(Left to right) Larry Litwin, Associate Professor at Rowan University (our moderator)
Roy Shapiro, former General Manager of KYW Newsradio
Bill "Wee Willie" Webber, Chairman of the Broadcast Pioneers
Frank J. Hogan, President of the Broadcast Pioneers
Harry Donahue, morning anchor of KYW Newsradio
Ralph "Bud" Galow, former KYW tech (who engineered the first newscast)
Bill Roswell, news editor and anchor, KYW Newsradio
at the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia luncheon
The Bala Golf Club, Philadelphia
Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Forty years ago from the time of our luncheon, a bold new format started in our market. It was "the all news format," and the station was KYW Newsradio.

It was just before noon on Tuesday, September 21, 1965 when the last music DJ (Broadcast Pioneers member Bill "Wee Willie" Webber) played the last record on KYW as a music station. Moments later, it was high noon and on Philadelphia's KYW, it was truly "The Day the Music Died." The first newscaster was Steve Porter who later spent over a decade with NBC.

40 years later, KYW Newsradio is the number one station in town according to the latest ratings published September 20, 2005.

Exactly 40 years to the day since the start of the all news format, The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia had their first luncheon of the new season (Wednesday, September 21, 2005) and at that noontime get together, we honored KYW Newsradio and their first 40 years as an all news operation. We had 6 speakers from KYW and awarded the station a plaque.

Our speakers were:

Roy Shapiro, former General Manager of KYW Newsradio
Bill Roswell, news editor and anchor for KYW Newsradio
Harry Donahue, morning news anchor and sports reporter for KYW Newsradio
Larry Litwin, Associate Professor at Rowan & former KYW news reporter
Bud Galow, former KYW tech (he engineered the Steve Porter report)
Bill "Wee Willie" Webber, last music air personality on KYW Radio

The date was Wednesday, September 21st at the Bala Golf Club in the Wynnefield section of Philadelphia. We have complete audio of the event (about an hour in length). The audio is encoded in two parts (to ensure faster loading). Once you have started the audio, at the proper time, it will automatically segue from segment 1 to segment 2.

Complete Audio

Video Clips

From the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
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The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com