PROGRAMMING THE MASSES: HOW KDKA RADIO SHAPED THE WAY PITTSBURGHERS VIEWED THE CHRISTMAS SEASON.

For decades, KDKA radio, 1020 on the AM dial, was the titan of the Pittsburgh Radio market. The era I wish to focus on in this post is from 1968 through 1975. The time of year I wish to address is the Christmas Season, and the broadcast hours which I feel merit discussing are weekdays from 6:00 AM to 12:00 PM. In the four or five weeks before Christmas, the morning disc jockey, Jack Bogut, (who started with the station in 1968), would anchor the station's broadcasts from the front window of the Joseph Horne Department Store. The one Christmas song which I associate best with the era is "Ring Christmas Bells" (1962) by the Ray Coniff singers. That recording (as well as the song itself) is unusual, and to some people's tastes, downright bizarre. However, it set the tone (in an unauthentic sense) for traditional Christmases, seemingly rooted in British observances. Mr. Bogut led the station's appeal for donations to Children's Hospital. That initiative was co-sponsored by a Pittsburgh newspaper and was branded "The Old Newsboys' Drive." Mr. Bogut provided humorous stories. Some of those were of a far-fetched nature, such as the search for the mythical perfect farkleberry tree. It was the era of the Vietnam war with horrendously high weekly number of U.S. soldiers killed in action. Somehow, KDKA led its listeners to believe that adhering to traditional Christmas tenets was worthwhile.

John Fray, December 2024