(Beaver Falls, PA).  A Gala was held in the Grand Ballroom of the General Brodhead Hotel (Brodhead Apartments) in Beaver Falls on Friday night to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first broadcast on WBVP.  Around 230 guests, including 70 current and former radio station employees, attended the event which featured a performance by The Jaggerz, and keynote address by Jim Roddey.  Notable WBVP/WMBA former employees who came as guests included Alan Boal, last surviving member of the original staff to put WBVP on the air on May 25, 1948, Internationally known voice over artist Jim Merkel, Television Sports Anchor Guy Junker, and Prominent Philadelphia area broadcaster, Mark Razz, among others.

The centerpieces featured fresh greens accenting a classic vintage microphone.  Each table had a different microphone in its arrangement.

Each guest received a copy of the newly published book, “Behind The Microphone, The History Of Radio In Beaver County”, a commemorative Beaver County Radio tumbler and a novelty jar of Maple Syrup from the Beaver County Conservation District.

The Gala major sponsors included St. Barnabas Health System and Beaver County Tourism.

Thank you to the The Housing Authority Of The County Of Beaver for making the venue available.

Here are some pictures from the 70th Anniversary Gala. Photography by Joel Peterson:

 

 

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.

May 25th could very well be known as “Chuck Wilson Day” in Beaver County, as he was the announcer on staff at WBVP that spoke the first words on that day in 1948, after the station officially signed on the air at around six in the evening.  Chuck Wilson became forever linked to the birth of radio in Beaver County with his pioneering greeting that broadcast throughout the area at 1230 kilohertz.  Chuck Wilson then solidified his place in the history of radio be then embarking on a stellar career at WBVP that saw him became one of the most popular, recognizable personalities to be heard on the Beaver Falls Radio station.

The following is an excerpt  from the recently published book,  Behind The Microphone – The History Of Radio In Beaver County, PA:  “Charles Harmon Wilson was born on March 3, 1921 in Steubenville, Ohio and began his career in 1942 at WKST in New Castle shortly after graduating from Steubenville High School.   Ken Britten reported in an earlier publication, created for a Beaver County History book published in 1990, that during his tenure at WKST, Chuck enlisted and served in the U.S. Navy as a radioman first class. Upon returning to WKST, Chuck became program and sports director for the New Castle station.  It was in 1948, that Frank Smith, Tom Price and Charles Onderka recruited Wilson to come and join the team being formed in Beaver Falls. This would begin a twenty seven year career at WBVP that would see Chuck Wilson become “The Voice” of local high school and Geneva College sports, and arguably reach the highest celebrity status of any announcer to sit behind a broadcast console in Beaver County.  Chuck, like many of the announcers of the earlier days of radio became a superstar in his hometown.  WBVP, like all radio stations at that stage of the game, played a much more prominent role in the the daily lives of everybody in the community because it was one of the only sources for daily information. Radio was king, and Chuck Wilson was royalty in Beaver County.  It wasn’t unheard of, matter of fact it happened quite frequently, that when WBVP announcers went out and about, they experienced celebrity status and had a paparazzi of sorts following them around town as they went about their daily activities. One of Chuck Wilson’s daughters, Becky Wilson-Atkinson, had this to say about her father in an interview aired on WBVP on May 25, 2017: ‘We would be, say in the grocery store on any random night and people would come up to him and talk to him, and they would talk back and forth like the best of friends and I would say who was that, and he would say, I have know idea.  They know me from listening to the radio.  I can’t see who’s listening to me.’   Chuck’s other daughter, Bobbie Wilson-Tkacik also realized at a rather young age that theirs was not just another father.  Often times, going to school activities, was a little different for her than other kids because of her famous dad.  ‘I  was somewhere with him once, and somebody came up and asked for an autograph of my dad  and I was probably quite young, and I thought my gosh, he must be somebody pretty famous. The man never met a stranger, That’s a definite. It took a while to appreciate how many things he was involved with.’  Chuck’s popularity and knack for caring about his town earned him the distinction of being chosen as The Upper Beaver Valley Jaycees “Young Man Of The Year” in 1955.

It all started for Chuck, and for WBVP on May 25, 1948.  After a year of so of getting everything set up and tested,  and receiving the final green light from the Federal Communications Commission, the time was finally right to go live on the air, and it was Chuck Wilson who leaned close to the  ribbon microphone affixed to a giant boom in the control studio and welcomed the audience with an announcement something to the effect of , “Good evening Beaver County, WBVP is on the air.”  While it might be true that he was in the right place at the right time, Chuck went on to flourish and become very popular by hosting shows on WBVP, including an afternoon music show entitled “Wilson’s Wax Works”, along with “Chuck’s Choice” and the “Top Ten Countdown”.  Another earlier staff member from the 50’s, William Day, affectionately referred to Chuck Wilson by the nickname of “Waxy”, because of Chuck’s association with the popular radio show. Chuck also anchored the news at noon, “Stardust Revue” and was the first talk show host on WBVP.  An article that appeared in the Beaver County Times in 1978, stated that “Chuck Wilson was given a free reign in developing local sports broadcasts and the popular Teleforum talk show, which is still a big feature today.”

For many years the door to the press box at Metheny Fieldhouse on the campus of Geneva College was labeled as “The Chuck Wilson Press Box”.  In those days, it seemed as though Chuck Wilson and Geneva College athletics were always mentioned together. According to records on file in the McCartney Library at Geneva College,  upon winning a state championship in April of 1953, The Geneva College men’s basketball team, and “Coach Of The Year”, Cliff Aultman, were honored during a special chapel service on campus where Chuck Wilson served as Master of Ceremonies.   He was also the first recipient of an Honorary Letterman Award given by Geneva College in 1966. After his untimely passing in a plane crash near Harrisburg along with Pendot Secretary William Sherlock, on February 24, 1977, Geneva College honored Chuck by dedicating the 1977-1978 football and basketball guides to him.​

Chuck Wilson was inducted posthumously into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class of 1981 for his contributions to local Beaver County sports broadcasting.  He was the first of four announcers that called games on WBVP and WMBA that would receive such an honor. Chris Shovlin, Bob Pompeani and Bob Barrickman have also now joined Chuck in the Beaver County Sports Hall Of Fame.  They all have plaques prominently displayed in the Athletic and Events Center on the Campus of The Community College Of Beaver County.”

“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.

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.