Hard times for hockey fans
Monday Morning Nostalgia Fix: Pittsburgh's status as the ninth-largest TV market in the U.S. was a prime reason for locating one of six National Hockey League expansion franchises in the city.
So said Joe Gordon, then public relations director for the brand-new Pittsburgh Penguins, in 1967.
The other cities receiving expansion teams that season were Philadelphia, St. Louis, Minnesota, Los Angeles and San Francisco-Oakland.
The city's reputation as "a good sports town" was the main reason Pittsburgh was selected for an NHL franchise, Gordon told the Charleroi Rotary Club. But he noted that the NHL planned to televise hockey games both locally and nationally, and "all six cities rank high in the TV market."
Although cable TV was around in 1969, it mainly existed to carry over-the-air broadcasts to people who couldn't receive them easily with an antenna. There was no ESPN (that channel wasn't launched until 1979) and no Fox Sports, which launched in 1996.
. . .
You can talk about the "good old days," but those early years were tough for the Penguins, who won only 27 games their first season.
And that season was marked by tragedy in the broadcast booth. While calling a Penguins game for CBS Radio on Christmas Day, sportscaster Tom Lynch collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack. Lynch, who worked for WPSL (1510) in Monroeville, was just 44.
Locally, WTAE-TV (4) carried the games during the Penguins' first season, usually pre-empting what was then a weak ABC lineup. By 1969-70, however, the games were being shared between WTAE and WPGH-TV (53). (more)
Local AM station gets FM translator
Pittsburgh: No April Fool's joke: The Federal Communications Commission has granted Waynesburg's WANB (1580) permission to simulcast its programming over an FM translator.Last month, the commission granted special temporary authority to the 720-watt, daytime-only station to broadcast on 105.1 mHz, 24 hours per day.
It's not the first time the FCC has granted such a temporary waiver, though they are rare. (more)
Stan Boney to take on Don Guthrie in ring
Youngstown:Breaking News: I had not seen this on WKBN or WYTV last night but apparently there will be a "Battle of the Broadcasters" boxing match according to an e-mail I received from Warren, Ohio. The match will take place on April 11th at the Chevrolet Centre between WYTV's Stan Boney and WKBN's Don Guthrie. Apparently, this match was in the works months before WKBN & WYTV began sharing resources under the same roof. Both Stan & Don decided to go ahead with the 12 round bout since it was for charity. All proceeds will benefit the AMS meteorology fund. By the way, Y-103 afternoon jock "Smokin' Bill" will serve as referee. I'll look into ticket information & update this story for you.
Z-102.3 to shift focus on Talk, not Rock.
Erie-Meadville: Breaking News: I received some somewhat shocking news from Z-102.3 evening jock Adam Reese. He said that the higher powers at Citadel broadcasting wanted to make a few minor changes to the "Z." He stated that Citadel has been so impressed with the syndicated "Bob & Tom" show that they want to try an experiment that has produced some surprising results in other markets. Z-102.3 will become "All Bob & Tom, All The Time" according to Reese. The format will consist of classic B&T shows plus a feature called "Bob & Tom, off the Microphone." It's sort of a gripping "reality show" type of program with more personal moments than what is featured on the main program. In protest to this move, "94.7 Bob FM" PD Joe Lang has announced that the Connoisseur station will play nothing but artists named Bob on their station. You'll hear artists like Bob Seger, Bobby Goldsboro, Bob Dylan, Bobby McFerrin, Bobbie Gentry and so on. He's calling "Bob FM" the singing Bob that is "Bobbier" than Z-102.3. More details as they develop.Probe tackles region's growing Griffin problem
Pittsburgh:KDKA-TV (2) reporter Marty Griffin announced today that he's launched a "full-scale investigation" into KDKA (1020) radio talk show host Marty Griffin.
Separately, KDKA radio's Griffin has declared "all out war" on what he calls "tastelessness" by KDKA-TV's Griffin.
"We have a menace on the loose in our community, and it's time for us to take action," Griffin told his radio audience. "We need to tell the bureaucrats at the City-County Building that we're not going to take this any more."
The battle has provided gripping moments for viewers and listeners. On tonight's KDKA-TV 5 p.m. news, footage showed Griffin and a camera crew confronting the radio host in a parking garage at Gateway Center, where Griffin refused to answer questions.
Longtime local observers say the ongoing tussle between Marty Griffin and Marty Griffin is more dramatic than a 2001 incident where Jim Parsons of WTAE-TV (4) accidentally clocked himself doing 75 mph in a 55 mph zone, or the 2004 case when Rick Earle of WPXI-TV (11) inadvertently had the station's cafeteria closed after finding several health code violations.
Arbitron semi-demi-quasi part XVII trends released
Pittsburgh:Arbitron's semi-demi-quasi-part-XVII trends released today show little change in the Pittsburgh radio scene.
The top stations among listeners 12 and older were WDVE-FM (102.5), KDKA (1020) and WDSY-FM (107.9).
The top-rated morning shows among listeners 54 and older remain KDKA's "Is John Cigna still on?" followed by WJAS's "Jack Bogut" and WDVE's "Jimmy Krenn and the other guy, not Paulsen."
WDVE continued its ratings dominance despite broadcasting nothing but a steady 1-kilohertz tone for hours on end. That news drove three members of the programming staff at CBS Radio's Pittsburgh FM cluster to drink poison.
Insiders say CBS Radio management in New York will not fill the local vacancies.
A Clear Channel spokesman credited WDVE's continuing success to the station's long heritage in the market, and to the mind-altering drugs that have coated "WDVE Rocks" window stickers for more than 20 years.
In a related story, due to a transmitter malfunction, WPTT (1360) has also been broadcasting nothing but a 1-kilohertz tone for hours on end.
Arbitron figures indicate there has been no measurable effect on WPTT's ratings, either.
WQED, UPMC clone Fred Rogers
Pittsburgh:University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and WQED-TV (13) announced today that they have cloned Fred Rogers.
Using DNA found in hair and skin fragments on a sweater once owned by the late children's TV host, doctors say they have successfully grown a duplicate in a lab at UPMC Shadyside.
Once memories of the beloved public television icon are loaded into the clone's brain, said a WQED spokesman, it will be asked to create a new children's series that can run for at least as long as Rogers' landmark "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."
Critics of public television call the cloning effort a tacit admission by WQED staff that they're scraping the bottom of the programming barrel.
"Actually, we're also loading in some memories from Deepak Chopra, Suze Orman and Dr. Wayne Dyer," a WQED official confided. "And maybe some doo-wop songs."
He and other members of the WQED board are worried that a new Fred Rogers might insist on creating "educational" television, instead of something more marketable.
"The whole puppet-trolley thing was nice in its day, but it doesn't move merchandise or pledge premiums," the official told PBRTV. "And that's what we're all about these days."
The new effort, funded by grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Snee-Reinhardt Charitable Foundation and financial contributions from viewers like you, is actually the second attempt to clone Rogers.
The first clone, developed as a joint venture between WQED-TV and Dr. Emcee Square, a host on low-power commercial station WBGN-TV, turned into a "Zombie Rogers" that attacked the panelists during a September 2007 taping of "Off Q."
Although Zombie Rogers ate the panelists' brains, the program continued as scheduled and no viewers apparently noticed.
A close friend of Rogers who asked not to be identified said the cloning efforts raised troubling ethical and moral questions.
"Meow meow weird meow meow creepy meow think I'll meow meow move to West Virginia Public Television," the anonymous source said.