WKBR transmitter room (left) at 155 Front Street.

Monsieur Joseph Maltais (right) hosted the Franco American Hour on WKBR from 1951-64 and again from 1969-91.

Click here (or on the image to the left) for a late 1952 ad announcing WKBR's participationin the RCA Records "Swing to 45" campaign.

People who sent reports of distant reception would receive verifications called QSL cards. Click here for more QSL cards from the Man From Mars collection.

Heavy promotion and contesting was part of WKBR's mix. A full length silver fox coat worth $1500 was the grand prize here. The exact date is unknown but it only required a penny stamp to enter!

In 1956, a Whitefield, New Hampshire tree farmer provided the Christmas tree for Rockefeller Plaza. WKBR sent (l-r:) Al Davis, Bill Varney and Bill Morrissey to New York to broadcast the tree-lighting festivities. The sporty WKBR mobile unit braved a blizzard to take them there but got thrown off a Connecticut parkway by State Police for being a commercial vehicle.

Some of the staff announcers who graced WKBR's airwaves during the 1950s included Jim Scott, Malcolm Morse, John Scouffas, Dick Piper, R.H. Schultz, Harold Shedd, Bud Wilson, Joe Maltais, Philip A. Smith, Jerry White, Bob Anderson, Bill Varney, Pete Johnson, Ray Harris, Dave Shepardson, Tom Shovan, Bob Gordon, Larry Jones, Danny Wilson, Duane Wadsworth, Lad Carleton, Ted Sherman, sports announcer Tom Hussey, women's programming host Connie Stackpole, and newsman Larry O'Toole. On April 24, 1956, O'Toole found himself making news instead of reporting it.

Several community representatives, including each of Manchester's three radio stations, were invited to visit local troops at Fort Knox, Kentucky. In the left photo, that's Larry O'Toole in the second row (right) wearing a hat. Unfortunately, a spring snowstorm made Manchester's runway slick and the military transport crashed on takeoff. No one died, but several people were injured. Larry earned a stay in a local hospital while the Air Force surveyed what was left of their aircraft.