This one went off in the early 80's, WGSA-1310, had a 3 tower directional in Ephrata on the edge of the city and may hve been tied in with WIOV at some point in time. And it had a great signal west but nothing east. Anyone remember this one?
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WGSA-1310
- Thread starter DaveWilliams
- Start date
M
malawichild
Guest
Remember it? I worked there for a short time, as a part timer. When WAGO's parent company bought GSA, they broadcast WAGO's signal on it. Then, they either decided to let it go dark, or there was a problem with the transmitter that wasn't worth fixing. I don't remember the exact circumstance. But it was a powerful signal to the west, or so I was told at the time.
G
grandoleopry
Guest
Think if I remember correctly WGSA was purchased on a sales agreement
from Brill Media by a Mike Rubright who operated it for several years and
then was killed in a motorcycle accident. I think it was soon after that it went off the air.
I don't think the folks at Brill at that time wanted to go to the expense of
putting it back on the air. The license then was pulled by the commission.
I think this the sequence of events with regard to that station. Strikes me
that there could have been transmitter problems that may have existed
and a sizable investment may have been involved as well which prompted Brill
to turn in the license.
from Brill Media by a Mike Rubright who operated it for several years and
then was killed in a motorcycle accident. I think it was soon after that it went off the air.
I don't think the folks at Brill at that time wanted to go to the expense of
putting it back on the air. The license then was pulled by the commission.
I think this the sequence of events with regard to that station. Strikes me
that there could have been transmitter problems that may have existed
and a sizable investment may have been involved as well which prompted Brill
to turn in the license.
Mike R did have an operating agreement but failed to pay out his end of the bargain.
His accident happened several years later while he was GSM @ WRFY in Reading
Brill was more interested in getting WAGO (We'reAllGoldenOldies) up & running in
Reading & having WIOV fill in the Berks Co gaps after WHUM was changed to Oldies.
His accident happened several years later while he was GSM @ WRFY in Reading
Brill was more interested in getting WAGO (We'reAllGoldenOldies) up & running in
Reading & having WIOV fill in the Berks Co gaps after WHUM was changed to Oldies.
I worked full-time at WGSA from 1988-1990, and this thread brought a lot of memories rushing back. The station was on the air into the early 90's before going dark (in '92, I think), and Rinfoguy is correct about the timing of Mike's motorcycle accident. It was several years after WGSA went under (I think about 5 years later). Mike was the first person who gave me a shot in this business. He taught me a lot and he was a kick to work for...one of the funniest human beings I've ever encountered (and a huge John Wayne fan). I miss him a lot, as I stayed in touch with him regularly after leaving the station in 1990.
We had some great people come through WGSA, even during the short time I was there, and we tried some innovative and fun things. I've often wondered how many other WGSA alumni are floating around out there. I've tried to contact one or two in the past, but failed.
Brad Christman
News Director
Radio Pennsylvania
We had some great people come through WGSA, even during the short time I was there, and we tried some innovative and fun things. I've often wondered how many other WGSA alumni are floating around out there. I've tried to contact one or two in the past, but failed.
Brad Christman
News Director
Radio Pennsylvania
More History
I know this station is ancient history, but thought those of you who worked there might like some ancient history. I worked at this station from 1958 to 1972. The station went on the air in July 1956 as a 1KW directional day timer located on top of Ephrata mountain with a two tower array. The original owner was Garden Spot Broadcasters and the managing partner was Sam Youse. Sam was an engineer (1st class phone license). In that time, it was required to have a First Class License physically on duty whenever the station was broadcasting. The chief engineer was Ralph Haneman, a WWII vet with myriad experience in all phases of electronics. The two of these persons manned the station in shifts whenever the station was on the air.
Some early personnel included Johnny Wells, Lee Scott, and Ed Loder, who along with Ralph comprised the announcer/DJ staff. With great support from local business advertising, the station was profitable from the start but the workload on the staff was enormous. I was hired in January 1958 when the station was but eighteen months old. I was a DJ/Announcer but came with an electrical background. Asked by management, I acquired a First Class Phone FCC license in September of that year, and shared in the 'always present' requirement greatly freeing Sam Youse to more management stuff. We started with a musical library of a very few 45's, LP's and even 78's. Two good RCA professional turntables, One Magnecorder and one consumer grade RCA reel to reel machine. The master control room housed all this equipment and one Altec Lansing microphone. A soundproof window gave visual access to another room with an RCA microphone, the room being used for the occasional guest or group, and for our almost hourly newscasts. News was garnered mostly from an old UP (Later UPI) teletype, and any local stuff we could hear about.
In 1962, the station applied for and received a license upgrade to 5KW with a three tower directional array at a new location on Bethany road just south of Route 322. Ralph and I pretty much moved the station to it's new facility with much help from Sam. If memory serves, the next year we applied for and got an FM broadcast license and once again found ourselves in a construction mode. The FM station went on the air as WGSA-FM playing easy listening music from an automatic consumer turntable, punctuated by rare announcements and the required station ID's made by whoever was on the air at the time on AM. The AM control equipment allowed this to be accomplished by that announcer. When the AM went off the air at sunset, that announcer or another would begin broadcasting music on FM and handle announcements live.
Subsequently, Ralph Haneman left the station and I became chief engineer this would have been around 1964.
The station's success continued and in due course of time, the FM station was granted a power increase to 50KW. To that time, the FM antenna was co-located on one of the three AM towers. With the power increase, a new transmitter site was built on Ephrata mountain, but not in the original WGSA AM site. Subsequently, a format change was made to Country music and the FM call letters were changed to WIOV, a somewhat incorrect statement of the stations dial frequency of 105.1 Mhz represented by roman numerals. (The fact that there is no roman numeral for zero was ignored.)
In 1963 the country format was automated with an IGM automation system with which I had to become familiar, and did so. Mornings were still hosted live, but the station was fully automated at 10AM until midnight sign-off.
I eventually left the station in 1972 after receiving two separate and simultaneous job offers with two broadcast automation companies. IGM offered me a field engineering opportunity that while interesting, required a large amount of travel. The second offer came from SMC, a competing company responsible for the manufacture of what was then the most popular multi-cartridge playback system, the Carousel, which was the central unit for the IGM systems as well as most other automation competitors. Since SMC also offered a popular and state-of-the-art automation system and since my position was to be in sales with a territory allowing me to not relocate and to spend about only 3 days a week on the road, I took the SMC offer and covered 11 northeast states and also was called upon for other sale that required special engineering.
WGSA continued for quite a while without me! WIOV developed into a radio powerhouse, eclipsing the early success of it's AM partner. Sale of the stations and deregulation of the industry probably spelled the decline and demise of WGSA AM, and indeed the continued success of WIOV made it the desirable station purchase.
AM went dark and the transmitter and towers were dismantled. WIOV continued to use the studio space and eventually scrapped the automation system.
I wound up working back in active radio at a customer station of my sales career, WBEN in Buffalo, NY. I became chief engineer there 1n 1978 and retired in 1996.
I'll always have a soft spot, though for WGSA and WIOV where I got my first full time radio job in January 1958
I know this station is ancient history, but thought those of you who worked there might like some ancient history. I worked at this station from 1958 to 1972. The station went on the air in July 1956 as a 1KW directional day timer located on top of Ephrata mountain with a two tower array. The original owner was Garden Spot Broadcasters and the managing partner was Sam Youse. Sam was an engineer (1st class phone license). In that time, it was required to have a First Class License physically on duty whenever the station was broadcasting. The chief engineer was Ralph Haneman, a WWII vet with myriad experience in all phases of electronics. The two of these persons manned the station in shifts whenever the station was on the air.
Some early personnel included Johnny Wells, Lee Scott, and Ed Loder, who along with Ralph comprised the announcer/DJ staff. With great support from local business advertising, the station was profitable from the start but the workload on the staff was enormous. I was hired in January 1958 when the station was but eighteen months old. I was a DJ/Announcer but came with an electrical background. Asked by management, I acquired a First Class Phone FCC license in September of that year, and shared in the 'always present' requirement greatly freeing Sam Youse to more management stuff. We started with a musical library of a very few 45's, LP's and even 78's. Two good RCA professional turntables, One Magnecorder and one consumer grade RCA reel to reel machine. The master control room housed all this equipment and one Altec Lansing microphone. A soundproof window gave visual access to another room with an RCA microphone, the room being used for the occasional guest or group, and for our almost hourly newscasts. News was garnered mostly from an old UP (Later UPI) teletype, and any local stuff we could hear about.
In 1962, the station applied for and received a license upgrade to 5KW with a three tower directional array at a new location on Bethany road just south of Route 322. Ralph and I pretty much moved the station to it's new facility with much help from Sam. If memory serves, the next year we applied for and got an FM broadcast license and once again found ourselves in a construction mode. The FM station went on the air as WGSA-FM playing easy listening music from an automatic consumer turntable, punctuated by rare announcements and the required station ID's made by whoever was on the air at the time on AM. The AM control equipment allowed this to be accomplished by that announcer. When the AM went off the air at sunset, that announcer or another would begin broadcasting music on FM and handle announcements live.
Subsequently, Ralph Haneman left the station and I became chief engineer this would have been around 1964.
The station's success continued and in due course of time, the FM station was granted a power increase to 50KW. To that time, the FM antenna was co-located on one of the three AM towers. With the power increase, a new transmitter site was built on Ephrata mountain, but not in the original WGSA AM site. Subsequently, a format change was made to Country music and the FM call letters were changed to WIOV, a somewhat incorrect statement of the stations dial frequency of 105.1 Mhz represented by roman numerals. (The fact that there is no roman numeral for zero was ignored.)
In 1963 the country format was automated with an IGM automation system with which I had to become familiar, and did so. Mornings were still hosted live, but the station was fully automated at 10AM until midnight sign-off.
I eventually left the station in 1972 after receiving two separate and simultaneous job offers with two broadcast automation companies. IGM offered me a field engineering opportunity that while interesting, required a large amount of travel. The second offer came from SMC, a competing company responsible for the manufacture of what was then the most popular multi-cartridge playback system, the Carousel, which was the central unit for the IGM systems as well as most other automation competitors. Since SMC also offered a popular and state-of-the-art automation system and since my position was to be in sales with a territory allowing me to not relocate and to spend about only 3 days a week on the road, I took the SMC offer and covered 11 northeast states and also was called upon for other sale that required special engineering.
WGSA continued for quite a while without me! WIOV developed into a radio powerhouse, eclipsing the early success of it's AM partner. Sale of the stations and deregulation of the industry probably spelled the decline and demise of WGSA AM, and indeed the continued success of WIOV made it the desirable station purchase.
AM went dark and the transmitter and towers were dismantled. WIOV continued to use the studio space and eventually scrapped the automation system.
I wound up working back in active radio at a customer station of my sales career, WBEN in Buffalo, NY. I became chief engineer there 1n 1978 and retired in 1996.
I'll always have a soft spot, though for WGSA and WIOV where I got my first full time radio job in January 1958
Terrific story there, Dave May ! Thx !
1300-1310-1320 were such crowded frequencies in those days. The small state of New Jersey, for example, already HAD two omni 1310 stations licensed to it -- WCAM Camden and WJLK Asbury Park. So naturally, in the 70's, WPRJ Parsippany piled on.
1310. We DXers near JFK Airport thought we'd never hear them. We figured that WPRJ had to be so directional that they'd have to protect themselves from their own signal. I logged them one sunset, though. But just that once.
WGSA Ephrata -- pronounced EFF-fritt-uh -- was another one-shot sunset catch.
Does there still exist that vinul 45-33 store The Record Connection in Ephrata, anybody?
* * * * * * *
@ Dave Williams : Get back to me via eMail one of these holidays, okay?
1300-1310-1320 were such crowded frequencies in those days. The small state of New Jersey, for example, already HAD two omni 1310 stations licensed to it -- WCAM Camden and WJLK Asbury Park. So naturally, in the 70's, WPRJ Parsippany piled on.
1310. We DXers near JFK Airport thought we'd never hear them. We figured that WPRJ had to be so directional that they'd have to protect themselves from their own signal. I logged them one sunset, though. But just that once.
WGSA Ephrata -- pronounced EFF-fritt-uh -- was another one-shot sunset catch.
Does there still exist that vinul 45-33 store The Record Connection in Ephrata, anybody?
* * * * * * *
@ Dave Williams : Get back to me via eMail one of these holidays, okay?
WJAS Pittsburgh
WGSA SIGNAL
No real surprise that you had trouble with this WGSA as a DXer. Although the station power was increased in 1962 to 5KW, the directional pattern was a cardioid shape very heavily attenuated to the east and northeast. Coverage in the west was quite satisfactory. For example, Harrisburg was well within the primary coverage area. Probably all those New Jersey 1310's were the main reason for this pattern shape.
No real surprise that you had trouble with this WGSA as a DXer. Although the station power was increased in 1962 to 5KW, the directional pattern was a cardioid shape very heavily attenuated to the east and northeast. Coverage in the west was quite satisfactory. For example, Harrisburg was well within the primary coverage area. Probably all those New Jersey 1310's were the main reason for this pattern shape.
That store does exist... always seems to be busy (at least on Saturdays when I am able to stop in!)
https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=e...hUKEwimvZyK58fdAhUyhOAKHebcA58Qpx8wEnoECAoQDg
https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=e...hUKEwimvZyK58fdAhUyhOAKHebcA58Qpx8wEnoECAoQDg
Hi Dave, this is Jim Neidermyer. In 1963 I was in my senior year at Conestoga Valley. I wanted to get into radio, so I stopped at the WGSA am & fm studios in Ephrata PA.
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