Pittsburgh Radio: Suburban WCNS Adding Jim Quinn

Jim Quinn

Former Pittsburgh radio talk-show host Jim Quinn is going to have some broadcast exposure for his new Internet show in his home market.

WCNS 1480 AM (500 watts-Day, 1 Kw Night) in Latrobe, whose daylight signal reaches east-central areas of Westmoreland County, will carry Quinn from 6 to 9 a.m. beginning May 4.

It will be Quinn's second broadcast affiliate, after WYSL-AM/FM in Rochester, N.Y., one of Quinn's old affiliates when his show was based at WPGB 104.7 FM.

WCNS, recently purchased by LHTC Media of Stahlstown, has retained much of the full-service format provided by former owner John Longo.

Before beginning his political talk morning show, Quinn spent a number of years doing voice over work for WPGH-TV 53 and as a disc jockey at KQV in the 1960s and 1970s, where he would befriend his eventual political mentor Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh worked at KQV and WIXZ/McKeesport, PA as a disc jockey under the name Jeff Christie.

Quinn is best remembered in the Pittsburgh area as the vociferous nighttime host on KQV radio in the 1960s, during the station's peak as a Top 40 power. Quinn was hired from WING/Dayton in 1967 and had an immediate impact on the market. In 1968, he jumped at an opportunity to take a job in Philadelphia, but was back at KQV in less than a year. He stayed until 1972, then spent time in New York City at WPIX-FM.

He then moved to Buffalo, New York where in the late 1970s he became known to listeners throughout the northeast on WWKB (WKBW at the time).