590 MIGHTY MEMORY #313

WVIA’S 50th ANNIVERSARY AND WARM RADIO 

 Article from Scranton newspaper on the day WVIA went on the air. (blogs-thetiestribune) 

This September WVIA TV celebrated its 50th anniversary. On September 26th, WVIA went on the air and became the fourth TV station in WARMland. WARM Radio and its previous companies had a hand in the formation of WVIA TV and later the way that it sustained itself through fundraising. 
First the transmitter that WVIA used to go on the air came from WARM TV which was a factor in the early 1950s. WARM TV, owned by future Governor Bill Scranton later became WNEP TV. WNEP essentially gave the transmitter to first GM George Strimel and the fledgling board of the educational TV outlet.
Once on the air, the TV station had an annual Auction every June. Called Action Auction, it relied on local personalities to act as guest auctioneers. Tim Karlson, George Gilbert as well as Harry West came by and lent a hand. As a matter of fact, one of the biggest thrills I ever had was giving Harry a tour of the WVIA FM Studios one night when he was at the station. 

Currently WARM Radio is now 590 Sports Radio. The new owners are barely using the WARM call letters. BUT the legacy of WARM still lives on through the institutions still thriving because of the seeds planted by the help of the people who were involved with WARM broadcasting. 

 In edition #3310 of LuLac, we wrote of the 50th anniversary. Here's the link: http://lulacpoliticaletter.blogspot.com/