The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Bill Gregory
KYW Newsradio Publicity Photo
1980

Harry Johnson
KYW Newsradio Publicity Photo
1980

We have two clips of KYW Newsradio from 1971. The station is less than five years old at this time. Our two excerpts both come from the same day and date of Sunday, January 10, 1971. First up is Bill Gregory. This excerpt is from about 1:45 pm.

Now we have a clip by Harry Johnson. It's 45 minutes later. About 2:30 pm. In this excerpt, there's a report from Broadcast Pioneers member Jay Lloyd.

In May of 2017, we had updated the quality of these cuts and for the first time, also made them available in the Windows Media Format.

When we put these cuts on our website back in 2001, we didn't know the correct date. The box that the original tape was in said October of 1971. We started with the idea that October '71 was the correct time period. However, shortly after it went live on our website, we received an e-mail from a visitor to that site, William Brown of New York City. He was able to date the material more precisely. By the way, on another one of our webpages, is a complete Dan Lancer newscast. That was aired between 2 and 2:30 pm. You can find it at: www.broadcastpioneers.com/kyw11071.html.

I had the opportunity to look at a New York Times index for 1971 of the various items in the news (U.N. mediator's trip to Israel, the Dubrow's murder) touched on in KYW airchecks of, respectively, Don Lancer at the 2:00 hour, Bill Gregory before him around 1:50 (who was heard doing the weather at the start of the aircheck with Lancer), and Harry Johnson after Lancer's shift ended (Johnson did the KYW/Group W I.D. at the end of the Lancer aircheck), all of which you'd cited as October 1971, and found that the 'checks in question were actually from January 1971 (probably Jan. 8, 9 or 10, I'm not sure; the ad mentioning a sculpture show at the Philadelphia Civic Center going through Feb. 7 was one sign, also a mention of New Year's). The month of those 'checks notwithstanding, I enjoyed them nonetheless, and to you I say: Keep up the good work. Shortly afterwards, he e-mailed again saying: Actually, having listened to the Harry Johnson aircheck, I have determined his, Don Lancer's and Bill Gregory's airchecks to be from January 10, 1971, a Sunday. The reference to Sunday mass in Jay Lloyd's report was the tipoff.

With this additional information, we were able to date all three clips from Sunday, January 10, 1971. It's KYW Newsradio from when it was just 5 years old.

From the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
Photo originally donated by Broadcast Pioneers member Roger Hendler
Audio originally donated by Broadcast Pioneers member Gerry Wilkinson
Used with the permission and authority of KYW Newsradio
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