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Radio station WAKU was not in Pittsburgh. In the 1950s and 1960s WAKU was located in Latrobe, Pennsylvania (Arnie Palmer, Mr. Rogers, Rolling Rock Beer [up to 2006]), approximately thirty-five miles east of Pittsburgh. Latrobe was a small market and WAKU was a low-wattage (I forget the actual wattage), dawn-to-dusk operation. Jim's move from WAKU to WJAS -- which was located in Pittsburgh -- took him from a "minor league" operation into the major leagues, especially once he went on to Pittsburgh's KDKA, a clear-channel station with historical roots and in all likelihood the preeminent radio outlet in western Pennsylvania.
With the exception of my opinion on KDKA, the rest of this entry is based on my personal exerience. I grew up in Latrobe (1942-1960) and my mother, Lydia Ann Coulter, conducted two half-hour women's shows each week on WAKU and also sold radio time for the station from roughly 1954 through 1960. She knew Jim White well. During that time the general manager was Bill Thomas.
I bother to make this distinction only to show that Jim's move from WAKU to WJAS definitely was small market to major market and not just one Pittsburgh station to another.
NOTE: While I have no direct knowledge about WMCK, that station is listed in McKeesport, PA, which, while closer to Pittsburgh than Latrobe (about 10 miles vs 35), would be another small market and distinct from downtown Pittsburgh.
