Alert Reader Bob asks: "I know you've publicized it before -- but could you kindly republish the info regarding how and when one might listen to your (radio) show?"
Well, if you were in the vicinity of Washington, D.C., our nation's capital, you could go to the National Zoo ...
Oh, sorry, that's how to see a komodo dragon, the world's largest living lizard.
If you were in the vicinity of Oakland, or anywhere that Carnegie Mellon's WRCT-FM (88.3) can be heard, you could listen from 12 noon to 2 p.m. Saturdays, following the "Saturday Light Brigade."
If you're out of range of WRCT's massive flamethrowing 1,750-watt directional signal (it's not for beans in the Mon Valley, because it's aimed west), you can also listen online at wrct.org.
You also could listen to WKHB (620) in Irwin on Sunday evenings at 7:15 p.m. ... following the "Scriptural Rosary."
Yep, it's one heck of a lead-in I've got on WKHB. Most Sundays, my audience consists of literally dozens of shut-ins, along with a handful of elderly people who think it's still WHJB in Greensburg. ("Can I speak to Nellie King? What time's the farm report on? Do you have the score of the Hempfield game?")
. . .
In Other News: A few items of interest from Penn State McKeesport Lower Fox Chapel:
We now pause Tube City Almanac for these words from two of our sponsors, which may in fact actually be content from my lousy radio show:
Business development in McKeesport is not an contradiction in terms.
And that's what the city will try to prove tomorrow to more than 150 business owners and local officials at the first McKeesport Economic Development Summit, to be held at the Palisades Ballroom, Fifth Avenue at Water Street.
Events begin with a catered luncheon at noon, and featured speakers will include Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato; District Attorney Stephen Zappala, Jr.; Jack Machek, regional director of the state Department of Community and Economic Development; Richard Roberts, owner of Book Country Clearinghouse in Christy Park; Chuck Starrett, coordinator of the Clairton-Duquesne-McKeesport Enterprise Zone; and Bob Stevenson, president of the Regional Industrial Development Corp., owner of the industrial park at the former U.S. Steel National Works.
Public safety officials, including city police Chief Joe Pero and others, are expected to attend and will field questions.
Director of Community Development Bethany Budd Bauer says exhibitors also will include representatives of McKeesport Housing Corp., Blueroof Technologies, career-training agencies, the McKeesport Trail Commission, and various local government agencies and nonprofits.
The afternoon is designed as a networking opportunity for entrepreneurs who might be interested in relocating to the Mon Valley, as well as for people who already own or operate businesses in the city, Bauer says.
"We have some programs available in McKeesport that we're not sure if our existing businesses are aware of, so we're trying to get the word out," she says.
Those programs include county, state and federal tax incentives and low-interest loans targeted at distressed neighborhoods and "brownfield" (former industrial) sites.
Mayor Jim Brewster would also like to highlight some of the economic development projects that are underway, but which might not be obvious to business owners or residents.
That includes the planned "flyover" ramp between Lysle Boulevard and the RIDC industrial park, which will allow traffic to bypass the two railroad crossings (at Locust and Center streets) which provide the only access to the facility.
Construction of the flyover, to be placed at the foot of Coursin Street*, is expected to begin within 12 months. Ground was recently broken for a similar ramp between Route 837 and the RIDC park in Duquesne.
"When you work in city hall, you know about all of the projects we have going on, but you don't know if people in the city or the surrounding communities are aware of them," Bauer says.
Besides trying to attract entrepreneurs, Brewster said earlier this month that he's trying to open a dialogue with existing businesses.
Often times, he said, business owners don't know where to turn with complaints, and decide to move away instead.
"We should be reaching out to them," Brewster said. "When you're business friendly, that's friendly to your residents, because it lowers their tax burden."
Brewster is encouraging city council members to participate.
Although RSVPs were requested by April 24, Bauer says late reservations will be accepted. Call Karen or Johanna at (412) 675-5020.
Whatever McKeesport's other fame --- or notoriety --- no name was a more welcome sight to the French suffering under the German occupation in 1940. Wrote Norman H. Davis, chairman of the American Red Cross, to Time magazine:
The S.S. McKeesport, loaded with all sorts of supplies and enjoying safe conduct from the British blockade authorities, is now headed for Marseille where its cargo will be distributed to the millions of refugees and war-wounded in Southern France under the direction of American Red Cross representatives.
The real S.S. McKeesport was a World War I-era freight-carrying ocean liner operated by the American Hampton Roads Line through the 1920s and '30s. Along with other civilian freighters, it was pressed into service for the U.S. Navy during World War II.
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