Joe Niagara, WIBG Philadelphia, July 1957 (0:29:23)

The Larry Ware Collection
… Niagara calls in Philly at Radio 99 …

[Description by Larry Ware]

Please remember that REELRADIO must pay music licensing fees to present unedited music online. If you enjoy unedited airchecks like this one, your tax-deductible contribution to our operating fund will help keep this and other “unscoped” exhibits available.

This mostly unscoped aircheck of 30-year-old Joe Niagara on Philadelphia’s WIBG came to me from collector Aaron Mintz. I picked it up because I wanted to hear what radio sounded like in the month and year I was born (July, 1957). This is a great aircheck with classic 1957 songs.

Niagara started on WIBG in 1947. WIBG was “middle of the road”, but in 1956, Joe started mixing in a few new “rock ‘n’ roll” records.

Joe Niagara passed away Friday, June 4, 2004 at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood Pa.

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Welcome to the new ReelRadio!

This site is now operated by the North Carolina Broadcast History Museum. 

We want to thank the board of ReelRadio, Inc. for their stewardship since the passing of the founder Richard Irwin in 2018.  It has not been easy and they have maintained the exhibits for future generations to enjoy.

I met Richard Irwin, aka Uncle Ricky, when we were freshmen at East Carolina University.  We both had worked at local stations in our hometowns.  No one was more passionate about radio, especially Top 40 radio, than my friend Richard. 

Our goals with this site are to preserve the exhibits and make them available free of charge for people to enjoy.  Over time, we hope to add some airchecks to the site.  This will not happen immediately.  Time and resources will determine the future of new exhibits. 

Many thanks to the web folks at the Beasley Media Group for countless hours of work.  Again thanks to the board members of ReelRadio, Inc. for their faith in us. 

Richard Irwin’s hope was that his site would live on long after his passing. He said, “I hope REELRADIO will survive as my contribution to the ‘radio business’. The business is allowed to forget me, but the business should never forget the great era of radio that we celebrate here”.

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Board of NCBHP
North Carolina Broadcast History Project