... (Terry has a "pic" on the ham web site, QRZ.COM -- and probably a link to his own site(?) and told me he likely has other "WKBO stuff - airchecks, etc."..?)... As for me, I have about 30" of me - www.teddygvo.com 2nd page? - on WKBO(Circa Late 70's) doing my Sunday night part-time "thing" (Best time I ever had doing anything!)((Yes. Anything.)). It is not kosher to do VO and to have been a josh dickey (Ohhh, you were in raydeoh - how luvly for you, deah...) - but I just can't let it go ...
I'll look through my boxes and boxes of stuff and see if I find any more
goodies to post (I'm sure I have a few copies of the "top 40" handout (Record
stores and other places) somewhere.. ? I also may have some pix (Slides)
of the air studio, when it was in the insurance building up on the hill
above AMP? I could scan 'em and send 'em on..?
"I never thought that WKBO would have it's own dedicated website. Ken Martin here. I was one of those weekend warriors. It's strange to see my name listed here since I played such a small roll. WKBO was my first radio job. Mike Conrad was the guy who got me in the door. Currently I'm in Tampa Florida working for Mediabase. I have some airchecks of myself from them along with a copy of the Christmas party tape (from '78?). Good work on the history." ... Ken Martin 07/13/06 "Great Site! Give me some time to recover from my bypass surgery, and I'll dig out some audio gems to contribute. In Where Are They Now, missing is any mention of Paul Cavanaugh, who did middays in 1985-86 replacing Bill Truesdale. Paul passed away in 1990. He was a great talent and a dear friend." ... Kevin Fennessey 07/12/06 ... We have added Paul to the personalities list. "Wow..what fun. I may have some stuff you could use. Actively collecting music from Central PA and unique musical influences to the region. Photo of self doing a "Lunch time at the Oldies" a sales promotion sheet. Audio of the "KBO Kids" ( Those kids are in their late 20's to early 30's now) My "Trousdale Trivia" Opener. Air Check of Harrisburg Hall of Fame KBO Christmas LP 1976 to benefit the Salvation army with Warm Holiday greeting from J. Albert. Ron Drake was Chairman of "Christmas in Every Home" ... Bill Truesdale 07/04/06 ... We will be adding material from the Bill Truesdale collection to the site. "I am writing you on behalf of The History Channel and our upcoming program titled "Our Generation."
We recently came across your excellent website on the history of WKBO Harrisburg.
We had hoped to find a mention there on the whereabouts of Mike Pintek,
the former WKBO News Director and eventual commentator/host at KDKA Pittsburgh.
Since Mr. Pintek left his KDKA post at the end of 2005, the trail towards
finding him has been difficult."
"So, I just read the history of WKBO.. amazing. Good thing somebody has a good memory and rely on me! Amazing.. and great memories! Thanks! Aircheck on the way soon..for really good laughs! Best to all of you! These were my best days in radio!" ... Rick Shockley 06/23/06 "Let me take this time now to laud your efforts in creating a website for one of the lesser known yet succesful AM top-40 radio stations in a perhaps medium-sized market. I had two questions. First, when WKBO first signed on with top-40 in 1972 were you considered a mainstream top-40 or a rock based top-40 like WIFI or WLPL? Secnd, IIRC, wasn't WKBO an affiliate of American Top 40 at one time and if so, what was (roughly) the period in which it was carried? This might be something that you would want to include. Thanks once again for providing this website. FWIW I discovered it on http://www.radio-info.com/. Best Regards, ... Tony Spezio 06/23/06 ... Tony, WKBO was a mainstream Top 40. It was a few years later that the rock based top 40 format came about. American Top 40 was indded heard on WKBO. The personalities page has a long haired Casey kasem picture. "Nice history site. Here's one minor correction: Steve Reed became mayor of Harrisburg in January 1982. One of your late 70's pages mentions 1980 as the year SR became Harrisburg mayor. Also, perhaps you should also note that a mid-80s news alumnus, David Madden, is doing pretty well as reporter for KYW1060. Also disappointed you don't mention Dennis Edwards, now at WSBA." ... Rich Krampe 06/19/06
Nobody seems to know why they kept the Wilmington stations after they sold everything else. There are lots of rumors and tails but nobody knows for sure. Even though the Steinmans own us, all the management is local and in the almost thirty years that I have worked there, I've only seen someone from Lancaster three times. They don't bother us too much at all. If you need any more info just send me an e-mail." ... Charlie Slezak (unofficial
historian). Engineering, WDEL-WSTW-WXCY, Wilmington, DE
...
John Summers 06/15/06
...
Scott Fortney 06/15/06
... Ray Thomas PD/WIOO & WEEO 06/15/06 "Hey guys...What a great site and great job!....These people were the reason I wanted to be in radio! They were the best then ,and many are still great today! I hope you get more airchecks! AWESOME JOB ... Tom Shannon PD/WROZ 06/15/06 "Wow, great job on the site, I will dig out some airchecks to send you. Thanks for remembering us. ...
Dan Steele 06/06/06
... Regards ... Neil Howard
(WKBO-- December 1979 thru June or July 1985) 06/09/06
...
Bob Alexander 06/02/2006
... bye for now ... Jim Buchanan 01/01/2007 |