Fantasy in the Bicentennial year . . .
As Dan was working his plan to make KBO more "major market", the station was firing on all 8 cylinders. Losing a guy like Bob Alexander could have really hurt the station, particularly since he was now over at WFEC along with Charlie Adams, but 1976 was to be one of the best years ever. As the year started, the new Sundance jingles sounded fresh, the Steele and Crissey Show was the talk of Harrisburg and the Saint was holding court back in his afternoon saddle. Dan was even able to shorten the night shifts to 4 hours .Jim Roberts was now on 6 - 10 and Rick Shockley, 10 PM - 2 AM. Dan Kelly, then Jefferson Keys and Steve Orr originally manned the 2 - 6 AM shift until Chris Andree took over the shift by the end of the year.
Chris Andree Jingles
The Fun-Lovin' Five were now referred to as "The Music People". As the bicentennial year began; the hitline numbers were reflective: 561-1976 and 561-1776, the 561 exchange reflecting the stations now more suburban local. "Fantasy" was the theme this year, as KBO did the :What’s Your Fantasy: contest and also aired "The Concert From Fantasy Park"

1976 had it's changes, though. Tom Sinkovitz and Hal German had departed for television, so Mike Pintek, and Fred Honsberger joined the KBO news staff. In May of 1976, Carol Crissey decided to leave for a News Job at Philadelphia’s WFIL. However, by September she returned as did Captain Dave Edwards, who had gone to Altoona for an on air job at WVAM in Altoona. On Dave’s return, the traffic plane was grounded and his reports were now known as “Traffic Watch” The Airwatch plane did return to the sky briefly in 1981. Also, in the fall of 1976, Mike Conrad began his Saturday Night reign as the “Teacher Creature”. One small change with the weather: the current temperature was no longer referred to as “Harrisburg Metro Temp” but was referred to as “mid-city”, as is “it’s 77 degrees mid city at KBO”.

January 1, 1977, KBO debuted their new jingles from PAMS of Dallas
PAMS of Dallas
It was this package that contained one of the few jingles to ever refer to the frequency during the Top 40 era.In late January, longtime competitor WFEC flipped to country, giving Harrisburg its first full-time country station. WFEC had long since ceased being a serious competitor, so its disappearance was not a major factor. The competition that KBO was now facing came from FM. In the winter of 1977, 99.3, WSFM switched to the TM Stereo Rock format, an adult Top 40 format, calling itself “Rock 99”. In the spring of 1977, KBO had its highest numbers ever: a 17.7 share persons 12+. Rock 99 debuted with a ten share. Makes you wonder what KBO would have achieved had WSFM not changed format! One of the factors helping KBO win big was the “$10,000 Zap”. By answering your phone with the phrase “I Want WKBO To Zap me”, you could win varying amounts of instant cash.

Stability was the key word in 1977, but there were a couple of changes. Early in the year, a second morning news person was hired to co-anchor with Fred Honsberger: Jondra Phillips. There were now 6 voices on the morning show: Steele and Crissey, the two news anchors, Captain Dave and Joe Bastardi was added as WKBO “Weatherwatch” meteorologist. Not bad for 1977 in a market like Harrisburg! When Fred Honsberger left for KDKA in August, Mike Pintek was promoted to morning news co-anchor and news director while Joe Wambach was hired for afternoon news. In September, Carol Crissey left the station for good to begin her long career as a TV news anchor. At one point in 1979, 3 former WKBO news people were on the anchor desk at WHP-TV 21: Hal German, Tom Sinkovitz and Carol Crissey. The morning show was then re-named “Steele and Company” as Dan went it alone

In November, Dan traveled to Dallas to purchase new jingles
from a company called “JAM Creative Productions”
JAM Positron
Although the new jingle package did not debut until the next year, the new Christmas Jingles made their debut in December 1977.
1978: A Year of Change . . .

Jeff Roteman's WKBO Website