History of WCEF/WADC and
WCEF-FM/WIBZ/WMGP, Parkersburg

The 1956 Broadcasting Yearbook shows WCEF on 1050 kHz, with 1000 watts daytime. The address is 234 Ft. Boreman Ave. The owner is Clarence E. Franklin, who is also shown as the general manager and chief engineer. Other personnel are Robert Sadler, commercial manager; Paula Carr, station manager and program director, Robert O'Brien, promotion manger.

The 1961-62 Broadcasting Yearbook indicates WCEF went on the air on April 9, 1954. It shows the licensee as Franklin Broadcasting Co. (original owner). Personnel are: C. E. Franklin, president, general manager, and chief engineer; Morris Leon, station and commercial manager; Randy Jay, program director; Betty Isner, program manager; Charles Marlow, farm director; Mike Morris, sports director; Dorothy Leon, women's director.

The 1969 Broadcasting Yearbook shows WCEF as a 5000 watt daytime station on 1050. Licensee is Franklin Bcstg Inc. Personnel are C. E. Franklin, pres, general manager, program, and news dir and chief engr; Gary Pinkerman, commercial manager; Betty Moore, program manager.

The 1969 Broadcasting Yearbook shows WCEF-FM on 99.3 MHz with 3000 watts and an antenna height 210 feet above average terrain. It indicates WCEF-FM went on the air on Sept. 1, 1965, and carries separate programs from WCEF.

Ralph Allen (real name Allenbaugh) was the morning personality, program director, and operations manager of WADC. He recalls, "WADC was a very special radio station to me. It sounded as much like WABC in New York as I could make it. The jocks were great, the station just had that sparkle...that aliveness that is so very missing in today's incestuous relationships with ARBITRON and more music without all the talk.... How I loved that radio station! My mentor, Calvin Dailey Jr. (Randy Jay) trusted me with his radio station...and totally turned me loose to do my job." Allenbaugh also worked at WPAR and WKYG, and currently owns Ralph Allen Media in Vienna.

The 1977 Broadcasting Yearbook shows WADC operating on 1050 kHz with 5000 watts. The licensee is Franklin Broadcasting Inc. (acquired Aug. 15, 1974). The network is MBS. Personnel are: Calvin Dailey Jr., president, general and program manager; C. J. Fagan, program director; Randy Mollendick, music director; Mark Allen, news director; Jeff Thurston, commercial manager; Charley Fagan, chief engineer.

The 1977 Broadcasting Yearbook shows WIBZ(FM) co-owned with WADC, on 99.3 MHz. The licensee is shown as Randy Jay Broadcasting Co. Network is ABC/FM. Personnel are Raymond Reich, general manager; Steve Wells, commercial manager; Linda Wild, news director.

The 1986 Broadcasting Yearbook shows WADC owned by Parkersburg/Marietta Broadcasting, Inc. (acquired March 9, 1984). Network ABC/C. Personnel are: Jim Embrescia, president; Jean Guzay, general sales manager; Randy Greene, program director.

The 1986 Broadcasting Yearbook shows WMGP(FM) co-owned with WADC, on 99.3 MHz. Network ABC/FM. Personnel are Ken Ward, program and music director; Jed Donahue, news director.

A 1989 history indicated that WADC and WMPG(FM) were recently acquired by Signal One Co., Kim Colebrook, president. Don Staats was the general manager. The stations were located at 703 Market Street in downtown Parkersburg.

WCEF Recollections

I started my radio career in 1965 at WCEF when I was still in Junior High School. The station had just put FM on the air. WCEF FM was the first FM back on the air in Parkersburg since WPAR/WAAM FM in the early 50s. After school, I immediately went to the station to ride the board. My voice was "changing" (remember what that was like) so I was not allowed to talk. At 3:30 programming would split, FM from the production studio so all commercials had to be produced before 3:30. There were few FM tuners and nobody at the WCEF really knew what to do with the FM. I don’t think management really cared since AM was making so much money. Still, FM wasn’t ignored. There was no pressure to show a profit on FM, so PD Gary Brookhart had "radio" fun with it. From 65 to 66, FM was Top 40, Beautiful music and County. No cash was coming in but Brookhart demanded quality. More on Brookhart, later.

Here is a bit of WCEF history and what I remember most about the Station through the 50s and 60s.

WCEF signed on in 1954 and was licensed to CE Franklin who, as I understand, was a top notice engineer who learned all about broadcasting engineering when he was in the military. That was apparent by the homebrewed equipment at the station and his ability hold things together with TV transformers and parts pirated from other pieces of equipment. If it was broken, Mr. Franklin could make it work!

The station signed on with 250 watts, quickly increased power to 1000 watts and then 5000 watts, all between 1954 and 1957. When WCEF increased to 5000 watts they were so proud of the new Gates 5KW transmitter they promoted the station as "Your jolly green giant" - since the transmitter’s color was, sort of, green. The transmitter/studios through most of the 50s and 60s were right along the Little Kanawha River, so a decent ground system. At 5KW, the signal was in Clarksburg, fringe Wheeling and Charleston and half way to Columbus.

It is worth saying more about the studio/transmitter location. Both were right across the Little Kanawha River from downtown Parkersburg, in an unincorporated section of County. The nearby bridge linking downtown Parkersburg to this area had been closed for years. Just to find your way to the station from downtown was a challenge, cross a bridge two miles away then travel a maze of alley like streets through South Parkersburg. Some in Parkersburg called Fort Boreman Avenue "Tin Can Alley or Skid Row". Remember the TV documentaries about poverty in the South? Any of them could have been filmed on Fort Boreman. Broken sewer mains that were never fixed, junk cars, old washing machines - even a few homes made from cardboard. Most of the neighbors near the station didn’t have phones. I can remember a few locals coming by to ask me to pass along a message to "whoever" when they would call the station for them. Yet it was safe on Fort Boreman, poor people, not mean people.

The Fort Boreman Studios were in a large, cinderblock building that always needed painting. I don’t think the call letters were even on the building. The base of the self supporting 200 foot tower was no more than 20 feet from the building. Since the tower was self supporting, I still can’t understand why it had guy wires? And the layout was just as wacko! You could not get to the production room or AM transmitter without going through the FM transmitter room and bathroom. And it really was a bathroom, it had a bathtub - and the teletype and coke machine. There were no individual offices. All office staff worked in a large room - bookkeeping/traffic/copy in one area, sales in another and GM and PD somewhere else. There was no phone system, single lines with extensions everywhere. But the equipment was amassing! Mr. Franklin was always up and down financially, but when he made money he bought the best! Several years after high school, I left Parkersburg for WGOW in Chattanooga, then owned by Ted Turner. Equipment they were using was on a par with retired junk WCEF stacked in the backroom. Studios weren’t much better, but there was a phone system!

When WCEF went on in 1954 the format was block programming. Whatever you could sell or find to put on the air, since there was no network affiliation. But rock n’ roll was in the wings and WCEF was the first station in Parkersburg to rock. This story could be twisted radio legend but here’s how it goes. Mr. Franklin, who everyone called Frank, met Gene Synder and Gary Brookhart, two talented announcers at WCOM. WCOM was a well run, top notch "adult standards" operation. Gene, Gary and Frank would get together to drink beer and talk radio. One night while drinking beer at the Last Chance Bar and Grill, a dive south of Parkersburg, Frank agreed to go rock and hired Synder and Brookhart. Two weeks later there was a format change. This was in 56 or 57. Over the years Synder, Brookhart and Franklin had a stormy relationship. He would fire one or both of them, they would come back. then quit - etc. On one occasion, Synder departed in the middle of the night and took all the 45s with him and bulk erased all the commercials. In the late 50s, Calvin Dailey (Randy Jay) responded to a "do you want to be a disc jockey" ad on the radio and was hired. Calvin later became manger, bought the station, sold it and brought it back. Synder eventually left for good and ended up at WHAS and several other stations in Louisville. He died in the late 80s. Brookhart went on to WMNI in Columbus, Mutual, WVIC in Lansing and did state network play-by-play for Michigan State. But in 1965, Brookhart is back and puts together a magic staff. John Potts from WPAR, Sam Anthony from WTAP Radio (the former WCOM) - even a guy named Mike Nardone from WCOL, Columbus. Meanwhile, Calvin Daily raids WPAR’s and WTAP’s staff. But they glory days are short. In 67 or 68 Calvin Daily leaves to manage WPAR. Franklin and Brookhart have a falling out about the same time. Brookhart, Potts and Anthony all leave for WCAW in Charleston, Brookhart as PD and Charleston Rockets play-by-play. Brookhart was soon back in Lansing and died in early 90s. John Potts left Charleston, came back to Parkersburg, ended up in State College, PA and now back in Parkersburg. WCEF was never able to bounce back from the 67/68 staff upheaval. In 1974 Mr. Franklin sold the stations to his former GM, Calvin Dailey. The call letter were changed to WADC and WIBZ FM when Dailey took over. I worked for Calvin when he bought the stations. I’ll have more later on the early days of WADC/WIBZ.

Gary Pinkerman

BELPRE - Gary O. Pinkerman Sr., 74, of Belpre died Jan. 10, 2004, at his residence. He was born Aug. 1, 1929, in Proctorville, Ohio, a son of the late Capt. Ernest Pinkerman and Ferne Pinkerman Chamberlain. He graduated from Proctorville High School and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and was a veteran of the Korean War. Gary was a well-known radio and TV personality in the local area. His career in broadcasting began at WMOR, Morehead, Ky., before moving to WIMA in Lima, Ohio. After relocating to the Parkersburg area, he was a radio and TV announcer for WTAP. He later announced for WPAR, WCEF, WKYG and WXIL before retiring from WTAP in 1992. He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Doris Suck Pinkerman; three sons, Gary Jr., Mark and Steve, all of Belpre; three granddaughters, Jennifer Pinkerman of Belpre, Elizabeth and Olivia Pinkerman of Indianapolis; a sister and brother-in-law, Carolyn and Buck Crawford of Belpre; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Joann and Max Hart of Columbus, Ohio; sister-in-law, Mary Stone; and brother-in-law, Jim Suck of Ravenswood. There will be no visitation. Services will be held at the convenience of the family. Memorials may be made to Housecalls/Hospice, c/o Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital Arrangements are being handled by Leavitt Funeral Home, Belpre.

Mark Aulabaugh writes, "Gary was in radio in the Tri-state before coming to Parkersburg. He wanted to get into Television and tried to get a job at WHTN. He was told that he had talent - but he needed to get some experience in a smaller market and and come back in 6 months. He got a job doing mainly radio at WTAP and talent for Television. Back in the 50s, if you were on WTAP Radio, you were likely going to be "talent" for TV. Gary was very popular on both radio and TV and decided to stay. He eventually went into sales at WTAP, WCEF and was GM at WKYG."