LISTEN: KYW 1060’s First Broadcast, 50 Years Ago Today

The first report on the station was 50 years ago today: A vote for religious freedom at the Second Vatican Council.

No jingle. No “All news, all the time” slogan. No teletype machine ticking in the background. Fifty years ago today, KYW 1060 came on the air after the old format, Million Seller Tunes, went off the air.

DJ Steve Porter — no, not that DJ Steve Porter — was the first to report on the new station. “The Vatican votes in favor of religious liberty,” he said, reporting on the fourth period of the Second Vatican Council and the Dignitatis humanae, aka the Declaration on Religious Freedom. It passed 2,308 to 70.

KYW’s Mike Madden reported today on the station’s 50th birthday. Bud Galow, the first engineer at the station, said he figured the station would be a flop and everyone would be out of a job in six months.

Per KYW, the station is one of the most profitable in the CBS chain.

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