This year commemorates the 70th anniversary of when Beaver County’s first radio station, WBVP, was heard over the airwaves for the the first time on May 25, 1948.  To mark the historical event, each week, another “70th Anniversary Moment” will be showcased on the airwaves and published on the station’s online feeds.

In 1960, The original owners of WBVP, Frank Smith, Tom Price and Charles Onderka were granted a license to put an F.M. radio station on the air.  Initially, the new radio station was known simply as “WBVP-F.M.” and was nothing more than a simulcast outlet for their popular A.M. radio station, WBVP, at 106.7 on the F.M. dial.   By the 1970’s it had become apparent that  this new fangled F.M. side of the radio business was indeed a huge opportunity worth developing into it’s own radio station, with a different format than that of WBVP.  A huge power increase to 47,000 watts, construction of a 500 foot tower, and a new set of call letters were accomplished  in 1975 to give the Beaver Falls F.M. radio station a whole new identity.  It became known as WWKS with a nickname of Kiss. Initially it was referred to as Kiss 107 and later on in the mid 1980’s, when digital receivers became common, the station began to use the exact frequency, going by Kiss 106.7 F.M.  Listeners throughout three states and a dozen counties or so could pick up the behemoth station’s soft rock music format.  Success was immediate and soon new listeners and advertisers from New Castle, Butler, Cranberry, and even Pittsburgh, supplemented the strong local following in Beaver County.  But, as they say, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery and within a short period of time, there were many F.M. stations throughout the Pittsburgh and Youngstown areas playing similar versions of soft rock, adult contemporary, or lite rock type music formats.  So,  another music format change was in order.

The timing was perfect for a new edgy hard rock format.  There was a growing interest among younger adults in newly released hard rock and alternative music, and there wasn’t yet a radio station serving that niche. In November of 1993, the decision was made to flip Kiss 106.7 F.M. to “The Force”.  Over Thanksgiving weekend of that year, the music listeners were hearing went from Maria Muldaur to Motley Crue.  The station kept the same call letters, WWKS and the same frequency of 106.7 F.M., but not much else was the same.  The station was owned by The Baltimore Radio Show at the time and in order to support their new station, new computers and satellite receivers were installed at the Beaver Falls studio to enable the station to receive carry a network delivered music format produced by a company in Chicago called Major Networks.   Many other aspects of the station would be “forced” to change as well.  A troupe of scantily clad young girls was recruited to accompany station announcers like Carl Anderson, Bill Cameron, Paul Taylor, Mike Steele and Brandon Davis, among others to station appearances.  The places where the newly named “force” was doing promotions changed along with the music too.  In addition to the traditional  live broadcasts from the county fair, or the local car dealer, “Force Nights” were now being held in various night clubs throughout the area including The Magic Twanger in Youngstown, Blondie’s in Greensburg, Fantasy’s in Moon Township and The Aquanaut in East Liverpool, Ohio, among other live music and entertainment venues.

The hard rock format of “The Force” was so successful, that it gained the attention of, and was purchased by a competing broadcasting company in Pittsburgh in 1995 and was eventually given a new name and new frequency.  Today the station format exists as “The X”, WXDX at 105.9 F.M. headquartered in Pittsburgh and the old frequency of 106.7 F.M. is still around as WAOB, and it offers Catholic religious programming from it’s studios in Latrobe.

“70th Anniversary Moments” is presented by  Abbey Carpet and Floor,  Albert’s Heating, Cooling and Plumbing,  Aliquippa Giant Eagle, The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority, Beaver Valley Auto Mall, Beaver Valley Sheet Metal, Castlebrook Development, The Community College Of Beaver County,  Farmers Building and Savings Bank, Freedom United Federal Credit Union, Hank’s Frozen Custard and Mexican food, The Health Huts, Kitchen City, Laughlin Insurance Agency,  Rochester Manor and Villa and Young’s Jewelry and Coins.

This year commemorates the 70th anniversary of when Beaver County’s first radio station, WBVP, was heard over the airwaves for the the first time on May 25, 1948.  To mark the historical event, each week, another “70th Anniversary Moment” will be showcased on the airwaves and published on the station’s online feeds.​

If you mention the topics of basketball or broadcasting in Ambridge, one name comes to mind quite easy for many of the town’s residents, Wuycik.  Walter and Louise Wuycik raised  three children, including two boys who became quite well known in their home town, and throughout the area for their achievements.  The elder son, Dennis, was a whiz on the basketball court leading the Ambridge Bridgers to an undefeated state championship season in 1967.  Dennis Wuycik would later on have successful career at North Carolina and with several A.B.A. professional basketball teams.  The younger of the two boys, Donn was much more comfortable taking in a game from the sidelines and recording the contest with video equipment.  The fact is, Donn Wuycik was so accomplished in his skills to gather, edit and produce videos that he was hired on as one of the original field reporters for ESPN when it started up in the early 1980’s.   By all accounts, Donn Wuycik’s video work was in high demand as he was soon traveling all over the United States to provide footage for several major cable networks.

Scott Tady from the Beaver County Times published this recap of Wuycik’s early video career in an article released in December, 2014 following Donn Wuycik’s passing at age 60. “ After graduating in 1972 from Ambridge Area High School, Wuycik worked a number of jobs, including as a fitter for Dravo Corp., a cable installer, an ambulance driver in Aliquippa and police chief for South Heights.

In the late 1970s, Wuycik invested much of his life savings to buy TV camera equipment, launching a freelance news gathering business. Learning of an upstart sports cable network in Bristol, Conn., he auditioned with a tape he’d made of Beaver County’s annual World Championship Snow Shovel Riding Contest. That network, ESPN, hired him to provide its “Sports Center” program with taped highlights of major Pittsburgh sporting events and later for West Coast games. Camera work Wuycik did also appeared on CNN, the BBC and for ABC’s “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.”

Donn Wuycik, with the support of his family,  purchased WMBA at the young age of 32 in a deal that was finalized in 1986.    His company was called Donn Communications, and Donn Wuycik ran WMBA with the same tenacity and competitiveness as his brother demonstrated two decades earlier on the hardwood floors of area high school basketball courts.  He immediately brought about many changes to WMBA that others might not have even attempted, including constructing two new four hundred foot broadcast towers and installing new transmitting equipment so the station could be approved for night time broadcasting, which became a reality in 1988.  Donn Wuycik also moved the studio and offices for WMBA from the old Economy section of town on 14th Street to a nice, newly remodeled and more visible building on Merchant Street in Ambridge. 

Much like the way he lived his own life, Donn Wuycik put  more bravado into what WMBA was broadcasting.  It wasn’t uncommon in that era for the Ambridge station to carry three or four high school football games in a single weekend, including ones from far away as North Hills high school near Pittsburgh.  He  took his politics seriously as well.  Under Donn Wuycik’s leadership, WMBA would have a half dozen reporters on the streets and at various campaign headquarters on election nights in Beaver County.  Nobody was going to out do Donn Wuycik.  He worked hard and played even harder. He is best remembered for a quote of his that appeared on the Beaver County Boom Tee Shirts a couple years ago “It’s Gonna be big, and you’re gonna want to be there!”

“70th Anniversary Moments” is presented by  Abbey Carpet and Floor,  Albert’s Heating, Cooling and Plumbing,  Aliquippa Giant Eagle, The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority, Beaver Valley Auto Mall, Beaver Valley Sheet Metal, Castlebrook Development, The Community College Of Beaver County,  Farmers Building and Savings Bank, Freedom United Federal Credit Union, Hank’s Frozen Custard and Mexican food, The Health Huts, Kitchen City, Laughlin Insurance Agency,  Rochester Manor and Villa and Young’s Jewelry and Coins.

This year commemorates the 70th anniversary of when Beaver County’s first radio station, WBVP, was heard over the airwaves for the the first time on May 25, 1948.  To mark the historical event, each week, another “70th Anniversary Moment” will be showcased on the airwaves and published on the station’s online feeds.​

The city of New Castle has produced its share of talented broadcasters through the years. Popular WBVP and WMBA hosts in more recent years, John Nuzzo and Gary West were born and raised there.  In addition, Mark Razz, who was a WBVP and WWKS show host and program director from the 1980’a and 1990’s, along with broadcasting pioneer Chuck Wilson, who spoke the first words on WBVP in 1948, started their careers at New Castle radio station WKST.  Among other stars to rise out of Red Hurricane country and travel through Beaver County at WBVP was native son Steve Granato.  The following is a biography about Steve Granato appearing in the recently published book “Behind The Microphone, The History Of Radio In Beaver County, PA”:  “New Castle native, Steve Granato, first appeared in the hallways of WBVP and WWKS in 1982 as a part time announcer.  He would return to his New Castle hometown station, WKST and WFEM in Ellwood City in 1984, where he had originally started as a high school boy before coming to Beaver County.  In 1986, Granato came back to WBVP and WWKS to serve as Program Director and on air host for WBVP. After leaving WBVP and WWKS, Granato worked  as a Program Director and on air talent in Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Cleveland and in Columbus, OH as a Senior Vice President of Programming for iHeart Media. Steve is currently the Operations Manager of four radio stations in Naples-Ft. Myers, FL for Renda Broadcasting.”

One enduring story in particular about  Granato, and his time at WBVP, involved the aforementioned Mark Razz, local pro wresting legend, Bruno Sammartino and a Nationality Days Broadcast. The following is  Also taken from Behind The Microphone, the History Of Radio In Beaver County PA, describing a live broadcast from Ambridge Nationality Days from around 1988: “Bruno Sammartino, was invited to appear at the WBVP and WWKS live broadcast set up at Nationality Days. Surely having such a beloved and popular sports figure on the air and live in person at Nationality Days would be a coupe.  Sammartino arrived as planned and proceeded to do an interview live on KISS 106.7 F.M., WWKS, with host Mark Razz. After that interview ended, Sammartino went over to join Steve Granato at the other end of the booth, who was broadcasting live on 1230 WBVP. Whether it was the fact that Steve Granato’s shorter height, or that Sammartino was getting bored, or maybe that the quieter Granato was just an easier target, who knows, but shortly after the dialogue on WBVP began, Sammartino jumps up and put Granato into a headlock and then proceeded to give Granato a series of “noogies”, rubbing his knuckles across the top of Granto’s head, just like a grade school bully in the coat room would do to the class nerd.”  At the time, WBVP was paired with a sister F.M. radio station known as WWKS, or Kiss106.7 F.M.  WMBA was still owned by a separate company back then and hadn’t become part of the family yet.

These days, Steve, and his wife, Mary Kay Granato, live in Bonita Springs, Florida.

“70th Anniversary Moments” is presented by  Abbey Carpet and Floor,  Albert’s Heating, Cooling and Plumbing,  Aliquippa Giant Eagle, The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority, Beaver Valley Auto Mall, Beaver Valley Sheet Metal, Castlebrook Development, The Community College Of Beaver County,  Farmers Building and Savings Bank, Freedom United Federal Credit Union, Hank’s Frozen Custard and Mexican food, The Health Huts, Kitchen City, Laughlin Insurance Agency,  Rochester Manor and Villa and Young’s Jewelry and Coins.