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R A D I O
King guests on 'Brigade'
By Adrian McCoy - June 21, 1996
 
The voice on the telephone is the same as it ever was - rich and smooth, but different from a cookie-cutter "radio voice." It's a well-known voice that came out of KDKA AM for two decades - a time frame beyond eternity in the radio business.
   The voice belongs to Wendy King, who is making a brief return to radio this Saturday as a guest on WYEP-FM's "Saturday Light Brigade." She'll be on between 9 and 10 a.m. for an interview and call-in segment. Former ''Party Line" listeners will want to limber up those dialing fingers and check in.
   The nightly "Party Line" was a constant companion for many, even in the era of TV. Kids did their homework while the show was on; people who lived alone
had a regular place to "go" each night. People called in, not to argue about politics or the news of the day, but to get answers to questions like "How long are the Liberty Tunnels?"
   King describes the era as "a time that was good and fun and that we remember with pleasure. The idea was that it is a parts and a group of people coming together."
"Party Line" was broadcast on KDKA from the 1950s until 1971. King and her husband, the late Ed King, were genial hosts, with the ability to relate to all kinds of people. Party Line" wasn't originally conceived as a husband-wife team project. Ed King signed on to do a show, and Wendy, who was a radio continuity writer at the time, would hang around the studios and help out in the early days.
   "I got involved by accident. The hours were such that if I didn't go along, we had no evening. When they said, 'Would you do this for real?' I said, 'I'll do it for six weeks.' And it turned into 21 years."
   The show was a forerunner of today's talk radio. "It was considered the first use of the audience by phone," King says.
   But unlike contemporary talk radio, the callers' voices were never heard on the air, even though the technology was available.
   "We wanted people to use their imaginations. The people would have been good on the air, but it would have changed the show."
   King's "Party Line" career was followed with 16 years as liaison for the AAA travel division. These days she still resides in the Pittsburgh area and spends a lot of time traveling. She's been exploring barrier islands along the East Coast and now plans to work her way around the Gulf of Mexico.
   What does a talk radio pioneer think about the state of talk radio today?
   "I enjoy the shows but so many of these shows are there to be antagonistic. There's so much polarization. I think they're typical of the times, I feel that most of the hosts have become self-conscious, rather than feeling part of it,'' Still, she admires some local talk hosts, citing as examples WTAE's Lynn Cullen and Phil Musick.
   ''Saturday Light Brigade,'' hosted by Larry Berger and Bill Lukker, is in many ways an heir to the ''Party Line" tradition. Here, too, the callers come from all walks of life and range from little kids to seniors.
   King is looking forward to her return to the microphones and hopes sonic of those old "Party Liners" will check in.
   ''I think of it as sort of a family reunion when you don't know who's going to show up. I am counting on people taking part. I am also looking forward to updates on what's happened to sonic of these people."