WFBG (1290 AM) is a

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

broadcasting in

Altoona, Pennsylvania Altoona is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the Altoona Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The population was 43,963 at the time of the 2020 Census, making it the eighteenth most populous city in Pennsylvania. T ...

. WFBG originally broadcast on the frequency of 1310 kilohertz and was known as "The Voice of the Alleghenies." It signed on in 1924, at 100

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

s. Its call letters stood for the name of the station's founder, William F. B. Gable, owner of Gable's department store in Altoona. It moved to 1290 on the dial, and broadcast at 5000 watts daytime, 1000 watts at night. It was a very influential and top rated station, the biggest station between

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

and

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

. In the 1960s, the Morning Mayor, as he was called, was Big John Riley, working from 6 to 10am. Dick Richards followed from 10a to 3p. Dan Resh did the 3p to 7p shift and Dick DiAndrea owned the night from 7p to midnight. DiAndrea also hosted a very popular Bandstand program on WFBG-TV. Weekends on radio were handled by Bill Bukowski (8a to 4p) and Bob Witten (4p to midnight). The format was top 40 hits. The news team included Del Smith, Charles Ritchey, and Bob Witten. The station was purchased by

Triangle Publications Triangle Publications Inc. was an American media group based first in Philadelphia, and later in Radnor, Pennsylvania. It was a privately held corporation, with the majority of its stock owned by Walter Annenberg and his sisters. Its holding ...

under Walter Annenberg in Philadelphia. General Manager was John Stilli, Program Director; Jim VanDeVelde; News Director, Lantz Hoffman. It was grouped with WFBG-FM, and TV Channel 10. TV 10 was affiliated with CBS and ABC. All three stations were located on 6th Avenue in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It was announced on October 12, 2022 that Forever Media is selling 34 stations, including WFBG and the entire Altoona cluster, to State College-based Seven Mountains Media for $17.3 million. The deal closed on January 2, 2023.

References

External links

WFBG Facebook

Official Website
News and talk radio stations in the United States FBG {{Pennsylvania-radio-station-stub