WISL Promotional Sign – “I Was A Communist For The FBI”
Radio was a much different medium in 1948 when WISL first signed on the air. Back then, radio was programmed much like television is programmed today with a schedule of different programming types throughout the day. Most radio stations had network affiliations and would run prime time and news programing offered by them. WISL was a Mutual Network affiliate and aired several of their programs. We will dig into this topic at a later date. For this post we will revisit a short-lived program that centered on one of the biggest political topics of the day, Communism.
The year was 1952, the “Red Scare” was in full force and was a very popular source of material in the entertainment industry. This program is centered around the character Matt Cvetic, a real-life FBI volunteer undercover agent. His testimony in 1949 helped to put away several members of a conspiracy to overthrow the US Government. After the trial, Cvetic sold his story and it became a serial in the Saturday Evening Post, a bestselling book and a Warner Brothers Movie.
The Frederic W. Ziv Company would later turn his story into a syndicated radio program. The series was produced without help from the FBI, as they refused to assist in the project. The program aired from April 23rd, 1952, through October 14th, 1953, with a total of 78 programs produced. This is where WISL comes in.
Article From Legion Magazine, October 1952 mentioning WISL
Shamokin’s WISL was one of the over 600 radio stations in the US that carried this 30 minute, weekly radio program. The image above is an original billboard poster for the program, promoting it Sunday evening airtime on WISL radio. This poster was found, of all places, lining a drawer in an old store in Shamokin. The owner found the relic when cleaning and gave it to Tom Kutza who has shared it with us.
We have compiled a sample of these programs in this post. Simply click below to relive radio’s golden age, the days of the “Theater of the Mind”. And now, “I Was A Communist For The FBI”, starring Dana Andrews, brought to you by the Bakers of Blue Ribbon Cake, as heard on WISL radio from 1952-1953.
AUDIO EXHIBITS
“I Walk Alone” – Original Air Date: April 23rd, 1952
“Card Game In The Clouds” – Original Air Date: June 4th, 1952
“The Red Record” – Original Air Date: August 20th, 1952
“The Wrong Green” – Original Air Date: April 1st, 1953
“The Crossed Heart” – Original Air Date: June 3rd, 1953
“Rhapsody In Red” – Original Air Date: August 19th, 1953
The Furhmann & Schmidt Brewing Company was formed in 1906, operating from a facility located at Commerce and Washington Streets in Shamokin. Known as simply F&S, They produced a variety of brews that could be found in tap rooms all over the city. Although the brewery closed in 1975, the memory is still very much alive. If you would like to learn more about the rich history of Furhmann & Schmidt, Larry Deklinski, Staff Writer for the News Item, published an amazing history of F&S.
F&S Premium Half and Half with Sealed Ageing store sign
Business was booming by the 1950’s and F&S began an eight year expansion program, ending in 1954 with a new bottling shop, garage and offices. To promote these enhancements a new advertising campaign was developed touting the “Sealed-Ageing Process”. The commercials presented here are part of that advertising campaign and aired on WISL in 1956. It’s likely that these commercials were written and produced by a large advertising agency and would have been hears on many other stations at the time, not just WISL.
An Assortment of F&S Beer bottles
These particular discs were uncovered in 2005 when Dr. Edward Twiggar, owner of the Lark Building, permitted the WISL team to remove the contents of the former WISL Studios. These original acetate discs were found in the record library in a section labeled “Tom’s Box”. These discs were in pretty rough condition. In order to get the best audio quality to preserve these historic artifacts we had these discs sent to Evergreen Computer Services to have them professionally transferred to digital files.
Below are photos of the labels from the records found in the former studios of WISL.
F&S disc label
F&S disc label
F&S disc label
F&S disc label
What you will hear are two groupings of commercials for this F&S Sealed Ageing campaign. The first set, (cuts #4-11) was intended to target a male or general audience while the second set, (cuts #43-47) are targeted at a female audience. You will also hear some isolated jingles to be used during local commercial production. A full jingle, short open jingle and short closing jingle are included.
In addition to the commercials that were found on these discs, there are few extras included. These were saved by Tom Kutza on a cassette tape, many years ago and feature a different “Sealed Ageing” jingle from the one heard on these discs. You will also hear WISL’s Bernie Sacks on some locally produced commercials, including one that features a “man from Mars”.
So now, let’s go back in time with F&S and WISL!
AUDIO EXHIBITS
F&S #4 (Sealed Ageing – Seals In Goodness) 1956
F&S #5 (Sealed Ageing – Brand New Taste In Beer) 1956
F&S #6 (Sealed Ageing – Flavor & Goodness) 1956
F&S #7 (Sealed Ageing – New Taste) 1956
F&S #8 (Sealed Ageing – Try And You’ll Cheer) 1956
F&S #9 (Sealed Ageing – Taste For Yourself) 1956
F&S #10 (Sealed Ageing – If You Haven’t Tasted) 1956
F&S #11 (Sealed Ageing – More And More People) 1956
F&S #43 (Sealed Ageing – Summer Months) 1956
F&S #44 (Sealed Ageing – With Dinner) 1956
F&S #45 (Sealed Ageing – Buy Your Husband A Case) 1956
F&S #46 (Sealed Ageing – When Friends Drop In) 1956
Yoch’s Bakery Advertisement for Shamokin Centennial in 1964
If you lived in Shamokin prior to 1977 you will certainly remember Yoch’s Bakery. You may even remember the smell of fresh baked bread walking to and from school or work, but do you remember Yoch’s on the radio? WISL aired many commercial over the years for “Yoch’s Dutch Maid Bread” and we are fortunate enough to have a couple of these classic commercials to share.
Presented are a series of classic radio commercials for the Sun Ray Drug Store in Shamokin. Recorded in the early 1970′s, these feature some familiar voices from the WISL airwaves including Dave Leonard, Dennis Edwards, Tom Kutza and more. These spots not only highlight the creative talent at WISL but also the good humor and lighthearted nature of Dave Donmoyer from Sun Ray. Thanks to Dave Leonard (Dave Horjnacki) for digging out these hilarious commercials.
A couple months ago we were introduced to Tom Kollins and had the pleasure of spending some time on the phone reminiscing about his days at WISL. Tom provided a wealth of knowledge, some fascinating recordings and just plain good conversation. We are honored to present to you the Tom Kalinowski story. Thomas Kalinowski’s involvement with WISL radio goes back farther than anyone we have been able to interview for the WISL Hall of Fame. He was only 12 years old in 1948 when he auditioned with the Kelly Bogetti Orchestra for a live music spot at the station. Tom says that Kelly Bogetti billed him as the “youngest accomplished Hawaiian guitarist in the Anthracite area.” Although they didn’t get the job, this would not be the last time Tom would climb the stairs at Rock and Sunbury Streets.
By 1952 Tom was entering his senior year at St. Edward’s High School. For career day that year, St. Edwards students took over WISL. With some assistance from the staff, they read commercials and did the station breaks for the day. Through this audition, Tom impressed the management and was asked to join the station. His first role was night announcer. The shift began at 6pm and Tom would head to the station each night after school was out. His duties consisted of various station breaks, and reading news, sports and other announcements between the Mutual Radio Network programs the station aired in the evening. Tom said he would sign the station off by playing a transcription of the “Star Spangled Banner” around 11 or 12 at night.
WISL Schedule Tuesday, September 8th 1953
In June of 1953 Tom graduated high school, and about that same time John Persico, who was the morning disc jockey at WISL had a blow out fight with Charlie Petrie, the station manager. Petrie subsequently fired Persico and Tom was asked to take the morning spot. The morning program was called “Wislin’ Time” and was a typical DJ show. Tom says they would play records, do interviews, and give the news, sports and weather. This was local radio and Tom was a one-man-band. He said “you needed a lot of energy to run that kind of a program.”
According to Tom, you needed to be a jack-of-all-trades to work in local radio at that time. While at WISL Tom was a Disc Jockey, play-by-play announcer for both football and basketball, did remote broadcasts and even tried his hand at advertising sales, “because every station wanted you to hit the streets and try to sell.” Some remotes that stood out in Tom’s mind include broadcasting live from a horse show held at a riding ring on Trevorton Road and broadcasting live from the American Legion when Ralph Marteri’s band came to play.
Jolly Jack Robel
Tom remembered Jolly Jack Robel, an accomplished Polka band leader from Shenandoah, who would come to WISL once a week for an hour long Polka show. Tom said that they would have a great time doing the program, but would have an even better time hitting up a local saloon after the show was over. Other memorable programs included The Little Giant’s Sunday program. The Little Giant owned a meat market at the east end of Independence Street. Legend has it that during the war, his was the only shop in town with meat, leading to questions of the quality and source of his stock. Nevertheless, in the post-war years, The Little Giant’s program on Sunday mornings was very popular. So popular in fact, that many would catch the early mass on Sunday to be sure they wouldn’t miss the program. In addition to the meat market and radio show, Tom also remembered The Little Giant having a zoo of sorts, located at the entrance to Irish Valley, where kids could see and pet deer, goats and the like.
WCBG Logo from Matchbook Cover circa 1956
Tom’s time at WISL would come to an end in 1956 when he auditioned for and won a job as the morning man at a brand new radio station in Chambersburg, PA; WCBG. With this move also came a name change, he now began going by the name Tom Kollins, a name that would stay through the rest of his radio career.
Shortly after joining the staff at WCBG, Tom was approached by the local competition, WCHA, to come work for them. Tom agreed and found himself back in Central Pennsylvania working for another station owned by WCHA in Milton, WMLP. Tom recalled that one of the new hire rituals at WMLP was to send the new guy to the Buoy Hardware store, located across the street from the station, to try to sell advertising time. Tom says that the joke was that “old man Buoy was like Ebenezer Scrooge, was grumpy, would keep all the lights out in the store except where he knew you would be, and would never buy advertising.” That is until Tom went in. He said that either Mr. Buoy was trying to play a trick on the station or he was just simply ready to advertise, because when Tom went in, he bought some spots. When Tom returned to the station with the spot order, no one could believe it.
WCAR Detroit Publicity Photo circa 1962
Tom’s time at WMLP didn’t last long, as soon as contractual obligations were concluded with WCBG, Tom was brought back to Chambersburg and began working at WCHA. At WCHA Tom hosted a music program and did play-by-play for various sports. You can hear Tom at WCHA in the audio exhibits section of this post. These recordings were found by Tom on reel-to-reel tapes in his home and have not been heard for many years.
By 1960 Tom would find himself moving halfway across the country, thanks to a major market disc jockey who was traveling the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Tom says this disc jockey caught his program and told his boss in Detroit about this guy he heard in Pennsylvania. Tom was offered a job with WCAR in Detroit where he would finish his radio career.
Tom Kollins at the Detroit Athletic Club circa 1973
In 1965, Tom decided to make a career change, following a passion he had for Billiards and began playing pool professionally. Tom was a very accomplished pool player winning the Michigan Straight Pool Championship twice. From 1968 to 1973 he was the Billiard room manager at the prestigious Detroit Athletic Club. By 1977 Tom had found a new passion, one for the game of Snooker. This passion would find Tom traveling the world playing the game and holding the United States National Snooker Championship title five times. CLICK HERE to learn more about Tom’s fascinating Snooker career.
Tom Kollins on the Golf Course
Today, Tom enjoys retirement with his family and lived in the Detroit area. We are very fortunate to have had the opportunity to share in Tom’s interesting history, we sincerely thank him for allowing us to make another WISL friend.
*** UPDATE ***
We are sad to report that Tom passed away on June 22nd 2020 at the age of 84.
The Badlees circa 1994 (courtesy of The Badlees’ Manager Chris Fetchko)
The Badlees were perhaps one of the most successful rock bands to come from Central Pennsylvania in the early to mid 1990′s. The band officially formed in 1990. Their debut EP “It Ain’t For You” had received critical acclaim in Billboard Magazine and The Album Network. The positive response to their initial commercial offering awarded them a chance to open for the Band Firehouse at an appearance in Harrisburg. In 1992 the bands first full length album was released entitled “Diamonds in the Coal.” Their commercial peak came in 1995 when the band signed with A&M Record’s Polydor/Atlas label. Their album “River Songs” produced two singles that climbed the charts, “Fear of Falling” a song tapped by NBC a year later for use in their coverage of the 1996 Olympics and “Angeline Is Coming Home” which broke the top-30 that same year.
The band was set to release a follow-up LP in 1997, however a delay by the record label put the tentative release date to sometime in 1998. In May of that year, A&M records was sold and the release was put on hold indefinitely, pushing the band to pursue the independent route once again. While they never hit the Top-40 after this, the band still continued to produce and tour. Their most recent release was in the Fall of 2013, a 21 song, double-album entitled “Epiphones and Empty Rooms.” To learn more about The Badlees visit their official website HERE.
Back to 1994. The Badlees were local favorites, packing every bar and club they played and quickly gaining attention on the national scene. A tour was in the works through a sponsorship from Budweiser and lead signer Pete Palladino was on the new 95.3 WISL-FM promoting the band.
SPY 95.3 Logo
This was a transitional time for the 95.3 FM frequency. The station originally came online at WISL-FM in the late 1960′s and mainly served as a simulcast of WISL-AM throughout the 1970′s. When Radio Anthracite, WISL’s parent company was sold in the early 1980’s, WISL-FM was split off and became WSPI, branded as “Spy 95.3.” The station’s format was Top-40 with a heavy helping of current rock. Many local acts found exposure on this station, and through the 80′s bands such as Hybrid Ice, Harpo and Youth In Asia became local legends. Sometime between 1993 and 1994 the station was again sold, and reunited with it’s former sister station WISL. The rock continued for a little while before being dumped for Oldies by the mid 1990′s.
Here is a rare glimpse into that transitional period of WISL-FM. From May 4th 1994 here is “Spy 95.3″ veteran Courtney Roberts interviewing Pete Palladino of The Badlees.
AUDIO EXHIBIT
Courtney Roberts Interviews Pete Palladino of The Badlees on WISL-FM (May 4th 1994)
If you’ve listened to the live stream at WISL1480.com, you are probably familiar with the classic jingles presented in the oldies format. It’s hard to believe, but these jingles never aired on the original WISL. These jingles are actually edits, and were created using different vintage jingle packages from WFIL in Philadelphia and WISM in Madison, Wisconsin, giving us the necessary parts for a natural sounding WIS-L sing.
Jingles were a major part of radio programming from the 50’s through the 70’s. These “little songs” created a custom brand for the station and helped keep continuity between songs and programming elements. WISL had a number of packages over the years, each changing with the times.
In this post we have the opportunity to hear what might have been the first WISL jingle package ever created. We know very little about these jingles. They were given to us by Tom Kutza. Tom had dubbed them to a cassette years ago, and can only recall that they were not in use when he began working there in 1960. So, if you recognize these jingles, we would love to know what you know. Share your memories with us.
Tom Kutza Presents Stanley Coveleski with an award (1969)
Stanley Coveleski was born Stanislaus Kowalewski on July 13th 1889 in Shamokin, PA. He was a 5 foot, 11 inch, right handed pitcher that made his major league debut in 1912 with the Philadelphia Athletics. Through 1928, Coveleski would play for the Cleveland Indians, The Washington Senators and The New York Yankees. He had a 60% win-loss record in 357 games with a 2.89 ERA. He led the league twice with 38 career shutouts, once in ERA and once in Strikeouts. During the 1920 World Series, he had an ERA of 0.67 and beat the Brooklyn Dodgers three times (3-1, 5-1 and 3-0), a record that stood for 26 years, only to be tied, never beaten. It’s interesting to note that Stanley’s brother, Harry was also a famous baseball player, and was known as “The Giant Killer.”
“The Silent Pole” at the height of his career
When his career ended in 1928, Coveleski retired to Indiana, operating a gas station as a post baseball career. Although out of baseball for almost 40 years, Stanley’s accomplishments had not been forgotten. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY in 1969. It was on this occasion that he once again returned to his hometown, and spent some time with WISL’s Tom Kutza to recount his successful baseball career. Presented here is that very interview, and a rare glimpse into the world of baseball’s infant age told through the experiences of Shamokin’s Hall of Fame Hero, Stanley Coveleski.
In July of 2017, the story of this interview got the attention of WHP-TV CBS 21 in Harrisburg and reporter Jason Bristol visited Tom to get the full story. You can watch the full story below.
Audio Exhibit
Tom Kutza Interviews Stanley Coveleski on WISL – June 30th 1969
Video Exhibits
Photo Exhibits
Stanley
Coveleski On The Mound
Stanley Coveleski
Market and Arch Streets
in ShamokinStanley Coveleski Baseball Hall of Fame
“The Silent Pole” at the height of his career
Stanley Coveleski – Hall of Fame CelebrationStanley Coveleski – Baseball Hall of Fame Induction
TV Guide Ad from 1958 for the Television Version of “Mr. District Attorney”
“Mr. District Attorney” was a very popular and long running radio drama. Starting in April 1939 as a 15-minute serial, the program would become a 30 minute program by June when it was named the summer replacement for The Bob Hope Show. “Mr. District Attorney” was created, written and directed by Ed Byron who based the program on New York Governor Thomas Dewey who was famous for his war against racketeering. Byron sought to bring a very realistic program to the air. The stories were a product of Byron’s study of crime statistics, criminology texts and crime reports in the newspaper. Byron was known to even mix with local criminals and police to further his research.
David Brian “Mr. District Attorney” on the radio 1952-1953
From 1939 to 1952, “Mr. District Attorney” aired on NBC and ABC and starred Dwight Weist (1939 15-minute serials), Raymond Edward Johnson (1939 30-minute programs), Jay Jostyn (1940-1952) and David Brian (1952-1953 syndication) as the main character, simply called “Mr. District Attorney” or “Chief”.
Other cast members:
“Voice of the Law” – (The program’s opening announcer) Maurice Franklin and also Jay Jostyn before taking over the lead role.
“Miss Miller” – (Edith Miller the District Attorney’s secretary) Vicki Vola
“Miss Rand” – (The District Attorney’s receptionist) Eleanor Silver and Arlene Francis
“Len Harrington” – (The District Attorney’s Chief Investigator) Walter Kinsella and Len Doyle (1940 -1953)
“Mr. District Attorney” Ad from the Shamokin News-Dispatch October 16th 1954
The program began it’s television run on ABC on October 1st 1952, and was placed into general syndication on radio for the 1952 season.
WISL brought Mr. District Attorney to the air in late 1954, at the tail-end of it’s days on the radio. The episodes ran by WISL were the David Bryan independent syndication episodes. The program aired Sunday afternoons at 4pm and was sponsored locally by D&R Radio of Trevorton and Connaghan’s Music Store of Mount Carmel in what appears to be a ZENITH “co-op” advertising deal.
Presented here for your enjoyment are five original episodes of “Mr. District Attorney.”
AUDIO EXHIBITS
The Deadly Snowflake (original air date May 26, 1948)
The Unknown Source (original air date July 14, 1948)
The Bridal Path Murders (original air date May 31, 1953)
The Body On The Freight Train (original air date July 12, 1953)
The Anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania has produced some of the finest athletes our country has known. In high school football, our schools are frequent winners of regional and state championships and nobody knew those teams and their coaches better than Bernie Romanoski.
No WISL Hall of Fame entry would be complete without a little background history. Bernie was born on August 25th 1922, was a 1941 graduate of Coal Township High School and was a lifelong resident of the Shamokin-Coal Township area. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942 and reached the rank of Sergeant. He served in both the North African and Italian campaigns of World War II. Before his honorable discharge in 1945 he earned a Bronze Star for meritorious service in combat.
During his High School years he began a career in sports that would last 70 years. Having been an All-State athlete in high school, his skill on the field led to a coaching career at Coal Township High School which began in 1949. The Demons saw much success under Romanoski’s leadership. Along with Hall of Fame coach Walt Marshall, they won the Eastern Conference Titles in both 1950 and 1955. In the 1960’s he coached with another Hall of Famer, Ed “Beaners” Binoski and took the Eastern Conference, Southern Division Titles in both 1960 and 1964. After years of coaching the Coal Township football team, he moved to the Shamokin Area High School, where he coached Football, Basketball, Baseball, Track and Golf until 1968.
Bernie Romanoski & Joe “Jazz” Diminick (September 1957)
For many years he also served as the Athletic director at Shamokin Area and is credited with bringing many innovations and improvements to their athletic policy and facilities. It was also under his leadership that Shamokin Area’s prominence as a PIAA Post-Season playing site began.
Bernie Romanoski at Coal Township Field (September 1957)
Bernie also served as a PIAA official for 40 years. His certifications included Football, Basketball and Baseball and he was a frequent official for championship games in all three sports.
Bernie’s love for sports and the people that played them seemed to naturally bring him to the field of broadcasting. He spent many years covering and promoting area sports on Shamokin’s WETV television station and on WISL Radio. His involvement with WISL started in 1970 and weekly radio program became a “who’s who” of local sports and everybody got their chance to be part of the program. Bernie would cover all sports and in many cases his guests would pack the WISL studios. Bernie also wrote weekly sports columns for the Shamokin News-Dispatch and the News Item.
Bernie Receives A Plaque Honoring his 22 Years at WISL in 1992. WISL Host John Berry pictured.
Every Saturday Morning Bernie’s program would take to the air. Tom Kutza would often run the show to make sure something was actually being broadcast and also to let Bernie do what he did best; talk sports. Listeners will remember the many comical program opens that the guys at WISL produced, you can hear many of these original opening in the audio exhibits below. The programs were often lively with good-natured wise-cracking between the guests, Tom and Bernie. The show was also a local forum and Bernie would often take callers to talk about the local sports happenings of the day. He even held trivia contests to test the listener’s knowledge of sports history, giving them a chance to win tickets to a movie at UA Theaters in Frackville or a Whopper at the Burger King. Bernie’s programs were never strictly planned or scripted and he always took time to talk about the lives of the players, and their families.
He used his broadcasting career to further his desire to serve the community and give back by hosting numerous radiothons on WISL and telethons on WETV. Over the years, these events raised thousands of dollars for the American Heart Association, The Shamokin Hospital and other organizations.
Newspaper Ad for the 1978-79 United Way Campaign Radio-Thon
However, his crowning achievement may have been the sports hall of fame that bears his name. Along with other area sports enthusiasts, Romanoski was able to bring the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame to the Lower Anthracite Region. In 1984 The Bernie Romanoski Sports Hall of Fame was created and today under the leadership of his son Bernie Romanoski Jr. continues the tradition of honoring the best student athletes the area has to offer. Bernie passed away in 2008.
Coal Township’s 150th Anniversary Coaches Dinner
We are very lucky to be able to present to you some amazing artifacts from the collection of Bernie Romanoski Jr. In addition to sharing some fantastic photos and newspaper clippings, he was kind enough to give us a number of reel to reel tapes and cassettes he found in his father’s estate. We would also like to thank Larry Deklinski for granting us permission to publish some great shots he had found in the Thomas Collection.
As you enjoy these artifacts, we invite you to share your memories of Bernie in the comment boxes below. We are always interested to hear your thoughts and stories!
AUDIO EXHIBITS:
Classic Bernie Romanoski Sports Show Openers:
(Courtesy of Dave Horjnacki)
Pete Wambach
W. C. Fields
W.C. Fields & Ralph Cramden (Romanoski’s Caravan To Hershey)
Valentine’s Day
The Lone Ranger
The Cereal Bowl Football Game
Ted Baxter & The President
Surprise Birthday Party For Bernie
Shamokin Indians Cheerleaders Cheer For Bernie
Santa Claus
Rubber Duckie
Punxsutawney Phil
Pete Wambach – It’s A Miserable Day In Pennsylvania
Pete DeRito’s New Years Message To Bernie
Pete DeRito’s Birthday Message To Bernie
New Year’s Eve Party
Joe Paterno
Howard Smozel
Horseshoe Camp
Happy Birthday To Bernie
Golf Tournament
Bernie’s Letter To Santa
Fishing Trip
Bernie The Basketball Player (From WAZL Radio in Hazleton)
Bernie Is President Of The Mickey Mouse Fan Club
Bernie Romanoski Sports Show Clips
(Courtesy of Bernie Romanoski, Jr.)
Bernie Romanoski Sports Show – Mike Klembara & Players on Lourdes Winning The Eastern Conference Class A Co-Championship 1974
Bernie Romanoski Sports Show – Shamokin Area Golf Coach Interview 1990
Bernie Romanoski Sports Show – Shamokin Indians Football 1991
