WPGR (AM)
| City | Monroeville, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Frequency | 1510 (kHz) |
| First air date | September 27, 1964 (as WPSL) |
| Format | Religious (Catholic) |
| Power | 5,000 watts (Daytime) 2,500 watts (Critical Hours) 1 watt (Nighttime) |
| Class | D |
| Facility ID | 4028 |
| Callsign meaning | W Pittsburgh's Gospel Radio (previous format) |
| Owner | St. Joseph Ministries |
WPGR is a radio station serving the Pittsburgh area. The station, which is owned by St. Joseph Ministries, broadcasts at 1510 kHz, with a transmitter power of 5,000 watts daytime, 2,500 watts critical hours, and only 1 watt at nighttime. The city of license is Monroeville, Pennsylvania. WPGR is a non-commercial Catholic radio station.
It all began one day in the 1960s, when a group of friends just back from a fishing trip, approached local businessman Thomas M. “Tipper” Sylves with an idea they had been kicking around for a community radio station for Monroeville. Sylves was a prominent citizen in the community. He had been a coal miner, horse trader, lumberman, railroader, cattle baron and real estate broker, and he was always alert to new business opportunities – he listened.
The first step was to see if there was an AM frequency available. Jack Lieb, an attorney who work with the FCC, was contacted; he found that 1510 on the AM dial had been frozen for government use, but was about to be released. Leib wanted to pursue the opportunity, but he needed financial backing, and that’s where Tipper Sylves came in.
Sylves and Lieb soon formed Monroeville Broadcasting Company, Inc. The next step was to find a location. Sylves set aside five acres of some property that he owned just off Strochein road. There they would build a seven-room office building adjacent to the entrance of the US Steel Research labs. The facility, with an initial investment of over $100,000, represented one of the most modern equipped stations in western Pennsylvania. The new owner-operators appointed Bill Lynch as station manager and senior announcer. Sharing the microphone with Lynch would be Ed McLaughin and Bob McKee, both well-known local radio personalities.
The nickname of one of Sylves' daughters, Esma, (Punchy) was to find a place in the new stations call letters: W …P…Punchy…S…Sylves… L…Lieb, -- WPSL.
WPSL first went on the air on September 27, 1964. Operating from sunrise to sundown, it had an effective radiated power of a quarter kilowatt with a signal that radiated out over 47 air miles, effectively covering Allegheny County.
In time, Jack Leib got out of the business, selling his shares to Sarah Sylves Thompson, so that she and her father now owned two-thirds of the stock. With the death of Tipper Sylves in the 1970s, and her sister Punchy shortly afterward, Sarah put the company up for sale, closing it with a dark license by the end of 1979. Sarah Sylves Thompson died in 1995 at the age of 86.
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