Remember When: WKPA Radio broadcast to the Alle-Kiski Valley for over 50 years

It was once the “Voice of the Valley.”

For more than 50 years, WKPA Radio of New Kensington presented a mix of local news, plus many genres of pop and ethnic music, along with sports talk.

WKPA was chartered June 25, 1940, and the call letters stood for Kensington, Pa. The station signed on in October 1940. It started as a 250-watt station at 1150 on the AM dial and broadcast only during the daytime.

The exception was when they stayed on the air until 3 a.m. to broadcast the election returns that included President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s successful bid for an unprecedented third term.

The station was on the second floor of the Cooper Brothers music store building at 810 Fifth Ave. It was operated by the Cooper brothers.

They operated the station from the second floor because, after the devastating flood of 1936, they thought it would be a good idea in case a similar tragedy occurred again. If flooding occurred again, the station could stay on the air.

WKPA was permitted to output up to 1,000 watts in 1957, requiring an upgrade at the broadcast tower on Bouquet Hill in East Deer. Edward Kroen was the station’s general manager at the time.

In 1958, Nelson L. Goldberg was elevated to general manager. Goldberg, 28, was a 1949 Arnold High School graduate. On July 2, 1964, the Cooper family sold the station to Goldberg, who operated the facility until selling it in 1990.

By the time Goldberg took over, WKPA had a stable of established personalities. Among them was jazz aficionado Phil Brooks; Springdale’s Bill Seles, who had his Sunday polka bandstand; and Sal Patitucci, host of the “Italian Hour” that followed Seles.

Bob Tatrn was hired in 1959, primarily for newscasts, but he branched out into doing local high school sports. A number of local high schools played daylight football on Saturdays at the time, so their games were carried live.

Because some games were played on Friday nights, and WKPA was solely a daytime station, Tatrn would record the Friday night games and play them back Saturday mornings. Local athletes woke up early to hear how they played the preceding night.

Tatrn and his longtime partner, Joe “Pippo” Falsetti, were legends in local broadcasting, with a partnership that lasted nearly 35 years. The duo, however, switched from radio to cable TV during the 1980s.

One of the most enduring personalities was Bob Livorio, host of an extremely popular show that played a mix of oldies, rock tunes and music for young lovers. Pegged “Your Saturday Morning Listening Habit,” it was exactly that for Alle-Kiski Valley teens and young adults for 36 years.

How popular was Livorio’s show?

In 1961, when three high schools were having their picnics at Kennywood Park, students demanded park officials play Livorio’s show over the loudspeakers.

Through the week, Livorio was an advertising salesman for the New Kensington Daily Dispatch.

So many listeners mailed in dedications that Livorio and his family sorted through them on Friday nights preparing for Saturday’s show.

In 1990, Goldberg divested his broadcast interests and sold WKPA to Salem Broadcasting. Two years later, Salem brought on the Pentecostal Temple Development Corp. The format was changed to Black Gospel, and the call letters were changed to WGBN (Gospel Broadcasting Network).

The call letters WKPA now are serving an FM station based in Port Matilda, near State College.