In this week’s issue… Times-Shamrock celebrates centennial, lights tower – St. Barnabas expands in PA – Missing traffic reporter found dead – GBH names new leader – New PD on Jersey Shore – TV news vets plan farewells
By SCOTT FYBUSH
Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada
*It’s an annual tradition in downtown Scranton, PENNSYLVANIA the night before Thanksgiving: thousands of people fill the streets around the corner of Penn Avenue and Biden Street, enjoying a street fair, music, food trucks and, right at the stroke of six, the lighting of the Christmas display that’s strung up and down the tower of WEJL (630) atop the Scranton Times building.
And this year, he invited a friend to do the honors – which means it was your editor up there high above Scranton actually lighting up the tower and cueing the fireworks display that started the holiday season in northeast Pennsylvania. It was a thrill indeed, not least because this is a special year for WEJL.
While the Times was hardly the only newspaper to own an early radio station, the Lynett family boasts a unique history: it is, as best we can tell, the only family-owned newspaper/radio combination to have survived an entire century.
After operating WQAN as a noncommercial, shared-time operation from the 1920s until 1950, the station transformed into commercial WEJL and eventually spawned a family-owned broadcast group, Times-Shamrock, that built up a larger cluster in Scranton and expanded to other markets such as Milwaukee and Reno.
Next month, the Lynett-Haggerty family will be honored for their centennial with a Spotlight award from the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters, a well-deserved honor for an enduring family media legacy.
THANK YOU TO ALL OUR CUSTOMERS!
The 2024 Tower Site Calendar is very, very nearly sold out.
We are so happy that we have so many supporters after nearly a quarter century of doing this. We especially appreciate the nice comments we receive from our longtime buyers.
We will not be reprinting this year’s calendar, so if you want one, order it now. We still have some previous years available if you need to fill in any gaps.
In the meantime, we still have some great broadcasting books. Check out the store!