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 1967, the original owners of WBVP, Frank Smith, Tom Price and Charles Orderka sold the station to a company headquartered in Connecticut by the name of Hall Communications, which was formed just a few years earlier by newspaper column and comic strip syndicator, Robert Hall. Hall Communications continues to thrive in the radio industry and currently operates twenty one radio stations in six different markets. One of the reasons for their continued success is the contributions from the Reed Family.  Specifically, a father and son.  Dick Reed was part of the original operations when Hall Communications was formed and became the Vice President who ran the operation on a daily basis in the early days.  Dick’s job was made somewhat easier because he had a great staff that he could count on, namely, his son, Jim Reed, who was a true “utility player” in the radio business who could build a studio, fix the equipment, and then host a radio show.

Both Reeds would assist in the operations on WBVP and WWKS in Beaver Falls.  Dick Reed was “The Big Boss” in the corporate office whom General Manager, Chris Shovlin would report to.  Dick Reed would also come to town on occasion to meet with the staff and was a fixture at the annual Hall Communications convention meetings.  Once a year, the executives at Hall would host a company wide gathering and training session in one of the cities where they owned radio stations and invite employees from all of their radio stations to attend.  In 1984, that year’s event was held in Beaver Falls at the Holiday Inn, now known as Park Inn by Radisson, near the turnpike exit. People who attended that meeting still recall sales trainer, Tom Howard, doing a presentation for the sales people using orange colored bricks. Chris Shoviln remembered his interactions with the elder read and recounted them in the recently published book “Behind The Microphone, The History Of Radio In Beaver County, PA” : “Dick was an absolute gentleman.  He ran the radio properties. Dick was the first Vice President of the company under Bob Hall.  Nothing got to Bob Hall without going through Dick Reed. Dick Reed ruled with an iron fist, but he was one of the nicest, most generous, kind people I ever met.  Just a tremendous guy. You could look him in the eye and know you were getting the truth. You could trust him. He wanted you to run the company like he ran his. They were great people.  They were the best people”.

The younger Reed, Jim, was enlisted by his father to traverse out to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania from company headquarters in New England and help out with moving WBVP and WWKS to a new building, which continues to serve as the physical location of the company,  around 1980.  That project also included the huge task of remodeling some dentist offices in the upstairs floor of the radio station headquarters into a collection of four broadcast and recording studios, along with an engineering and technical room, conference room and work areas for the announcers.  The first floor of the structure at 1316 7th avenue, that  previously existed as Sakraidas Dress Shop, was converted into  office space for the sales and business department with Jim Reed’s help and oversight.  Jim Reed and his fellow engineering team members including Ed Monskie, Wayne Gignac, Jerry Bowers and Bob King also installed a revolutionary device in the radio industry at the time, a programmable computer like giant machine with five reel to reel tape players and dozens of individual

tape cartridge slots known as a “16M Basic A Automation System”.  The

new room-sized contraption produced the music and played recorded segments of the announcers and mixed in commercials as directed, without the need for constant human interaction over the airwaves of  WWKS, or Kiss 107 F.M. as it was known at the time.

Jim Reed would also host air shows and help with remote broadcasts during his stays in Beaver Falls.  His father, Dick Reed continued to run the show at the Hall Communications corporate offices as Group Manager out East and was the one who facilitated the sale and handled the negotiations with Ted and Marilee Ruscitti, who bought WBVP and WWKS from Hall in 1985.

“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.​

In 1989, a recent California University Of PA graduate named Carl Anderson was brought aboard to host the afternoon show on  WWKS, or Kiss 106.7 F.M.   WWKS was a sister F.M. radio station to WBVP at that point in time and was operated out of the same building in Beaver Falls.  Anderson grew up in North Huntington Township out in Westmoreland County, PA and for a period of time after being hired on,  he drove the fifty plus mile commute on the Pennsylvania Turnpike daily to and from his job in Beaver Falls.  About a year later, the position of Program Director for WWKS opened up when Mark Razz accepted a position in Boston and moved on from WBVP and WWKS.  Anderson was appointed Program Director and also took the reigns of hosting the morning show. By this point in time,  Anderson had also put roots down in Beaver County and had moved to Chippewa.  Under Anderson’s leadership, the Beaver Falls F.M. radio station enjoyed some of its most successful years as far as popularity and familiarity among area listeners.  The station was constantly out and about appearing at events all over the Western Pennsylvania Area including the Three Rivers Regatta in Pittsburgh, Concerts at Star Lake Ampitheater and other prominent regional locations.  During his tenure as program director, WWKS morphed from a soft adult contemporary music format to a slightly harder “Adult Rock Hits” format.  Later on, another more aggressive change to a hard rock was made with Anderson running the show when the station switched to a cutting edge hard rock presentation and re-branded itself at “The Force” in 1993.

Two things combined in the mid nineties to send Carl Anderson’s career in a different direction.  WWKS, or The Force,  was gaining ground and becoming quite popular especially among younger demographics.  Also going on at that particular time, President Clinton had just signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which deregulated the broadcast industry and allowed the same person, or company to own multiple stations in the same market.  Those two things made acquiring WWKS  not only possible, but an easy decision for Secret Communications, who also owned and operated WDVE in nearby Pittsburgh.  Secret would now have another rock station with a younger audience to compliment its heritage classic rock format on WDVE.  The deal was made, Carl Anderson went to the Secret Communications’ Pittsburgh Offices with the other WWKS employees and began his rise in the radio world.  Lots of changes would happen fast and soon Anderson found himself in charge of launching a new station format on another station now owned by his new bosses, WJJJ, 104.7 F.M. in Pittsburgh as Program Director of the smooth jazz radio station.

Around 1997, Anderson was lured away from Pittsburgh to accepted a position with a cluster of radio stations in Richmond, VA.  This move was yet another step in Anderson’s rise up to the top of the ranks in the radio industry, which eventually saw him serve as a Network Vice President, and Market Manager.  The following recap of Anderson’s Career was recently published in the book, Behind The Microphone, The History Of Radio In Beaver County, PA : “His training in Beaver Falls paid off big time as he became Program Director at a new upstart radio station in Pittsburgh called Smooth Jazz 104.7 in 1996.  After a stops in Richmond , Chicago and Washington, D.C., Carl’s programming and management skills were noticed by ABC radio network executives and he eventually settled in as Executive Vice President of Programming and Affiliate Relations in Dallas, TX. After that, Carl became the Senior Vice President for Programming in the West Region For ABC.  Later on Carl became national News Talk and Brand Manager For Clear Channel before finally landing in Tuscon, AZ as Market President of a six station cluster owned by Clear Channel/iHeart Media in 2016. Carl now serves as Chief Operating Officer of Premiere Auto Group in Tuscon, AZ.”

“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.

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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.

Last week, we profiled George Allen, a WBVP original staff member from 1948 and also one of four station employees through the years who later went on to own their own radio stations.  In this edition, we take a look at another WBVP-WMBA protege who started out and learned the business at one of the Beaver County radio stations and later on would find himself signing payroll checks, Ted Ruscitti.  A native of Hopewell Township, Ruscitti became fascinated with vacuum tubes and transmitters in an era when many of his high high school classmates were more likely to be chasing girls and cruising the local hang outs.   Ruscitti was a whiz kid, and very accomplished around electronics while yet a teenager.  The fact is, he built and put his own pirate radio station on the air headquartered in his parents house while still a student at Hopewell.  Ruscitti’s station was self named “WINO”, and occasionally local residents will recall listening to Ruscitti’s broadcasts, which began after he got home from school in the afternoons during the late 1960’s.

In 1970, John Bride had just bought WMBA from Miner’s Broadcasting Service.  One of the things that was different then was the fact that, by law, radio stations had to have a a staff member on site with a first class radiotelephone operator license at all times.  While the rule went by the way side in the mid 1980’s, back then, it created an opportunity for Ted Ruscitti, who already had a first class license, even though he was barely out of high school.   Bride needed to find and hire someone with the first class designation to fulfill legal requirements, so that made Ruscitti an easy hire.  It turns out that Ruscitti’s possession of a first class license was far from the only asset that he brought to the table.  He hosted a very popular evening music request show on WMBA.  The following is an excerpt about Ruscitti’s  first duties as an announcer at WMBA  from the recently published book, “Behind The Microphone, The History Of Radio In Beaver County, PA”:

“In the early seventies, while working for (General Manager of WMBA, Roy) Angst and (Station Owner, John) Bride at WMBA, Ruscitti hosted an evening music request show on WMBA, from five to six. According to (WMBA staffer during the 1970’s), Bill Fontana, the show was amazingly popular as listeners would regularly call in and sometimes wait on hold for great lengths of time to get an chance to talk to Ruscitti.”

Ruscitti’s technical skills also saw him overseeing engineering duties at WMBA not too long after being hired.  So accomplished was Ruscitti with all aspects of radio, but in particular, his ability to fix and maintain just about any piece of broadcast equipment, that he was recruited and accepted a position at Pittsburgh rock station, WDVE, after only a short while at WMBA.  Ruscitti became Chief Engineer and later on would be named Operations Director at the popular F.M. music radio station.

In 1985, Ted Ruscitti received a call from a  broker that WBVP and its sister F.M. radio station at the time, WWKS or Kiss 107 as it was known then,  were for sale. The notion of owning two radio stations in his hometown area was too hard to resist, so after a quick plane trip to Providence, Rhode Island, and some dialogue  with the owner of WBVP and WWKS at that point in time, Hall Communications,  Ted Ruscitti and his wife, Marilee, formed M.T. Communications, Inc. and bought the two Beaver Falls based radio stations.

Ruscitti would own and operate WBVP and WWKS up through 1990 and made many significant advancements, including the return of live local radio from an automated system on the F.M. radio station, and the introduction of digital music played over the airwaves.  The fact is, WWKS, or Kiss 106.7 F.M., was the first station in the area, and perhaps the nation, to utilize newly available compact discs, or C.D.’s. as they are commonly known, to play the music in the studio, which was ultimately broadcast over the airwaves.

These days, Ted Rusciiti continues to share his knowledge and talents as he is a very highly sought after nationwide consultant in the radio industry.

“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.

Over the years, WBVP has been a starting place for many broadcasters who went on to have big impact in the world of radio.  Some of the people who worked at the Beaver Falls, PA radio station actually went on to won their own radio stations down the line.  Such was the case for George Allen.   Allen was  part of the original line up at WBVP in 1948 and went to to own KLGA in Algona, Iowa.  Allen also served as President for the Iowa Broadcasters Association in the mid seventies.   Joining Allen on the staff in 1948 were Morning Show Host  Arnold Felsher, Newsman and Program Director Jerry Goff, Show Host Gert Trobe, Show Host Chuck Wilson, Show Host Alan Boal and Show Host Don Kennedy, among other staff members.

George Allen and the other announcers of that legendary early line up at WBVP worked their craft in a studio and office set up on the third floor of a building located at 1216 7th Avenue in Beaver falls, PA.  The station reportedly had three studios, with the largest one, “Studio A”, reserved for live on air performances.  “Studio “B” was typically where the news reporters delivered their broadcasts, and “Studio C” was where the daily show hosts, like George Allen,  performed their duties. In the recently published book, Behind Microphone, The History Of Radio in Beaver County, PA,  The following excerpt can be found about George Allen:  “Following Arnold Felsher was the deep,  booming voice of George Allen who would settle in behind the microphone of Studio C.  Allen’s shift was from nine until noon. A few years later, he would move into the morning show slot and host a program entitled “Morning Valley Special” featuring a  the daily signature sign off song of “Sentimental Journey”, according to records kept by Ken Britten. George Allen later went on to own his own radio station in Iowa and reportedly was a  partner in two other radio stations.” 

“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.​

They say that in order for a talk show host to be successful, he or she has to be very well read, and very knowledgeable about issues that affect the listening audience, but most of all, the polished talk show host has to have an opinion, and be willing to defend it live on the airwaves with listeners.  Steve Kalb was such a host in the mid to late 1990’s on WBVP.   Kalb was like a fish out of water.  As a man of Jewish descent originally from the Bronx section of New York City, Kalb was drawn to Western Pennsylvania by young lady that he was courting at the time.  Initially, Kalb would fly in on the weekends to spend time with his lady friend, and would pick up some part time hours while here during the day at a Pittsburgh radio station and then, of course, go out to dinner and spend dome time with his girlfriend in the evening before jetting back home after the weekend.

Eventually, Kalb decided that the western Pennsylvania area was more attractive for many reasons, and moved out here full time in 1996.  While that meant he could spend more time with his female friend, it also meant he had to look for meaningful full time employment.  Dimitri Vassilaros was another Pittsburgh resident who had also worked at WTAE A.M., who had then found full time work out in Beaver County as a talk show host on WBVP.  Vassilaros recommended that Kalb give the local class C A.M. radio station headquartered in Beaver Falls a try.  At the time, the station was looking to hire a replacement for popular show host Steve Simon, also known as Steve Hook in his non-radio life, who had recently moved on to other things.  Though small in stature, Kalb made a massive impression with his quick wit, aggressive personality and smooth sounding voice.  He was an easy hiring decision for WBVP Program Director and morning show host in those years, John Nuzzo.  Kalb settled in to the afternoon time slot and Dimitri Vassilaros was moved to the morning talk show and combined with Nuzzo’s morning show, made up one for one of the more robust, talented line ups ever put together on WBVP.

Steve Kalb was interviewed for the recently published book, Behind The Microphone, The History Of Radio In Beaver County, PA, where the following expert can be found: “As a liberally minded person of Jewish heritage and native of the New York City area , Steve Kalb kept the WBVP audience very entertained and almost always gave them a fresh and new perspective on national or local  issues, Kalb offered this analysis of his show in an April 2018 interview: “I would talk to anybody about anything. I mean my rule has always been,  I don’t care if you’re liberal or conservative, so long as you can think and communicate what you think to the rest of us, I’m happy to have you on the program.” 

These days, Steve Kalb lives in New Haven Connecticut and serves as an instructor in Residence at The University of Connecticut, where, among other courses, he teaches future broadcasters and journalists about the craft that once made him a celebrity on the airwaves of WBVP.

“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.