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 fact that WBVP has been on the air since 1948, and WMBA has been broadcasting since 1957, tells us a couple of things. 1. Both stations have offered great local programming through the years that both listeners and advertisers have been quite fond of. 2. There have been some very capable men wielding soldering irons in the shadows installing, repairing and maintaining equipment. Just to give you an idea, WBVP is on it’s 4th transmitter, and probably due for a new one soon. New equipment is always coming out, and old gear always needs fixed or replaced. This requires having very talented people around to tend to these needs. Fortunately, WBVP and WMBA have had their fair share of some of the very brightest engineers in the business.
Bill Hinds was originally a technician who worked with Bell Telephone, who was recruited by Frank Smith, Tom Price and Charlie Onderka to help put the pieces together and put WBVP on the air some seventy years ago. It was a perfect scenario for WBVP, as in those days, transmitting over phone lines was a big deal. They were were used in many different ways such as carrying the feed between the main studio and transmitter building in Pulaski township. Phone lines were also used for remote broadcasts like the weekly church services from St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Beaver Falls, and broadcasts from Beaver Falls City building council chambers. Hinds reportedly had great skills in setting all these scenarios up and making all these broadcasts possible. According to local historian Kenneth Britten, Bill Hinds was the first chief engineer for WBVP, and had several assistants in those early days, including Jerry Feaser, Harvey Dull, Mike Arbutina, Bob Matau, Andy Sivak and Gene Catalano. In 1959, the current producer of the Weekly Sunday morning program “Sounds of Faith”, Jim Roush, was hired and became chief engineer into the early 70’s. One of the reasons there were so many engineers is because in the early days of radio, according to FCC regulations, an engineer with a fist class operator license had to be on duty at all times that the station was on the air. The men would serve continuous eight hour shifts at the transmitter site, seven days a week. So serious was the FCC rule back then, that on the occasions when WBVP had staff Christmas dinners or summertime employee picnics, food would be prepared and taken to the engineers on duty at the tower site, so they could enjoy and partake in the festivities, because they couldn’t leave their post.
Other engineers who kept WBVP sounding great and on the air through the years included Jim Reed, Wayne Gignac, Ed Monskie, Jerry Bowers, Bob King, Chuck Doyle and Cliff Bryson, among others. Ted Ruscitti served as both owner and chief engineer for WBVP and sister F.M. station, WWKS, in the 1980’s.
Walter “Red” McCoy is the man credited with assembling equipment, patching wires together, hanging a microphone and installing other amenities in the Duss Avenue, Ambridge, studio and putting WMBA on the air in 1957. McCoy’s forte was recycling. Reportedly, according to WMBA staffer from the early 1970’s, John Poister, McCoy turned a vintage Volkswagen micro bus in a complete mobile studio on wheels, that WMBA used for remote broadcasts, by re purposing old turntables and parts that had already been cast off and replaced at the radio station’s main studio. Ken “Kevin” Maguire, Jr., Ted Ruscitti, Steve Conti, Tom Zehnder, Henry Burgess, and Ed Lightman were other men assigned with engineering duties at WMBA through the years. The aforementioned Jim Roush, and Cliff Bryson, along with Lightman still serve in that capacity for WBVP and WMBA. In a pinch, Ted Ruscitti, who originally started at WMBA in 1970, can also still be sighted, on special occasions, helping out with technical issues at WBVP and WMBA.
Here is a salute to the men who, while they are never heard over the air, have had a huge impact on how well the stations have sounded!
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.
