WKHB
Encyclopedia
WKHB is an AM
radio station
licensed to Irwin
, Pennsylvania
, United States
, which serves the greater Pittsburgh
area. Known as 620 KHB, the station operates with 5,500 watts daytime (reduced power at night) and airs a mix of health talk and paid programming with oldies music in the morning, evening and overnight hours. It is also known for its weekend polka
shows.
WKHB's high power on a low frequency yields what is generally considered to be the second-best daytime AM signal in the Pittsburgh area (behind KDKA
), covering nearly two million people in various portions of five states. Veteran Pittsburgh radio personality and programmer Clarke Ingram
was named Program Director in 2005 and promoted to Operations Manager in 2006. Michael J. Daniels was hired as Assistant Program Director in 2007 and appropriated the Operations Manager position from Ingram in 2010; Ingram relinquished his remaining duties in 2011. Station owner Bob Stevens now holds the dual titles of General Manager and Program Director.
WKHB and its sister station WKFB
(770) are owned by Broadcast Communications Inc., which also owns and operates radio stations in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania
.
WKHB simulcasts on translator W231BM 94.1 from Clairton, Pennsylvania
.
. The station began as a daytime-only operation, operating at a power of 250 watts, non-directional.
The station was founded by H.J. Brennen, whose initials the station call letters stood for. WHJB, doing business as Pittsburgh Radio Supply House, first operated beginning October 28, 1934 from a studio at 128 North Penn Avenue in Greensburg.
WHJB, as the first radio station on the air in suburban Pittsburgh, experienced steady growth and prospered over its formative years, getting nighttime power authorization by 1955, as well as a daytime power increase, with power settings at 1,000 watts during the day, and 500 watts at night, adopting a directional antenna pattern with changing patterns for night and day operation. By 1960, the name of the licensee had changed its name to WHJB, Inc., though the station still was owned by the Brennen family. That changed in 1962 when control was transferred to others after the Brennen family's interests were sold to Robert Burstein, and then to general manager Melvin Goldberg by 1967.
John Longo, who today owns Latrobe-based competitor WCNS
, was one of the managers of WHJB, and also served as a consultant to other affiliate stations of its then-corporate ownership.
That year, WHJB and its FM sister, by this time named WOKU-FM, now simulcasting for half the broadcast day, moved to new studios and offices at 227 West Otterman Street in Greensburg. The stations moved to another location at 245 Brown Street near the Greensburg city limits in 1974, where they remained for the rest of the 20th century.
As "Disco 107" in 1979, WOKU won an award from Billboard magazine as "Large-Market Disco Station of the Year."
In 1980, WHJB upgraded its transmitting facilities again, increasing its power to 2,500 watts daytime and 500 watts at night, which it kept until shortly after its sale in 1996. WHJB's antenna array along U.S. Route 30 (four towers for the AM directional pattern, plus a fifth tower for the FM, later used as an auxiliary site) could be seen overlooking Greensburg for many years, but came down after the sale was completed.
) on the air in St. Mary's, Pennsylvania and sold it as soon as he learned that WHJB was for sale. Stevens formed Broadcast Communications, Inc. and purchased WHJB, spinning off its sister FM station WSSZ (now WHJB-FM) to Pittsburgh-based Sheridan Broadcasting. As a condition of the sale, the transmitter site was not included and had to move within a short period of time, as the property was being sold for development of a shopping center in the area.
Stevens moved WHJB's transmitter site closer to Pittsburgh, raised its daytime power twice, and changed its city of license to Irwin
, a nearby suburb. WHJB had always been primarily a Westmoreland County
radio station while WKHB, with its higher power and closer tower, aspires to serve Pittsburgh and Allegheny County
.
WHJB had suffered in its last few years from obvious disinvestment
and the loss of its transmitter site. Although Stevens continued to operate the station as a music-formatted, stand-alone AM outlet for several more years, the call letter change to WKHB in 1999 was more or less concurrent with a format switch to all paid programming. Music continued to air in the station's off-peak hours, Contemporary Christian music at first, then a selection of 1970s hits, followed by the present mix of 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s oldies
.
personality Jack Wheeler hosted the morning show on 620 KHB. Wheeler left the station at the end of 2003, moving back to Florida
. Morning host and station manager Barry Banker celebrated 40 years with the station in 2006, and was joined in the morning by veteran Bill DeFabio and his daily sports updates until Banker's retirement. Banker was replaced in morning drive by veteran Bill Korch from nearby WEDO.
Caleb Michaels (a nom de air for the station's owner) and Michael J. Daniels appeared at irregular times, usually at night doing the oldies format or filling time between paid programs. Ingram hosted a regular Saturday-afternoon oldies show, often counting down the biggest songs from the same day in a previous year. With the debut of sister FM station WKVE
in May 2010, these shows all but disappeared. Automated oldies are now heard evenings and overnights.
Regular non-music programs include "Health Breakthroughs" with Dr. James Winer, "Alternatives to Medicine" with Dr. Martin Gallagher, and the daily Scriptural Rosary
, which has now aired on Pittsburgh radio for over 35 years. There is an extended lineup of polka shows on Saturday, and midday Sunday, with a schedule of local religious programs on Sunday morning and afternoon.
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed to Irwin
Irwin, Pennsylvania
Irwin is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh. Some of the most extensive bituminous coal deposits in the State are located here. In the past, iron foundries, flour mills, car shops, facing and planing mills, electrical goods, and mirror factories provided...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, which serves the greater Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
area. Known as 620 KHB, the station operates with 5,500 watts daytime (reduced power at night) and airs a mix of health talk and paid programming with oldies music in the morning, evening and overnight hours. It is also known for its weekend polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
shows.
WKHB's high power on a low frequency yields what is generally considered to be the second-best daytime AM signal in the Pittsburgh area (behind KDKA
KDKA (AM)
KDKA is a radio station licensed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Created by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation on November 2, 1920, it is one of the world's first modern radio stations , a distinction that has also been challenged by other stations, although it has claimed to be the first in...
), covering nearly two million people in various portions of five states. Veteran Pittsburgh radio personality and programmer Clarke Ingram
Clarke Ingram
Clarke Ingram is a United States radio personality and programming executive.Ingram is best known in his home market and hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Most recently, he was employed at Pittsburgh-area stations WKHB and WKFB , which program a mixture of talk shows and oldies...
was named Program Director in 2005 and promoted to Operations Manager in 2006. Michael J. Daniels was hired as Assistant Program Director in 2007 and appropriated the Operations Manager position from Ingram in 2010; Ingram relinquished his remaining duties in 2011. Station owner Bob Stevens now holds the dual titles of General Manager and Program Director.
WKHB and its sister station WKFB
WKFB
WKFB is an AM radio station licensed to Jeannette, Pennsylvania that 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 music throughout the day and on weekends...
(770) are owned by Broadcast Communications Inc., which also owns and operates radio stations in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania
Waynesburg, Pennsylvania
Waynesburg is a borough in and the county seat of Greene County, Pennsylvania, United States, southwest of Pittsburgh. The population was 4,184 at the 2000 census....
.
WKHB simulcasts on translator W231BM 94.1 from Clairton, Pennsylvania
Clairton, Pennsylvania
Clairton is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, along the Monongahela River. It is part of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area. The population was 6,796 at the 2010 census. Under Pennsylvania legal classifications for local governments, Clairton is considered a third-class city...
.
Beginnings as WHJB
620 began as WHJB, formerly licensed to GreensburgGreensburg, Pennsylvania
Greensburg is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The city is named after Nathanael Greene, a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War...
. The station began as a daytime-only operation, operating at a power of 250 watts, non-directional.
The station was founded by H.J. Brennen, whose initials the station call letters stood for. WHJB, doing business as Pittsburgh Radio Supply House, first operated beginning October 28, 1934 from a studio at 128 North Penn Avenue in Greensburg.
WHJB, as the first radio station on the air in suburban Pittsburgh, experienced steady growth and prospered over its formative years, getting nighttime power authorization by 1955, as well as a daytime power increase, with power settings at 1,000 watts during the day, and 500 watts at night, adopting a directional antenna pattern with changing patterns for night and day operation. By 1960, the name of the licensee had changed its name to WHJB, Inc., though the station still was owned by the Brennen family. That changed in 1962 when control was transferred to others after the Brennen family's interests were sold to Robert Burstein, and then to general manager Melvin Goldberg by 1967.
John Longo, who today owns Latrobe-based competitor WCNS
WCNS
WCNS is a commercially licensed AM radio station, licensed to Latrobe, Pennsylvania. WCNS broadcasts at the federally assigned frequency of 1480 kilohertz, with a daytime power output of 500 watts, and a nighttime power of 1,000 watts...
, was one of the managers of WHJB, and also served as a consultant to other affiliate stations of its then-corporate ownership.
WHJB-FM signs on
On November 1, 1964, WHJB welcomed WHJB-FM, its like-named FM sister station to the air. Though the stations shared identical call letters, they were initially programmed separately, until 1967, when several changes took place.That year, WHJB and its FM sister, by this time named WOKU-FM, now simulcasting for half the broadcast day, moved to new studios and offices at 227 West Otterman Street in Greensburg. The stations moved to another location at 245 Brown Street near the Greensburg city limits in 1974, where they remained for the rest of the 20th century.
As "Disco 107" in 1979, WOKU won an award from Billboard magazine as "Large-Market Disco Station of the Year."
In 1980, WHJB upgraded its transmitting facilities again, increasing its power to 2,500 watts daytime and 500 watts at night, which it kept until shortly after its sale in 1996. WHJB's antenna array along U.S. Route 30 (four towers for the AM directional pattern, plus a fifth tower for the FM, later used as an auxiliary site) could be seen overlooking Greensburg for many years, but came down after the sale was completed.
1996 sale
The station was sold in 1996 to Bob Stevens, who had put WKYN-FM (now WDDHWDDH
WDDH is an American radio station, licensed to Saint Marys, Pennsylvania. The station operates at the assigned frequency of 97.5 MHz and an effective radiated power of 50,000 watts. Its studios and offices sit atop Bootjack Mountain, just on the outskirts of Ridgway, Pennsylvania in Kersey, about...
) on the air in St. Mary's, Pennsylvania and sold it as soon as he learned that WHJB was for sale. Stevens formed Broadcast Communications, Inc. and purchased WHJB, spinning off its sister FM station WSSZ (now WHJB-FM) to Pittsburgh-based Sheridan Broadcasting. As a condition of the sale, the transmitter site was not included and had to move within a short period of time, as the property was being sold for development of a shopping center in the area.
Stevens moved WHJB's transmitter site closer to Pittsburgh, raised its daytime power twice, and changed its city of license to Irwin
Irwin, Pennsylvania
Irwin is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh. Some of the most extensive bituminous coal deposits in the State are located here. In the past, iron foundries, flour mills, car shops, facing and planing mills, electrical goods, and mirror factories provided...
, a nearby suburb. WHJB had always been primarily a Westmoreland County
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 369,993 people, 149,813 households, and 104,569 families residing in the county. The population density was 361 people per square mile . There were 161,058 housing units at an average density of 157 per square mile...
radio station while WKHB, with its higher power and closer tower, aspires to serve Pittsburgh and Allegheny County
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Allegheny County is a county in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,223,348; making it the second most populous county in Pennsylvania, following Philadelphia County. The county seat is Pittsburgh...
.
WHJB had suffered in its last few years from obvious disinvestment
Disinvestment
Disinvestment, sometimes referred to as divestment, refers to the use of a concerted economic boycott, with specific emphasis on liquidating stock, to pressure a government, industry, or company towards a change in policy, or in the case of governments, even regime change...
and the loss of its transmitter site. Although Stevens continued to operate the station as a music-formatted, stand-alone AM outlet for several more years, the call letter change to WKHB in 1999 was more or less concurrent with a format switch to all paid programming. Music continued to air in the station's off-peak hours, Contemporary Christian music at first, then a selection of 1970s hits, followed by the present mix of 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
.
On-air staff and programs
For a brief time, former KDKA and WJASWJAS
WJAS is an adult standards radio station based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Renda Broadcasting, and broadcasts at 1320 kHz with a power level of 5,000 watts.- The History of 1320 WJAS-AM :...
personality Jack Wheeler hosted the morning show on 620 KHB. Wheeler left the station at the end of 2003, moving back to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Morning host and station manager Barry Banker celebrated 40 years with the station in 2006, and was joined in the morning by veteran Bill DeFabio and his daily sports updates until Banker's retirement. Banker was replaced in morning drive by veteran Bill Korch from nearby WEDO.
Caleb Michaels (a nom de air for the station's owner) and Michael J. Daniels appeared at irregular times, usually at night doing the oldies format or filling time between paid programs. Ingram hosted a regular Saturday-afternoon oldies show, often counting down the biggest songs from the same day in a previous year. With the debut of sister FM station WKVE
WKVE
-External links:*...
in May 2010, these shows all but disappeared. Automated oldies are now heard evenings and overnights.
Regular non-music programs include "Health Breakthroughs" with Dr. James Winer, "Alternatives to Medicine" with Dr. Martin Gallagher, and the daily Scriptural Rosary
Rosary
The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...
, which has now aired on Pittsburgh radio for over 35 years. There is an extended lineup of polka shows on Saturday, and midday Sunday, with a schedule of local religious programs on Sunday morning and afternoon.
Sources
- 1945 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1956 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1960 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1963 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1965 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1967 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1971 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1975 Broadcasting Yearbook
- 1981 Broadcasting Yearbook