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.

This is the time of year, when 70 years ago, three new entrepreneurs and business partners from Pittsburgh would have been anxious and excited about the start up of their new venture in Beaver County, PA.  That’s because Frank Smith, Tom Price and Charles Onderka were about one week away from officially putting WBVP on the air.  The staff of WBVP had already been hired, and test broadcasts had already aired late at night to prepare for the sign on, which would occur on Tuesday, May 25, 1948.   One of those early staff members was  Alan Boal.  Boal, who was from Freedom, had met Frank Smith while Smith was the General Manager at WWSW in Pittsburgh.  Boal gave fellow Pitt student, and announcer at WWSW,  Rege Cordic,  a ride to the studio from campus and had the opportunity to meet Smith and discover this wild new world of broadcasting .   Boal was brought aboard to help put WBVP on the air and commented about those test broadcasts conducted on WBVP in the recently published book, now available on Amazon,  Behind The Microphone – The History Of Radio In Beaver County, PA.  “(They) kind of broke all of us in. . .  It was mainly just a trial run, with the transmitter and everything.  That’s how we started out”.

About a year earlier, the Federal Communications Commission awarded Frank Smith, along with his partners, Tom Price and Charles Onderka a class C license to broadcast at 1230 kilohertz from a 150 foot tower at 250 watts  located just across the  river from Beaver Falls in Pulaski Township.  As we all are very familiar with now, their new radio station was assigned the call letters of WBVP.   Prior to breathing life into their enterprise in Beaver County, Frank Smith and Tom Price both worked for WWSW, which at the time was found at 1500 A.M., and the studio was located in the Sherwin Hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh.  WWSW was owned by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette at the time, so they didn’t have to go far to find the third partner, as Charles Onderka was working in the business office over at the paper division of the company.  According to WBVP Chief Engineer in the 1960’s, Jim Roush, the three partners pooled together around $13,000 to get their new radio station built and on the air.  While thirteen grand would equal around $137,000 nowadays, adjusted for inflation, it was still quite a feat for the three business leaders to buy and develop the 50 acre transmitter property in Pulaski Township, build a transmitter building, put up a tower, and outfit an office and studio in Beaver Falls with furnishings and equipment. The original office and studio location for WBVP was one block south on the same side of Seventh Avenue in Beaver Falls, located in the third floor above the Rio Grill and Kaufmann’s Drug Store back when. The building still exists today and is now the home of Vocelli Pizza and Valley Home Medical Equipment.

Frank Smith, Tom Price and Charles Onderka were already very successful media executives in

Pittsburgh and were already enjoying the fruits of their labor when all three decided to uproot and migrate to Beaver County.  In research conducted for   Behind The Microphone – The History Of Radio In Beaver County, PA. , Judy Rowse, Tom Price’s daughter, reported that prior to moving the family to Beaver, her parents, Tom and Marion Price, had just settled into a brand new home in Mount Lebanon with the rest of the brood.  Frank Smith and his wife Lillian put roots down in Patterson Township.  Charles, and his wife Mary, Onderka, bought a home in Chippewa.

The three men ran the company like a giant extended family and held celebration picnics for the whole staff every year on May 25th to mark the anniversary of the first radio broadcast on WBVP. The tradition continues this year as WBVP will celebrate the Occasion with a 70th Anniversary Gala at the Grand Ball Room of the  Brodhead Hotel in Beaver Falls with current and past employees, spouses and special invited guests, that includes entertainment from The Jaggerz and a keynote address from from retired broadcasting magnate and Allegheny County politician, Jim Roddey.

Frank Smith, Tom Price and Charles Onderka operated WBVP for 19 years as the first owners, selling it to Hall Communications in 1967.

“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.

Don Kennedy was from Beaver and is one of the many WBVP personalities through the years that also graduated from Geneva College.  The following  excerpt is  from the forthcoming book “Behind the Microphone – The History Of Radio In Beaver County ”  and is about Don Kennedy and his days at WBVP:

“The evenings on WBVP would feature Beaver native Don Kennedy with music selections that included a classical music hour from nine until ten and a segment entitled “Day Is Done”, which aired during the final hour of broadcast and included popular music and poetry readings, among other things. Kennedy traditionally ended his show, and the day at WBVP, with the song “I’ll See You In My Dreams” and a extending a good night greeting over the airwaves just before sign off at Midnight.  Alan Boal alternated on occasion with Kennedy in the evening time slot as well. ” 

In 1951, although Geneva College was still sixteen years  away from having it’s own student run radio station, which would eventually go by the call letters of WGEV, Don Kennedy played a prominent part in  furthering educational opportunities for other students at the time.  Kae Kirkwood, archival Librarian at the McCartney Library at Geneva College, reports the following about about Don Kennedy from an an archive posting from February of that year:  “A radio studio is set up in the annex behind Alumni Hall. Student Donald Kennedy, a radio announcer with WBVP, has built a complete and compact radio unit. Weekly productions of the Radio Broadcasting Club will originate in this studio, and be broadcast by WBVP.”

The archives  at the McCartney Library at Geneva College also show the following about about Don Kennedy from a September, 1952 entry : “Don Kennedy, Geneva senior and WBVP radio announcer, is signed by DIX records, Pittsburgh, as a recording artist.  Don’s first records have already been issued. (Don goes on to become a well-known radio and television personality in Atlanta.)”

Kennedy began his radio career at WPIC in Sharon in 1947.  About a year later, Kennedy was one of the original staff members when WBVP signed on the air in 1948. After serving in the military in  Korea, Kennedy settled in Atlanta and began doing some on air work at WSB T.V.  In 1960, Kennedy founded and put WKLS F.M. on the air in Atlanta, and in 1976, Kennedy was the head of a company that put WATL T.V. Channel 36 back  on the air in Atlanta.

According to an online biography, recently, Kennedy has served as the network coordinator for the Atlanta Braves radio network and the Georgia Tech Football and Basketball networks. Kennedy also syndicated a weekly radio program called “Big Band Jump”, which aired on WBVP, on Sunday Mornings from 7 until 9 A.M. in the 1990’s and 2000’s, as part of over one hundred stations in The United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Kennedy is also the voice of several cartoon characters on cable’s Cartoon Network and narrator for award winning documentaries seen on the nine television stations of Georgia Public Television. 

“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.

Since the early days of WBVP and WMBA, politics have been a big part of the radio stations, as a popular topic of conversation on the talk shows and also as a career choice for several of the people who were heard on the airwaves throughout the years.  In this edition of “70th Anniversary Moments”, We will Take a look at some of the announcers who parlayed their popularity into an elected position.

Ernie Kline was born in Allentown, PA, and grew up in Westmoreland County. According to information published in the Beaver County Times, he started working at radio stations in Charleroi, Kittanning and Connellsville before being hired on at WBVP in 1950 and was a popular air personality at the station until the mid-1960’s.  Kline moved to and took up residence in Beaver Falls and was elected to Beaver Falls City Council in 1955. Kline became a State Senator in 1965 and then, along with Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp, Kline was elected on the same ticket as Lieutenant Governor in 1971 Kline served in that position until 1979. Kline continued to work in politics after being in office and worked as a Pennsylvania delegate to the Democratic National Convention up through 2000.

Ambridge native and Point Park University alum, Rob Matzie, started at WMBA in 1987 and worked there off and on until 1994 as a sportscaster and show host and later went into politics.  Rob was the Mayor of Ambridge in 2003 and 2004, and then was elected to the Pennsylvania State Legislature in 2008 where he continues to serve the 16th district.

Jim Reynolds grew up in Beaver Falls and never gravitated far from his roots.  After winning an announcing contest with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1959, He worked at WBVP from 1960 through 1986, and became one of the most familiar and beloved hosts of all time, known as “The Teddy Bear”.  Following his career at WBVP, Reynolds leveraged his popularity gained from years as hosting the morning show and subsequently was elected and served as mayor of his hometown, Beaver Falls, from 1989 to 1993.

Gerry Goff was part of the original staff of WBVP in 1948.  He served as the Program Director, show host and also aired the noon time news on WBVP in that era.  Kenneth Britten made the following observations about Goff in his 1990 article “Local radio”: “Gerry Goff, a well-known local actor who had appeared in several Broadway productions was actually the first Program Director. However, Goff left the station within a year and (Chuck) Wilson assumed the duties for the next twenty-six years. During the short time he was on the air, Goff had a highly popular afternoon program entitled “Yours by Request” which featured listeners calling in to request songs which was very unusual for that time.”  Gerry Goff was from New Brighton and graduated from New Brighton High School.  Prior to working at WBVP, Goff served for one two year term, from 1947-1948 as a Republican in the Pennsylvania State House Of Representatives.  Jerry Goff also worked at WRYO in Rochester for a brief period of time around 1950.

Jack Andolina hosted a popular adult standards music format show entitled “The Best Music This Side of Heaver” on Sunday Evenings on WBVP during the 1970’s and 1980’s .  Andolina also served as the Mayor of Conway from 1973 to 1997 and during that time, he was elected to the post of Vice President of the Pennsylvania Mayor’s Association.

“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.