WEATHER FORECAST FOR THURSDAY, NOV. 1ST, 2018
TODAY – PERIODS OF RAIN. HIGH – 61.
TONIGHT – RAIN LIKELY. A THUNDERSTORM POSSIBLE.
LOW AROUND 50.
FRIDAY – OVERCAST WITH RAIN SHOWERS AT TIMES.
HIGH – 53.
SATURDAY – RAIN SHOWERS IN THE MORNING WITH SOME
SUNSHINE LATER IN THE DAY. HIGH NEAR 50.
SUNDAY – INTERVALS OF CLOUDS AND SUNSHINE.
HIGH – 57.
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.
Election night is this coming Tuesday, and there are several fascinating races that have captivated Beaver County residents’ interest this year. On election night, November 6th, local people will have many options to view election results almost instantly as they are tabulated, thanks to modern on line, digital technology. But, it wasn’t always that way. Long before internet browsers, social media sharing and cable television feeds, Beaver County would pull an “all-nighter” with an ear close to the radio to follow election results. Listeners would focus in with the same anticipation and anxiety of tuning in to a live sports broadcast. The “blow by blow” commentary would be relayed from live broadcasts on WBVP and WMBA originating from the Beaver County Courthouse.
One of the announcers that would broadcast live from the Beaver County Courthouse in those olden days of election night coverage, is current Pennsylvania 16th district state representative, Rob Matzie. Matzie worked for WMBA in the late eighties and early nineties. In March of this year, Matzie was interviewed in preparation for the publishing of, Behind The Microphone, The History Of Radio In Beaver County, PA. The following is an excerpt from the book: “Covering politics usually meant a trip to the Beaver County Courthouse, located on Third street in Beaver. Prior to internet browsers, Beaver County had Chester Zuhrley. Reporters would gather in the commons area of the courthouse and off and on throughout election night, According to Rob Matzie, Zuhrley would come bounding up the basement steps, “Every once in a while, you never knew when” said Matzie, and tape pieces of paper on a board with updated results. Heaven forbid you would ask Zuhrley for a second copy or additional information. He had one sacred piece of paper for all the media to gaze at upon being affixed to the board. So feverish and fast was this system, that Zuhrley donned a headband for the night because for him, this was ‘The Big One”. This was indeed the big dance for the director of elections in any county prior to online data gathering methods. WBVP and WMBA would always have a couple two or three reporters on scene, hanging out in the courthouse waiting for Zuhrley to deliver the news from a secret room in the basement. The two competing stations would be set up on opposite sides of the room like two prizefighters set up in their respective corners of the ring getting ready to stage a twelve round heavyweight bout.”
In the early days, election night was one of the few times of the year when WBVP would stay on the air all night. Prior to the late 1960’s, when station management decided to stay on the air 24 hours a day , The Beaver Falls station would sign off at midnight, but the first Tuesday of November was an exception every year. Jim Roush is retired these days, but back then, was a young engineer on the staff at WBVP and offered this observation about the special occasion when the transmitter vacuum tubes at WBVP were kept glowing red hot to broadcast election results all night long.
“We would set up in the courthouse in Beaver and we would broadcast from there, (at) that time it was Jim Ross’ office. He was the head Commissioner. And he gave us his office to use and we’d set up our equipment in there. (WBVP show host) Chuck Wilson would come over and he and I would stay on the air all night.”
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
The Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday October 31, 2018 have declined their 2019 club options for second baseman Josh Harrison and third baseman Jung Ho Kang. Both players are now free agents.
The Pirates bought out Harrison’s option for $1 million , If the Bucs picked up the oprion they would of had to pay Harrison $10.5 million for 2019 . This was also the final guaranteed season of Kang’s four-year contract. The deal included a $5.5 million option for next year, which Pittsburgh bought out for $250,000.
At the end of the season, general manager Neal Huntington wouldn’t rule out the possibility of bringing back either player Huntington said the club would “keep the door open to and see where their markets go.”
Beaver County Commissioner Tony Amadio disclosed at Wednesday’s regular work session that, currently, there are 20 landslides throughout the county. Amadio has discussed the problem with PennDot. According to PennDot, the landslides have caused 13.5 million dollars in damage. Amadio says PennDot plans to fix five sites at a cost of 4.2 million next year. There is a possibility that some additional funding might become available. Commissioners chairman Dan Camp was attending a public function and did not attend the work session.
BEAVER COUNTY COMMISSIONER TONY AMADIO TOLD COMMISSIONER SANDY EGLEY AT TODAY’S WORK SESSION THAT LANDSLIDES HAVE TAKEN A HEAVY TOLL ON THE COUNTY THIS YEAR. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO’S GREG BENEDETTI WAS THERE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Greg’s report…
This breaking news report is brought to you by…
THE CONDITION OF A 6-YEAR-OLD BOY WHO WAS STRUCK BY A CAR IN CHIPPEWA TOWNSHIP EARLIER THIS WEEK…HAS IMPROVED. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS MORE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…
AN ACCIDENT THAT OCCURRED IN AMBRIDGE EARLIER THIS WEEK REMAINS UNDER INVESTIGATION THIS MORNING. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS MORE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…
WEATHER FORECAST FOR HALLOWEEN, OCT. 31, 2018
TODAY – RAIN SHOWERS THIS MORNING WILL EVOLVE
INTO A MORE STEADY RAIN FOR THE AFTERNOON.
HIGH – 63.
TONIGHT – RAIN LIKELY. LOW – 49.
THURSDAY – PERIODS OF RAIN. HIGH – 53.
The Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame announced their Class of 2019 Inductees, which includes WBVP-WMBA Play-by-Play Announcer, Tom Hays. A very excited Frank Sparks interviewed Tom about the big news this morning on Teleforum. Hear the full interview below!
Congratulations to Tom Hays on this recognition of an incredible broadcasting career, from all of us here at Beaver County Radio! We look forward to working with you for many years to come!
Whitey Bulger, Boston gangster, found dead in prison at 89
By DENISE LAVOIE and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — James “Whitey” Bulger, the murderous Boston gangster who benefited from a corrupt relationship with the FBI before spending 16 years as one of America’s most wanted men, died in federal prison. He was 89.
Bulger was found unresponsive Tuesday morning at the U.S. penitentiary in West Virginia where he’d just been transferred, and a medical examiner declared him dead shortly afterward, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Authorities did not immediately release a cause of death but said the FBI was notified and is investigating.
Bulger, the model for Jack Nicholson’s ruthless crime boss in the 2006 Martin Scorsese movie, “The Departed,” led a largely Irish mob that ran loan-sharking, gambling and drug rackets. He also was an FBI informant who ratted on the New England mob, his gang’s main rival, in an era when bringing down the Mafia was a top national priority for the FBI.
Bulger fled Boston in late 1994 after his FBI handler, John Connolly Jr., warned him he was about to be indicted. With a $2 million reward on his head, Bulger became one of the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” criminals, with a place just below Osama bin Laden.
There was no love lost for Bulger on the Boston streets he once ruled.
Patricia Donahue’s husband, Michael, was killed in 1982 when he offered a ride home to a man allegedly targeted for death by Bulger because he was talking to the FBI. “I’d like to open up a champagne bottle and celebrate,” she told WBZ-TV on Tuesday.
Tom Duffy, a retired state police detective who searched for Bulger and was a consultant on “The Departed,” called word of Bulger’s death “celebratory news.”
When the extent of his crimes and the FBI’s role in overlooking them became public in the late 1990s, Bulger became a source of embarrassment for the FBI. During the years he was a fugitive, the FBI battled a public perception that it had not tried very hard to find him.
After more than 16 years on the run, Bulger was captured at age 81 in Santa Monica, California, where he had been living in a rent-controlled apartment near the beach with his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig.
In 2013, he was convicted in the slayings, as well as extortion, and money-laundering after a sensational racketeering trial that included graphic testimony from three former Bulger cohorts: a hit man, a protege and a partner. He was sentenced nearly five years ago to two consecutive life sentences plus five years.
Bulger had just been moved to USP Hazelton, a high-security prison with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia. He had been in a prison in Florida before a stopover at a transfer facility in Oklahoma City. Federal Bureau of Prisons officials and his attorney had declined to comment on why he was being moved.
Bulger, nicknamed “Whitey” for his bright platinum hair, grew up in a gritty South Boston housing project and became known as one of the most ruthless gangsters in Boston. His younger brother, William Bulger, became one of the most powerful politicians in Massachusetts, leading the state Senate for 17 years.
In working-class “Southie,” Bulger was known for helping old ladies across the street and giving turkey dinners to his neighbors at Thanksgiving. He had a kind of Robin Hood-like image among some locals, but authorities said he would put a bullet in the brain of anyone who he even suspected of double-crossing him.
“You could go back in the annals of criminal history and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone as diabolical as Bulger,” said Duffy.
“Killing people was his first option. They don’t get any colder than him,” Duffy said after Bulger was finally captured in June 2011.
Bulger was accused of strangling Debra Davis, the 26-year-old girlfriend of his partner, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, and Deborah Hussey, also 26, the daughter of Flemmi’s common-law wife. In both cases, Bulger insisted on pulling out the women’s teeth so they would be difficult to identify, Flemmi testified.
During a search of his Santa Monica apartment, agents found over $800,000 in cash and more than 30 guns, many hidden in holes in the walls. A property manager at the building said Bulger and Greig, who used the names Charles and Carol Gasko, had lived there for 15 years and always paid the rent-controlled rate of $1,145 a month in cash.
They were caught days after the FBI began a new publicity campaign focusing on Greig. The daytime TV announcements showed photos of Greig and noted that she was known to frequent beauty salons and have her teeth cleaned once a month.
A woman from Iceland who knew Bulger and Greig in Santa Monica saw a report on CNN about the latest publicity campaign and called in the tip that led agents to them. The Boston Globe identified the tipster as a former Miss Iceland, a former actress who starred in Noxzema shaving cream commercials in the 1970s.
Greig is still serving her sentence at a federal prison in Minnesota.
Bulger, a physical fitness buff, had been taken to a Boston hospital from his jail cell at least three times, complaining of chest pains, since being brought back to Boston to stand trial.
___
Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington, John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, and William J. Kole in Boston contributed to this report.
