Abe Voron Award

The George Voron Company of Philadelphia made electronic test equipment and installed and serviced communications and background music systems, supplying programming for the latter. They built some of the components used in their 1959 construction of WQAL FM in Wyndmoor, PA. Abe Voron was installed as station manager and young Dave Custis, working without pay, assembled a record library and fashioned programming for its November 11 debut. “It was really fun,” reports Custis, ” I could play whatever I wanted,” sometimes even records from his own collection. His format was “very loose”, “a mixture of instrumental music and syrupy popular music of that era” apparently aimed at adults but not entirely excluding hit recordings. With very little publicity, the station attracted an audience which within two years exceeded that of other Philadelphia area FMs. Stereo operations began in 1962.