WBVP/WMBA makes history again

For the second time in its glorious seventy year history, WBVP and WMBA will achieve another first for local women in broadcasting when WMBA starts coverage from Carl A. Aschman Stadium in Aliquippa on Friday September 28, 2018. That’s because when veteran play by play anchor, Tom Hays, welcomes listeners tuning in for the Hopewell at Aliquippa high school football game, there will be a female color analyst in the booth with him. Monaca Native and Central Valley graduate, Taylor Nichol, who also serves as the stations’ Director of Digital/Online Sales, was selected to fill in this Friday for Jason Colangelo, another station co-host from the football press box.  Colangelo is out of town attending to other business. To the best of anyone’s knowledge, this will be the first time a woman has called live high school football on either WBVP or WMBA.

Trailblazing in the area of women’s broadcasting is nothing new to the Beaver County radio company, as it was one of the first radio stations in  the area, and perhaps the nation to regularly air a talk show hosted by a woman.  This happened  when Gert Trobe sat behind the microphone during weekday afternoons as part of the original line up on WBVP in 1948.  In a recently published book about radio station history, entitled “Behind The Microphone, The History of radio In Beaver County, PA., co-contributor, Kenneth Britten, recalled the uniqueness and magnitude of having a feminine perspective on the air in those early days.

“Gertrude Trobe became the first woman’s director thus making WBVP the first radio station in history to have a full time Women’s Director in charge of special programming aimed directly at the female market.  . . The hiring of a Women’s Director made news throughout the industry. Mrs Trobe was already well established on the faculty of Geneva College where she taught English, Drama and Communications. After being hired at WBVP she would become one of the leaders in female broadcasting within the industry, winning and receiving many awards, honors and certificates. She would become one of the founding members of the New York based “American Women In Radio and Television”, become recognized for introducing many radio firsts and be listed in Who’s Who.”

Taylor Nichol is excited about her groundbreaking efforts at WBVP and WMBA and is pleased to be a part of the rich, seven decade tradition of broadcasting high school sports.  Nichol studied Broadcast Journalism at Westminster College and is looking forward to putting those skills to work as she and Tom Hays will create pictures with words when they describe the action from Aliquippa this Friday evening.  The Historic broadcast will begin with the pregame show starting at 6:30 P.M. on 1460 WMBA.

“It’s really neat to have the opportunity to make history for women in broadcasting again, with Taylor Nichol this Friday, over seventy years since Gert Trobe brought the spotlight to WBVP as a pioneer in women’s broadcasting back when,” Observed WBVP and WMBA Program Director, Frank Sparks, about Nichol’s assignment.

This Friday Tom Hays and Taylor Nichol will broadcast the Hopewell at Aliquippa game on 1460 WMBA and Bob Barrickman and Bruce Frey will call the action as Rochester visits Frank Letteri Stadium at Cornell High School in Coraopolis, PA on 1230 WBVP.  Both games will also also be streamed live over the internet via the TribLive Sports Network.