The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Bob Witten
Former KYW Newsradio Anchor
1965

Bob Witten e-mailed:

This is a photo from WFBG, Altoona Pa, where I worked from 1965 to 1968. 1290 on the dial, a Triangle Group station, back then. The flagship at the time was WFIL in Philadelphia. ...Actually a 1965 photo. I was 21. My God. You'll see I was keeping the log on paper. The typewriter behind me was for BMI logging. We did it once a year for a week---major pain in the a**. Hadda list every record (yes, record) that you played. The discs in the near rack are ET's, all commercials, everything from Rolling Rock to Schmidt's bread. Note the 45's in sleeves near my left elbow. It was a mostly top 40 station, but as DJ's, we had lots of leeway. The album on top of the stack next to the typewriter is the Temptations greatest hits. I still have that..and many of the cuts are worn at the beginning from cueing up on those turntables. WFBG tooks its call letters from the original owners, Gable Brothers Dept store, the big store in Altoona. The brothers were William, Frank and Bobby Gable. Thus, WFBG. We also had an FM.which was totally automated. It ran out of a cabinet about the size of an old style phone booth in the transmitter building!

Bob Witten
Former KYW Newsradio Anchor
1965

He also e-mailed:

After leaving WFBG in 1968, I was at WRSC in State College (Pennsylvania) as News Director for 18
months, then was hired by KYW Newsradio, where I worked, mostly as morning anchor, from 1969 to 1982. I'm now a producer at the NBC News Washington Bureau.

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com