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Philadelphia's Home Page for Talk Radio

WWDB 96.5 FM Archives

On November 6, 2000 Philadelphia's heritage talk station, WWDB, stopped broadcasting talk at 9am.  The staff was called to a meeting and told the format was changing, they were all fired.  Throughout the day all that the listeners heard was a computerized voice count down until at 5pm the the format was changed to 80's rock.  The studio dedicated to playing Sinatra music was used to play the new format.  The other two studios, one brand new, were left empty.  Facilities and production were slated to move to its sister station WXTU.

Contents		Related Pages
Lineup, fall 2000 - June 1997 Station Address Station Owner Thumbnail pictures Press Links Audio of format change		Archives Index and Search Page Paul W. Smith Archive Phil Valentine Archive

     1997

 

Lineup (fall 2000) The Morning News Team with Earl Bailey and Pat Farnack - 5 to 9 am. Gil Gross - Weekdays from 9 to noon. Irv Homer - Weekdays from noon  to 3 pm. email Jay and Hilarie - Weekdays from 3 to 5 pm. email Kent Voss - Mon. - Thurs.. 5-7 pm. Jim Corea - Evenings 7-9 Archive Susan Bray - Weekdays from 9pm to 1am.  Susan's Website & email link. Steve Martorano - 1 am to 5 am. John McNulty - Food and Wine Saturday evenings 6 to 8 pm Joel Gibbs - MovieMania Saturday, 10 pm to midnight Sid Mark - Frank Sinatra show - Friday 5 to 10 and Sundays from 9 to 3. Archive Page Franny Rizzo - Sunday nights at9 Jason Meyer -  fill in host John Stolnis - Producer - fill in host Russ Miller - Russ Miller's Website - Real Estate, Saturdays. Austin Culmer David Coleman Frank and Mary Jelineck - Dinning Around - Saturdays at noon. The Car Show - Saturdays from 2 to 4 pm - Frank and Mike Daulario

Program schedule for June 1997

Monday-Thursday 
5:30 am Phil Valentine 
9:00 am Irv Homer Show 
12:00 noon Rush Limbaugh Show 
3:00 pm Dr. Laura Show 
5:00 pm Tom Marr & Susan Bray Show 
8:00 pm Dr. Jim Corea Show on Health & Fitness 
10:00 pm Debra Luray Show 
1:00 am Dom Giordano Show 

Friday 
5:30 am Phil Valentine 
9:00 am Irv Homer Show 
12:00 noon Rush Limbaugh Show 
3:00 pm Dr. Laura Show 
5:30 pm Friday with Frank featuring Sid Mark 
10 pm Debra Luray Show 
1:00 am Austin Culmer Show 

Saturday 
5:30 am Dom Giordano Show 
8:00 am Russ Miller On Housing & Real Estate 
12:00 noon Dining Around with Frank & Mary Jelineck 
2:00 pm Financial Forum with Steve Cordasco 
5:00 pm Frank Ford Show 
8:00 pm Frank Rizzo 
11:00 pm Dr. Yvonne Kaye 
3:00 am David Coleman Show 

Sunday 
6:00 am Sunday Morning Show 
9:00 am Sunday With Sinatra featuring Sid Mark 
3:00 pm Dr. Dean Edell 
5:00 pm The Doctor Is In with Dr. Jim Corea 
6:00 pm Dr. Jim Corea on Health & Fitness 
8:00 pm Steve Friedman - Mr.Movie Show 
12:00 midnight Dom Giordano Show 

 

Past Favorites, fill in hosts, etc. Noted fill in hosts (in order of appearance) - Chuck Darrow, Bill Thomas, LaDonna Monet, John Ziegler, Dick Pomerantz, Mark Williams, Mike Seigal, Gil Gross.... Past Favs - Smokey Gifford // Rollye James // Dom Giordano // Bernie McCain Way Way Back - Dominic Quinn // Wynn Moore // Stan Major // Richard Hayes // Bernie Herman // Ken James // Rod Luck // former PD, Jack Ellery

Thumbnail Pictures

	Kent Voss		Susan Bray
	Pat Farnack		Gil Gross
	Earle Bailey		Valerie Knight - News. Picture
	Joel Gibbs		John Brown - Traffic & Weather, mornings
	John McNulty

Click the pictures below to enlarge

Frank Ford	Kent Voss2  - Kent Voss1	Russ Miller
Dominic Quinn - 1994	Old DB Christmas shot	Yvonne Kaye
Larry Gifford	Paul Perello - News - WWDB 1985	Jay and Hilarie
Frank Rizzo and Harry Gross	Here is an ad placed in the Inky by WWDB from May 1975 (140K)	Mike Rossi at the SuperBowl www.phillysportz.com
Rod Carson Frank and Sid Mark Michael Smerconish 1994		Steve Friedman "Mister Movie"

John Brown	Paul Perrello	Bernie Herman
Austin Culmer	David Coleman	Gil Gross

Station Address

166 E. Levering Mill Rd.
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
 Bala Cynwyd, PA
17,000 watts -- Tower height 954 ft.

Note:  Operations will be moved from this building to WXTU, also owned by Bealsey.

Station Owners

Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc.
3033 Riviera Drive, Suite 200
Naples, Florida 34103
Telephone: 941-263-5000
Fax: 941-263-8191
http://www.bbgi.com
email@bbgi.com

Press Links

	http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001106/fl_beasley.html - Press release.
	Philadelphia Daily News story 11/7/2000
	Philadelphia Inquirer story 11/7/2000
	Clark DeLeon weighs in on WWDB in his Digital City column
	letters to the editor
	column by former sales executive Jeff Hurvitz
	http://web.philly.com/content/inquirer/2000/11/13/opinion
	Daily News Stu confirms the "behind the scenes" story you read here first on November 8th
	In Stu's column today he comments on the new "Point" air commercials and the similarity to B101's spots.
	From Stu's column today - Excerpt - Tongues were set wagging when WWDB discard Irv Homer was spotted coming out of the City Line building that is home to WPHT talk radio, carrying a manila envelope under his arm. Turns out he was there not for a job interview (he's under a no-compete clause until May, check with me then) but to cut commercials for Cherry Hill Wellness Center, which he is allowed to do. On another front, look for Evil Irv's exposure to increase on Marc Howard's Sunday-morning "Inside Story" snip-and-snarl TV show. .

Audio

	If you missed the format flip here is the streaming audio.
	More audio clips are listed on the audio archive page.

WWDB format flip FAQ's 

	To whom to I write to complain about WWDB? Send a snail mail directly to the station.  Make one copy to Bruce or Brian Beasley and the other marked "For the Public File."  Public File letters must be made available to, just that, the public upon demand. 166 E. Levering Mill Rd. Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004  Bala Cynwyd, PA
	How can I contact Sid Mark? Sid's contact information is here.  His show is syndicated on other stations.  He works out of a studio called Masters and Johnson in Narberth.  The name of his production company which oversees the syndicated show is Orange Productions and my guess is that he will continue to do the show from the same studio.  His personal studio at WWDB is now (as of fall 2000) used to air "the Point" format.
	How can I contact (insert favorite host here) by email. Susan Bray's site Kent Voss's site Jay and Hilarie's site Jason Meyer email Irv Homer email (the jury is out whether he reads it) The rest should get any regular mail forwarded to them c/o WWDB
	Are you connected to WWDB? Nope, Don't email me any direct complaints.  I didn't do this.  If you DO feel the need to email me use some good letter structure so I can read it easier.  Your first name is a help as well.

 

Other Notes:

	On November 3rd the Beasley's registered thepoint965.com (482 NE 31st Street BOCA RATON, FL 33431) - This was three days before they flipped formats.  Remember up until November 6th they led the entire staff to believe that they were going to continue with the talk format.  As we reported here first on this website (11/8) that turned out to be a ruse.
	January 1999 - The first fan based "VossWorld" website was created by Alex Charnya.  After his  host company goes out of business it is replaced by kentvoss.com
	Year 2000 AIR awards winners (there is an odd relationship between AIR award winners at WWDB and then the winners leaving.  In a previous year Phil Valentine won3 and was let go 2 months later.) Best Traffic Reporter - John Brown, Metro Networks Best Talk Show Host - WPHT Michael Smerconish Best Morning Team - WMMR Barsky in the Morning and team Best Spot News - WWDB Tom MacDonald & Brad Segall, Pier Collapse Best Sports Reporting - WWDB, Mike Rossi Best Public Service Announcement - WWDB Zach Giltrap
	WWDB won 3 AP awards in the spring of 2001, months after they ceased operations.
	Brief History The call letters stood for William and Dolly Banks (calls were changed around 1968).  The siblings William and Dolly bought was was then WHAT-AM from the Public Ledger.  Included was 96.5 FM which was used to simulcast the AM side until 1955-56.  They hired Sid Mark to host an overnight jazz music show on the FM.  In 1958 WHAT 96.5-FM became all jazz until early 1975.  On March 17th 1975 WWDB 96.5-FM flipped to all talk.  After her brother died in 1979 Dolly took over as full owner and GM.  Several lawsuits were filed against WWDB in 1985 concerning age and racial discrimination.  Dolly retired in May 1985.  The station was then sold to Ragan Henry (a Philly lawyer) for $6,000,000.  At that time he was the only minority station owner in town.  Soon after he sold it to Charles Schwartz who turned it over to his private company, Pinache Broadcasting, in 1986.  You might remember the station was carrying a heavy spot load for Pinache Travel through the late '80s.  In 96 Mercury Broadcasting bought it for [[ here the story is incomplete, I have to look the rest up in my files]] 48 mil and then Beasley bought it for nearly 65 mill in the late 97.   Philly Talk Radio Online - Talk Radio News for Philadelphia Back to the archive index