Local (Wilmington/Philly) Radio & TV
Personalities/Programs (40s, 50s & '60s)
With lots of Links to explore!
Including:
Local (Wilmington/Philly) Radio & TV
Personalities/Programs (40s,
50s & '60s)
With
lots of Links to explore!
Including:
WILMINGTON RADIO & TV BROADCAST STATIONS
HISTORY OF WILMINGTON "TALK RADIO"
WILMINGTON RADIO STATION MUSIC SURVEYS
| WILMINGTON RADIO & TV BROADCAST STATIONS |
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BROADCAST PERSONALITIES |
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PERSONALITIES (Local)
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PERSONALITIES (Philly)
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| HISTORY OF WILMINGTON "TALK RADIO" |
Many local residents always considered that ‘Talk Radio’ originated here with Joe Pyne and the “It’s Your Nickle” program. Such is not the case. Talk Radio is documented by radio station WOR in New York as early as 1946. The NBC Radio Network had talk radio earlier then that, but they were news discussion-type programs. However, Joe Pyne can be given the credit as having created the ‘controversial talk radio’ format. Pyne was born in Chester, PA in 1924 and graduated from the Chester High School in 1942. He enlisted in the US Marines and served almost three years. It was during his service that his left leg was injured and subsequently developed into cancer and had to be amputated fours years later. He taught himself radio announcing and held jobs at radio stations in several states. In 1949, Joe Pyne arrived in Wilmington after landing a job with radio station WILM and went on the air with a ‘soft-talk’ program titled “Home Town America”. Eventually, he convinced WILM management to create a ‘conversational-type’ call-in program where he could exchange views with the callers and “It’s Your Nickle” was born. Tape delay systems were not around then. Joe repeated (or so we thought) what the caller was saying. He stayed until 1957 when he left for Hollywood. But, after six months, he returned to Wilmington because of a relatives illness. His last ‘It’s Your Nickle’ program was in February, 1960 and he returned to Los Angeles. Pyne was also involved in TV. The program was on the local channel, WVUE-TV, channel 12, but only for a short time when the station went off the air. He also went on to do a national syndicated radio program in the early to mid-1960s from Los Angeles, which, for a short while, was heard on WDEL radio. Pyne died in 1970 of cancer. The ‘It’s Your Nickle” program originated from various area restaurants. The Hotel Rodney, the 1101 Restaurant, Mascagni’s, Leoune’s Towne Talk, the Town Talk and the most popular - the Dover Room of the English Grill. After Pyne left, the program continued with the following moderators:
Another talk radio program in Wilmington was “Voice Of The People” which began in January, 1962 on radio station WDEL. Their moderators were not as controversial as Pyne. The first was Joe Mosbrook. Others were:
Voice of the People ended in August, 1982. |
| PROGRAMS & FEATURES |
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Created: August 10 , 1999
Revised:
March 31, 2008
