If you grew up in Pennsylvania in the 1970's and 80's, and found yourself anywhere near a radio, it's a good bet that you have heard this man's voice. From 1969 through 1985 the words "It's a Beautiful Day In Pennsylvania" were delivered through the gravelly vocal chords of one Pete Wambach. During it's run, the radio feature program officially titled "This is Pennsylvania," was broadcast on more than 100 Pennsylvania radio stations. The idea was simple, each day Pete presented a little known fact about the state's history, some local trivia from a long forgotten corner of the state or a highlight...

Presented are a series of classic radio commercials for the Sun Ray Drug Store in Shamokin. Recorded in the early 1970's, these feature some familiar voices from the WISL airwaves including Dave Leonard, Dennis Edwards, Tom Kutza and more. These spots not only highlight the creative talent at WISL but also the good humor and lighthearted nature of Dave Donmoyer from Sun Ray. Thanks to Dave Leonard (Dave Horjnacki) for digging out these hilarious commercials. Sun Ray Drugs - 11 o'Clock Low   Sun Ray Drugs - A Day at the Dentist   Sun Ray Drugs - Baseball   Sun...

If you lived in Shamokin prior to 1977 you will certainly remember Yoch's Bakery. You may even remember the smell of fresh baked bread walking to and from school or work, but do you remember Yoch's on the radio? WISL aired many commercial over the years for "Yoch's Dutch Maid Bread" and we are fortunate enough to have a couple of these classic commercials to share. AUDIO EXHIBITS Yoch's New Dutch Maid White Enriched Bread (1957)   I "Yike" New Dutch Maid "Bwead!" (1964)   Yoch Bakers Bake Early (1964)   Yoch's Dutch Maid Sandwich Bread (1964)   Enriched...

There are few names more recognizable in the Shamokin and Mount Carmel areas than Tom Kutza, and even fewer that conjure up such positive and happy memories. Of all the voices heard over the WISL airwaves, Tom's was there the longest, spending roughly 34 years behind the microphone. To many, it's unimaginable to think that Tom worked anywhere else other than WISL, but believe it or not, there was a time that Tom was just a kid trying to break into the business. In radio, you needed to take whatever job or jobs you could get, and Tom's break into the business occurred at two different radio...

Radio was a much different medium in 1948 when WISL first signed on the air. Back then, radio was programmed much like television is programmed today with a schedule of different programming types throughout the day. Most radio stations had network affiliations and would run prime time and news programing offered by them. WISL was a Mutual Network affiliate and aired a number of their programs. We will dig into this topic at a later date. For this post we will revisit a short lived program that centered on one of the biggest political topics of the day, Communism. The year was 1952, the "Red...

Stanley Coveleski was born Stanislaus Kowalewski on July 13th 1889 in Shamokin, PA. He was a 5 foot, 11 inch, right handed pitcher that made his major league debut in 1912 with the Philadelphia Athletics. Through 1928, Coveleski would play for the Cleveland Indians, The Washington Senators and The New York Yankees.He had a 60% win-loss record in 357 games with a 2.89 ERA. He led the league twice with 38 career shutouts, once in ERA and once in Strikeouts. During the 1920 World Series, he had an ERA of 0.67 and beat the Brooklyn Dodgers three times (3-1, 5-1 and 3-0), a record that stood for 26 years,...

The Furhmann & Schmidt Brewing Company was formed in 1906, operating from a facility located at Commerce and Washington Streets in Shamokin. Known as simply F&S, They produced a variety of brews that could be found in tap rooms all over the city. Although the brewery closed in 1975, the memory is still very much alive. If you would like to learn more about the rich history of Furhmann & Schmidt, Larry Deklinski, Staff Writer for the News Item, published an amazing history of F&S. CLICK HERE to for the News Item Article. Business was booming by the 1950's and F&S began...

If you've listened to the live stream at WISL1480.com, you are probably familiar with the classic jingles presented in the oldies format. It's hard to believe, but these jingles never aired on the original WISL. These jingles are actually edits, and were created using different vintage jingle packages from WFIL in Philadelphia and WISM in Madison, Wisconsin, giving us the necessary parts for a natural sounding WIS-L sing. Jingles were a major part of radio programming from the 50's through the 70's. These "little songs" created a custom brand for the station and helped keep continuity between...

Howard Hertzog was a very busy guy in the Shamokin Area. During his short life, he managed to pack in as much activity and good will as he could. Howard was an active member of the Jaycees and served on the committee that raised the money needed to purchase a heart monitor for Shamokin State General Hospital. Howard was also the co-chariman for the 1969 Shamokin Area Heart Drive. Remember LAREDO (the Lower Anthracite Regional Economic Development Organization)? He was also chairman for the 1969 Miss Laredo Contest. LAREDO was the organization that helped start the Glen Burn Mine Tour, Howard...