Third in a series
SHAMOKIN - For the first time in nearly 10 years, listeners can turn their radios to 1480 AM on Saturday and hear Shamokin's "Morning Mayor" broadcasting live.
With the assistance of brothers Jim and Frank Treese and their Radio Anthracite Inc., long-time Shamokin DJ Tom Kutza will return to the airwaves with a live broadcast from the Anthracite Heritage Festival of the Arts.
The radio signal will reach about a two-mile area, but those at WISL1480.com can listen worldwide on the Internet.
"For this one day, we are going to bring back the magic of WISL," Kutza, of Elysburg, said Wednesday.
Past festival appearances that have included displays of the old control room created a great response, but this year, "we are bringing back WISL in a big way," he said.
Kutza and the Treeses will set up their temporary station near Independence Fire Company. An antenna and transmitter are already in place.
Jim Treese joked that they will be broadcasting from the "World Famous WISL fire escape."
A rooster and Santa
Anthracite will be using a "Part 15" AM transmitter, which gets its name from the section of the FCC regulation that regulates unlicensed broadcasts. It is the same type of transmitter used in wireless computer routers and Bluetooth headsets, Treese said.
It's power is just one tenth of a watt, compared to the 1,000 watts of the former WISL signal.
WISL-AM and FM, broadcasting from the Lark Building on Sunbury Street (Route 61), was on the air from 1948 to 2003. At one point, the station boasted that its signal extended into 12 counties and its listenership numbered some 500,000.
Kutza, WISL's morning DJ, was on the air for 38 of those years with his sidekick, "Big Red," a rooster that crowed each morning. He also hosted popular Sunday afternoon polka shows, the "Viewpoint 148" daily talk show and had the connection to Santa Claus, who read children's wish-list letters on air, a popular feature that can now be heard at www.newsitem.com during the holiday season.
Big fan base
In 2011, the Treeses, who became the curators of the station's equipment after it went off the air, began broadcasting music from the 1950s, '60s and '70s online using the WISL call letters.
Recently, the station began producing new episodes of Kutza's Sunday afternoon polka show. He pretends to be broadcasting from somewhere special in the area's past, such as the Victoria Theatre in Shamokin or Langis' in Mount Carmel. He discusses coal region trivia and plays old commercials, including those for Yoch's bakery and F&S Beer.
The response has been positive, Treese said.
"We are getting e-mails from all over the world telling us how wonderful it is to hear the polka and Tom Kutza on the air again," he said. "These are people in Arizona, Philadelphia and other areas that remember Shamokin and WISL.
"No other station that we know of, in such a small area, has that big of a fan base and people with such memories over WISL," he added.
The web-based show also rebroadcasts the famed "This is Pennsylvania" series by Pete Wambach, "Hot Rod Radio" with Wings Kalahan on Saturday mornings and "The Doo Wop Vault" with Big D on Sunday nights.
Those stopping by Saturday will also be able to sign up for the WISL 1480 Listener Club and be eligible for giveaways, including Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs baseball tickets, passes to T&D's Cats of the Wild and Woodward Cave and a Phillies lawn chair.
For Kutza, Saturday's broadcast will bring him back precious memories. He hopes it does the same for fans and friends of WISL.
"My biggest love about being in radio was meeting all the people and entertaining them," Kutza said. "I'm so excited to have those magic moments come back on Saturday."