PA Radio: WHYL-AM Aims For November Return

Mike Wilson, Larry Flood (Carlisle Sentinel photo)

Midstate Pennsylvania is getting a blast from the past this November.

According to pennlive.com, WHYL 960 AM, a staple of the Carlisle-Harrisburg-area radio scene since the 1948, is coming back on-air after being shut down in January 2014.

The station went off-air when the company that owned it filed for bankruptcy. It was then purchased by Harold and Eric Swidler of WIOO Country Gold Radio and Red WCAT 102.3 FM fame earlier this year.

Now, the Swidlers have a loose date for the premiere -- early November. The date is a safe one, Eric Swidler is optimistic the station will actually come on air prior to November.

WHYL 960 AM (5Kw-Day, 22 watts night)

In other WHYL news, former Carlisle mayor Kirk Wilson will be joining the station as the morning show host. It's a return home for Wilson, who used to work at WHYL FM in the 1960s as a high school student. He continued to work at the station off-and-on during college and became its news director in 1971. He left the station in 1975.

Wilson's excited for his new gig. "This is not going to be work," Wilson said. "This is part of my retirement. It's going to be something that I enjoy, something that's fun to do."

There will also be loads of music, mostly from the late 50s to the early 80s. "That was the music I was playing back [when I started at WHYL]," Wilson said. "They're the songs I know the words and can sing along with.

Larry Flood will be hosting the WHYL 960 AM afternoon show from 3-6 p.m.