September 30th, 2009 
joel On March 15, 1949 the new medium of television came to Erie, Pennsylvania when station WICU signed on channel 12.
Now the stations is celebrating 60 years of broadcasting with commemorative promos leading up to a 60th anniversary show in December. Meanwhile all of us here at P&T get to enjoy the look back.
Promos courtesy of WICU 12:
Promo #1:
http://www.pressandtower.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/WICU-60th-Anniversary-1.flv
Promo #2:
Promo #3:
http://www.pressandtower.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/WICU12-60th_3.flvI love this stuff…don’t you?!?!
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Great promos, Joel. Thanks for this post. I have memories of the Pappy show as a kid, always wanting to go to the studio for one of the shows (Skip Letcher, was it, who was Pappy?). Vance McBryde as the Atlantic weatherman with “a big hello to the folks in Kane”. Even some of the other news sponsors, such at National Fuel Gas, Halle’s department store, etc.
It’s interesting that most all the memories of a TV station are centered around the live, local elements and not the network or syndicated programming. That truly defines the heart and soul of a broadcaster.
It’s nice to see the Lilly’s finally recognizing the station’s history. Bill Knupp’s voice brings back a lot of great memories. Working with the professionals like Knupp, McGrath, McBryde, Csop, etc. made the job so enjoyable. WICU had lots of great folks over the years and they made Channel 12 the leader that it was for all those years. It’s a shame that SJL can’t get their act together and bring it back into the lead, but today it’s all about $$$ and not the viewers needs, or quality.
The golden age of television…and to think that WICU began the same year I was born……I guess we’re both “pioneers”.
thanks for grabbing these Joel.
Why was this not done back on the anniversary? Maybe the station took some heat for neglecting its history from some viewers and decided to commemorate the anniversary after all.
That is the $64,000 question, Tom. It does seem odd that the 60th Anniversary program isn’t going to be until December. Why not do it back in March when the station ACTUALLY turned 60???
I just hope that the program (when it does air in December) will spend a good deal of time focusing on the station’s heritage and not spend too much time on the current staff. I guess I want it to be a nostalgia program and not an infomercial for 12 News and the current staff.
Tom..there may be some truth in what you say, but my bet is that with the move from 1220 combined with all the upheaval that was taking place earlier in the year, something like this was not a priority.
And Tim…sadly, you’re probably correct in that it’ll end up being an informercial for the curent WICU with a slight nod to the past. The original special, if memory serves, was 2 hours. This will probably be cut to a half hour at best.
I remember celebrating the 40th anniversary back in 1989. The station produced a special show with vintage footage and interviews with veterans from on-air and engineering.
We even brought Jay Leno in for a “live” show at the Warner back when he was stumping for the Tonight Show slot. We hung out with Jay afterwards and he was very polite.
[...] Celebrating WICU's 60 years | Press and Tower :: News and … [...]
I had the great honor of watching the TV-12 40th Anniversary special the other night at Mike Csop’s house. It was a fast paced 60 minute retrospective. A lot of great talent has walked through the doors at TV-12 over the years: Bill “Chilly Billy” Cardille, “Pappy”, Van Cantfort, Pete Sala, Dave Forsythe, Eric Johnson, Bill Knupp, Vance McBryde, Hyle Richmond, Ned McGrath, Shirley Ramsey, Bea Canfield, Ken Fanzini, Bob Lundquist, Art Ingram, Clarence Paoella, Mike Csop, etc. Wow! There was a lot of legendary talent at WICU both in front of and behind the camera…I hope I didn’t forget anyone?
I dare say that the current management would be hard-pressed to duplicate the quality shown in the 40th Anniversary program. Although Mike Csop did tell me that someone from Channel 12 contacted him a few weeks ago (he wouldn’t say who) and asked for access to his archives…so you never know, it might just be a great program?
As a long time past member of the WICU family I am very happy to see the past remembered by the present ownership of WICU.
WICU has long and storied hstory in broadcasting that should never to be tossed away.
I look forward to the anniversary show and offer any help I can to the producers of the show.
My hubby recognized my curly hair in the promo with Pappy and the dance class….. I was in the back but it was definitely me!!! I have pics in my scrap book from that day!!! Thanks for the memories! Those were the days!! I’d love to put that clip on FB!
Catherine Little’s Dance Class!!! How much fun we had with Pappy!!!
I enjoyed some of the great moments on WICU TV 12 here in Erie PA. HAPPY 60TH anniversary WICU 12! I also remember ICU News “the hotline edittion”, and “the eleventh hour edition” news shows many years ago.Thanks for the memories.
Does anyone know when the 60th Anniversary show is going to be scheduled?
I’ll ask again, has the 60th Anniversary program been scheduled yet? The original September 30th post said: “Now the stations is celebrating 60 years of broadcasting with commemorative promos leading up to a 60th anniversary show in December.”
Did this show get blown off, or have I missed the promos for it, or will it run in the Christmas-New Year week and they’ve not yet started promoting it yet?
I think I can answer Roger’s question. I know for a fact that Lisa Adams spent 3 1/2 hours last week at Mike Csop’s home in Spartansburg interviewing him and looking at Mr. Csop’s collection of WICU memorabilia.
The show is still being worked on. I don’t believe a date has been set but I am almost 90% certain the show will run in December. I’d try for 100% certainty but these days there is no sure thing except death and taxes – LOL
Son’t hold your breath, I will be really surprised if the show ever airs. Neither Brian Lilly, nor and his father, give a rats butt about WICU’s history or the impact the station had on Erie. As far as they are concerned WICU history started when SJL took over from the Lamb family. Anything before that time is unimportant. SJL continues to destroy 2 good stations with their ineptitude and mismanagement. 12 & 35 are just BL’s play toys.
I am very interested in the 60-year retrospective. My uncle, Don Lick, was one of WICUs earliest announcers. Among other assignments, he hosted a local talent show, Stairway to the Stars, during which local people showcased their talents. During the following week viewers (probably relatives of the contestants) submitted postcards naming the “talent” they deemed the best. I think I was six or seven years old (about 1949?) when I, too, competed. I sang “If I Knew You Were Coming I’d Have Baked a Cake”. No, I did not win but Mother thought that had to be because other contestants had larger families.
Don Lick was a true talent of his own, with a sonorous voice, piano skills, and a rich rendition of “Old Man River”. He moved on to southern California sometime after 1958, and established many musical groups prior to his death in June 2009.
His brother-in-law, Bob Berlin, worked with a fellow welder, (first name Judd) to construct an early boom to handle one of the cameras used at WICU.
Please contact me if there is any way to secure information on this retrospective or the earlier one. I know Uncle Don’s family would be delighted.
I have a black-and-white 8 X 10 photo of Bob Berlin posing on the WICU boom.
“Garden & Farm” with Biron Decker was a Saturday staple for many years until 1979. An easy memory of the show is its theme song: “Stars and Stripes Forever”.