Day 3 of Radio Dial Rewind on Teleforum with Frank Sparks featured 3  very popular personalities from their time at  Beaver County Radio …..

The Morning started out at 10 a.m. with former Teleforum host Dave Felts. Frank and Dave talked about Dave’s love for radio and music. Dave shared the story of when he was thrust into being the host of Teleforum in early 1981 and not having any experience doing a talk show just a few weeks into the show he was informed that , as Dave said, his first stuffed shirt was coming in for an interview, Eugene Atkinson. While Dave was doing the interview a young lady walked into the studio and handed Dave a note. Dave took a commercial break and then looked at the note which said that the White House need Rep. Atkinson to call right away. Dave said to the Atkinson to ask the President, Ronald Reagan, to come on the air.   Dave then went about the show filling in time till Rep. Atkinson returned to finish the interview with Felts and then during a commercial break Atkinson informed Felts that the President said yes he would come on the show and then the rest was history . Click the play button below to hear Dave’s famous interview with President Reagan on April 21, 1981.

Dave finished out the morning telling more stories about his time at Beaver County R0adio.

 Next up was a very familiar name to our listeners Jim Fredrick who called many a high school game in his day. Jim shared the many memories of calling games with the likes of Bob Barrickman, Tom Hays and Chris Shovlin just to mention a few. Fredrick discussed one of his favorite high school games he ever called when Aliquippa played Beaver Falls for the W.P.I.A.L. Championship in 2005 that went into triple over time. Beaver Fall’s Lance Jeter hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer to secure the win for the Tigers. Jim went on to talk about the life long friendships that were a result from his time in broadcasting.  Jim is currently the Deputy Treasurer of Beaver County under Connie Javens.

To finish out the morning a voice familiar to the listeners of WMBA back in the day Barb Trehar was in studio with Frank and our intern Kaisha Jantsch. Barb talked about her time at WMBA and told about the unique way she was hired by Ruth Johnson. Trehar also went on to tell the story of the explosion that happened in the 1980′ s in Ambridge  and how she continued to read the news until Ruth told her to get out of the building . Trehar told the story of how she made it look like she quit on the air because people were having a fit cause she was a women and taking away a man’s job at a bad time in the area with all the steel meals closing down. Trehar got on the microphone and said I quit and then made it sound like she walked away and they left dead air for 3 minutes or so and then she came back in and said I was out in my car and Ruth came out and got me and told me to come back in and Trehar said Johnson told her they couldn’t find a man to do the job as good as a women. Very edgy for the time. After her time at WMBA Trehar moved onto bigger things.

Tune in tomorrow, May 24, 2018 for another edition of Radio Dial Rewind  featuring one of Beaver County Radio’s all-time most popular personalities John Nuzzo at 9:10 a.m. followed by Randy Cosgrove at 9:40 a.m.,  Vince Orend will be in studio form 10 to 11, Jim Reed will be calling in at 10:20 a.m. and current News Director Pat Septak will be Frank’s guest in the 11 o’clock hour.

“Radio Rewind” is brought to you by Ba’Runi Bar & Grille, the John Pournaras Agency, the Ambridge Italian Villa, Bowser Hyundai of Chippewa, McGee Heating & Cooling, and the Pennsylvania Hot Rod Company.

 

 

Tuesday May 22, 2018 Beaver County Radio kicked off round 2 of the Beaver County Radio “Radio Dial Rewind” during Teleforum  with Frank Sparks. The day kicked off Monaca’s own Jim Merkel. Jim Talked about his days at WMBA and shared memories with the listeners.  Jim told the listeners about what he has done since his days as an 18 year old morning show host on WMBA. Jim is widely known for his years on the morning show at 3WS in Pittsburgh. After working in radio Jim started his own voice over business which he still operates today with his wife.

In Hour number two Mark Peterson, WBVP/WMBA Owner and Station Manager ,  joined Frank to talk about his newly released book “Behind the Microphone” that was released in celebration of WBVP’s 70th Anniversary on May 25, 2018 .Ken Britton and David Felts who contributed with Mark to write the book were also in studio.

Mark discussed the history of Radio and how WBVP came to be. The trio also discussed many other parts of the history that are contained in the book. The book is a highlight of everything that has occurred at WBVP and WMBA over the years. If you would like to purchase “Behind the Microphone click on the picture of Mark, Ken, and Dave to be re-directed to Amazon. The book is just $6.97 and is available now.

Hour Three featured a voice familiar to everyone in Beaver County and to all Robert Morris alum none other than 2006 Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame member Chris Shovlin. Chris and Frank talked about the early days when Chris graduated from Westminster College and first started working for WMBA.  Chris talked about his career as a radio morning man and a sports broadcaster and why he never left HOME as he called it for the bigger markets elsewhere. Shovlin reminisced about the days of working with The Teddy Bear Jim Reynolds at WBVP and the numerous pranks and fun times they had. Chris told the listeners about the time Reynolds dis robed as he was trying to do a news cast and how he always would do a news cast as a news reporter but on this day he cracked.

Tune into Beaver County Radio throughout the rest of the week to hear other voices of the past as Radio Dial Rewind Continues.

“Radio Rewind” is brought to you by Ba’Runi Bar & Grille, the John Pournaras Agency, the Ambridge Italian Villa, Bowser Hyundai of Chippewa, McGee Heating & Cooling, and the Pennsylvania Hot Rod Company.