WKFB
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| WKFB | |
| City of license | Jeannette, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Pittsburgh metropolitan area |
| Branding | 770 KFB |
| Slogan | We Are Oldies Proud |
| Frequency | 770 (kHz) |
| First air date | January 28, 1974 |
| Format | Oldies, Talk |
| Power | 750 Watts (Daytime) 250 Watts (Critical hours) |
| Class | D |
| Owner | Broadcast Communications, Inc. |
| Website | none |
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This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (December 2007) |
WKFB is an AM radio station, licensed to Jeannette, Pennsylvania, which serves the greater Pittsburgh area. Known as 770 KFB, the station operates with 750 watts, and airs a mix of health talk and paid programming, with oldies at various times throughout the day and on weekends. The radio station is home to several Pittsburgh oldies personalities, including "Caveman" Ralph, DJ George, Candy and Mike, and Frankie Day.
WKFB is co-owned with WKHB (620), also near Pittsburgh.
In late 2005, veteran Pittsburgh radio personality/programmer Clarke Ingram was named Program Director of WKFB and WKHB, and was promoted to Operations Manager in August 2006. In January of 2006, WKFB announced the arrival of legendary Pittsburgh oldies DJ Porky Chedwick for a regular weekend program. (Chedwick was not an employee, but was operating under a brokered-time agreement.) Citing differences with Frankie Day, who was paying for the airtime, Chedwick left the station in May 2006.
WKFB is also the flagship station for Duquesne University football games, which air on Saturday afternoon in season.
Because WKFB shares the same frequency as "clear channel" station WABC-AM in New York City; it broadcasts only during daytime hours.
[edit] History
For many years this station was WBCW (1530), and for a brief period as WKTW. The station originally operated at 1530 khz with a daytime-only power of 1,000 watts, with 250 watts during critical hours; barely reaching the fringes of Westmoreland County. WBCW was founded by broadcast engineer Albert Calisti, who first put it on the air back in 1974. Very much a family business, Calisti did engineering and hosted a provocative and often amusing local talk show, his wife Verna kept the books and sold airtime, and their daughter Jacqueline Rae served as program director. The station only had one employee outside of the Calisti family: Clair Thomas, who served as the station's news director. The Calistis maintained ownership of the station with a primary local and syndicated talk format until 1996, when they sold it to Broadcast Communications, which had just acquired then-Greensburg-based WHJB AM 620. Sadly, Al Calisti died of cancer seven years later.
Under the new ownership, the station moved from its original location at 111 South Fourth Street in Jeannette to WHJB's building at 245 Brown Street in Greensburg. A frequency change to 770 was made in early 2004, giving the station much better coverage of the Pittsburgh market and the ability to do so at a lower power, allowing the station to reach as far north as eastern Armstrong County. The call letters WKFB were selected to be similar to sister station WKHB, with which it shares a number of programs.
[edit] On-Air Personalities and Programs
The station's recent history has been dominated by Frankie Day, a North Versailles, Pennsylvania businessman who has leased over forty hours of air time per week for various oldies programs. The main oldies program broadcast is a weekday morning drive show featuring Day and "Caveman" Ralph. The pair is known as "The Doo Wop Duo", and the show is called "The Morning Memory Show". They concentrate on playing music of the 50s and early 60s as do the other shows. DJ George's popular "Oldies Oasis Show" is a mainstay on weekend afternoons, airing at 3 pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Frankie and George also formerly hosted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame disc jockey Porky Chedwick on their Saturday afternoon show in 2006.
Other time periods are filled by automated music and alternative-health programs similar to those heard on sister station WKHB. Weekends are full of ethnic and religious programs, as well as oldies most of Saturday and for a few hours on Sundays. Personalities heard include the aforementioned "Caveman" Ralph and Frankie Day, along with Candy and Mike, Suzie Q and "DJ George" Lambl.
"DJ George" Lambl hosts the popular weekend "Oldies Oasis Show" at 3 pm on Saturdays and Sundays along with a weekday evening (5 pm) drive-time show. A veteran disc jockey, George's first commercial radio assignment was at WSHE FM/WSRF AM in Ft. Lauderdale Florida in the early 70s. An electrical engineer by education, he also has extensive experience as a mobile and nightclub disc jockey. DJ George originally teamed-up with Frankie Day and Porky Chedwick on WKFB, the others followed shortly afterwards. George now produces and airs his shows independently of the others on WKFB.
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