Gpa's Radio Days

I think I've shared this picture before. I was working at WDYK in Cumberland, MD. It was the beginning of radio jobs in between churches to keep food on the table. At this time we had finished our endeavors to start a church in Cumberland. We were living in Pinto, MD., across the Potomac river from the Allegany Ballistic Lab. We attended a Mennonite church there and after some time became the pastor of the Glade Mennonite Church. It was up the mountain from Pinto, about 10 miles north of Oakland, MD.

I got my start at WRSW in Warsaw IN. At the time we thought we would be missionaries in Brazil and wanted to communicate back home by radio. Bill Burk, now a missionary in Brazil, was a 1st class engineer and got me on Sunday afternoon reading meters at the transmitter.

WDYK was sold about a year after I started so I went to WKYR in Keyser, WV as the news director. Pinto was about half way between Cumberland and Keyser so it was still very convenient. Roy III was born while we lived there. Dad, Mom and Dick had driven from Alexandria to see the new baby and on the way home some guy ran into the driver's side of their car. Dad seemed to be okay but three weeks later he had a heart attack and died in the hospital. Mom wasn't doing well after that and decided to move back to Juniata. We went too and moved in with Arlene's Mom. Now I had to change jobs again and became the news director [not a DJ] at WVAM in Altoona, PA.

Sorry I don't have any pictures from these stations, but I do have several stories. At WVAM I never ran the board. I was strictly news. National news was 'rip and read' from the teletype and I would stand at a microphone beside the announcer who was sitting beside me. Usually my five minute news was about two feet long and would hang down between me and the announcer. On this occasion, the announcer took his cigarette lighter and set my paper on fire. It's too bad there were no video cameras then. I'm sure it would have been a good picture of me trying to read the news and put out the fire at the same time. The announcer thought it was hilarious.

My next radio job was in Canton, OH. Christian radio stations were now starting up and I got a job with WTOF, the 'Tower Of Faith.' I ended up being their chief announcer and also sold radio time. I never cared for the selling part, but it was one of my better and worse [that's another story] radio experiences. Oh, yes, Jon was born in Alliance, OH, while I was at the new Minerva GBC and working at WTOF.

Again I'm out of work so I camped on the doorstep of TV channel 17 [I can't remember the call letters] until they hired me. Here I became their only announcer and was the TV producer when we accepted the call to pastor the Fairlawn Brethren Church. The manager thought I was crazy for accepting the church and giving up TV. Oh, yea, Carl Day worked there and had a kid's show. He had an alligator puppet and I can't remember its name. [I read in the paper the other day that he now owns Esther Price candies]. There's more, but I'm sure some of you can remember your own stories from Radford, VA.

After moving to Troy and concluding our ministry there, I sent my resume to WFCJ and never managed to get an interview. I ended up at WEEC in Springfield--on several different occasions. I left there to go to NW Chapel in Columbus and upon retiring we returned to the Dayton area, and I began working part time at WEEC. It's always nice when they'll take you back.

So this is my chapter on radio and TV. It could have been much longer, but we'll save that for another time.

Gpa Glass

My Great Grandfather David Hoover Brumbaugh

Obituary of My Great Grandfather,
David Hoover Brumbaugh
Oct 18, 1838 - Feb 1, 1915

of Juniata died at the home of his son, Rev. J. B. Brumbaugh, 701 Second Street, at 6 o’clock this morning of euremic poisoning at the age of 76 years, 3 months and 13 days. He was the son John and Ester Brumbaugh and was born Oct. 18, 1838 and spent the major part of his life in Clover Creek. Since the death of his wife, April 21, 1902, he has made his home with his son in Juniata. He is a member of the Church of the Brethren and is survived by one son, Rev. Josiah B., of Juniata; and two daughters, Mrs. Harry Rascher, Roaring Spring, and Mrs D. B. Maddock[s], this city. The following brothers and sisters also survive: William H. and Henry D., Clover Creek; John H., Fairview; L. Howard, Orange, N.J.; Rachel Brumbaugh, Mrs Mary Beach, Henrietta; and Mrs Harriet Detwiler, Fairview. The funeral services will be conducted at his late home in Juniata on Tuesday evening at 8 o’clock. The body will be shipped to Clover Creek on Wednesday morning and at 10 o’clock services will be conducted at that place, followed by interment in the Brumbaugh Cemetery.



Obituary of My Great Grandmother,
Mrs. Margaret[ta] Brumbaugh
May 11, 1838 - Apr 21, 1902

On Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock, Mrs Margaret [Burget]Brumbaugh, wife of David Brumbaugh, died at her home at Clover Creek of pneumonia, after an illness of only six days. She was aged 63 years, 11 months, and 10 days. The deceased was the daughter of Mr and Mrs Isaac Burket, and was born and raised near Henrietta. She was a faithful member of the German Baptist Brethren Church for a number of years. Besides her husband, she is survived by one son, Rev. Joseph [Josiah] Brumbaugh, of Bellwood, and two daughters, Mrs Harry Rascher, of Clover Creek, and Mrs Daniel Maddocks, of Roaring Spring. The funeral services were held in the German Baptist Brethren church at Clover Creek Wednesday morning at 10 o’clock, conducted By Revs. G. W. Brumbaugh, T. B. Maddocks and J. B. Brumbaugh. Interment in Clover Creek cemetery.


The David Brumbaugh Family in Bellwood, 1899

Back: Jennie B., John B., David Hoover Brumbaugh, Jane B. & Harry Rascher, Elma B. Rogers
Middle: Junie B. & Daniel Maddocks, Josiah Brumbaugh and Lucinda
Front: Joe and Chester Maddocks, Susie and Victor Brumbaugh

This picture was taken on the front porch of the J. B. Brumbaugh Grocery store in Bellwood, PA in 1899. Josiah Brumbaugh had been chosen as pastor of the Church of the Brethren in Bellwood. The store was their main source of support. The picture is the David H. Brumbaugh [standing in the middle in the back] family. His children: one son, Josiah [seated, second from right], two sisters, Junie Maddocks [seated first on left], and Jane Rascher [standing behind her brother Josiah]. Josiah and Lucinda’s children Jennie, John, and Elma standing in the back row and Susie and Victor seated in the front. Daniel and Junie’s children, Joseph and Chester, are seated in front of them on the porch.

Missing in the picture is Margaretta [Burget] Brumbaugh, wife of David. She died in 1902 after this picture was taken. Elma Brumbaugh was married to George Rogers. He is also missing from the picture. Notice my mother, Susie Margaretta, was named for her grandmother Brumbaugh.

The J. D. Brumbaugh Store in Juniata

Love to all,
Gpa G

Josiah B. Brumbaugh Biography

In one of my earlier posts I shared the obituary of Josiah B. Brumbaugh written by his daughter, Elma Brumbaugh Rogers. The following article [page 403] is a biographical sketch from “A History of the Church of the Brethren in the Middle District of Pennsylvania” prepared and published under the supervision of the District Conference through its Home Mission Board. James A. Sell was the principal writer along with George S. Myers and William S. Ritchey. There is no date given, however the introduction was written by M. G. Brumbaugh and dated, December 8, 1924.

Josiah was my maternal grandfather. He passed away 12 years before I, Roy Edgar Glass, Junior, was born.

BRUMBAUGH, Josiah B., the only son of David H. and Margaret Burget Brumbaugh, members of the Church of the Brethren, was born near Henrietta, Blair County, (Pa.), September 1, 1861. His childhood on the farm, his youth helping in his father’s foundry, his love for reading and good advantages in the common school were the steps until nineteen years old, when he began school teaching, a profession he followed for twenty-five years. He also invested in merchantile pursuits, largely conducted by his wife while, during the day, he was teaching.

He was united in marriage with Lucinda, daughter of John H. and Susan Dilling, of Clover Creek, (Pa.), on June 6 1882, John W. Brumbaugh officiating. Two sons and four daughters blessed their home.

While living in the Clover Creek congregation he united with the Church of the Brethren, George W. Brumbaugh administered baptism on October 18, 1882. There he was called to the ministry on Christmas, 1893. Six years later (the Spring of 1899 he moved his family to Bellwood, (Pa.), and took charge of that infant congregation. He spared no efforts for the cause there for eleven years. On August 28, 1910, the family moved to a new home built in Juniata. While residing here he spent his Sundays preaching somewhere, either at home or elsewhere. The Lord had an incessant worker in this servant. He officiated at many weddings and was called far and near to preach funerals. But a complication of diseases was reducing him. No longer able to leave his room, he read and prepared sermons he never preached: for, on November 12, 1916, he passed away. Walter S. Long conducted the funeral service at Juniata, using 2 Samuel 3:38; the Holy Spirit saw fit to lead James A. Sell to use the same text at the Clover Creek Church, yet the duplication was not known until the services were over. His body lies in the Brumbaugh Cemetery.