The Greenville News from Greenville, South Carolina • Page 16

2B. CThf (Prcrnirillr greenville piedmont. May 22, 1983 Inspectors fftadl safety code vMsraoinis atL Bio three-day inspection. The inspection is the result of charges made by former hospital chief engineer Dennis Sommers, who said hospital administrators have ignored 84 safety and fire code deficiencies. But Jones said inspectors three from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control and Lancaster Fire Chief Don Adams considered the facility's aging fire alarm to be the most costly and gravest deficiency found Friday.

He said the alarm system is old, doesn't meet codes and may have to be replaced. "The hospital is safe," said Jones. "It has met every regulation of every regulatory agency. The deficiencies are new to us and will be remedied as quickly as is practical. "We have relied on agencies involved with the codes for recommendations.

DHEC officials have said that Mr. Sommers is not fully understanding of the codes. They The three violations cited by DHEC were among the list of violations that Sommers complied. "The violations don't surprise me," Sommers said. "However, under DHEC regulations many items I cited are grandfathered.

But, because the city uses the national fire codes, (established by the National Fire Prevention Association) the regulations would be more strict. Nowhere in these codes are there grandfather clauses for existing buildings." doors as improperly latched, but they would merely have to be adjusted, he said. Otherwise, only minor deficiencies were Identified, ones that Jones said can be corrected simply. Sommers, who was fired from the hospital last February, filed a complaint with the U.S. Labor Department which has not been heard.

He also sent a list of the violations to DHEC, the state fire marshal's office and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals. are complex." Inspectors believed holes in cov-ered-up smoke partitions throughout the main hospital violated codes and would have to be sealed. The holes, through which wires and conduit are passed, were made during the main hospital's construction 13 years ago "and probably should have been found by DHEC before the first patient ever entered the building," Jones said. The inspectors also cited about 35 of the main hospital's fire exit The Associated Press LANCASTER Government inspectors have found at least three serious safety code violations at Lancaster's Elliott White Springs Memorial Hospital just two weeks after a former hospital engineer charged that dozens of violations have gone uncorrected. Dace Jones, president of the hospital, said inspectors spent all Friday combing the facility's three buildings for violations in what he described as the first day of a WFBC Radio recalls half-century on the air in Greenville yjt 1ttA MWI IIMIIIW 11 1 I -llfTlllliM MH II Vf" 1 I 1 u44- Cri wiWm I if Jl? File photo Billy Powell was one of many local on-air personalities to work at WFBC during its 50 years as a radio station By Tom Harrison JhtNnw film writer tjM "Station WFBC, The Greenville News and the Greenville Piedmont, South Carolina's leading newspapers in South Carolina's leading city.

From the Hotel Imperial." With that introduction by program director Charles H. Crutch-field, WFBC Radio with a daytime signal of 250 watts went on the air May 20, 1933. Now, a half-century later, those modest beginnings are recalled in a four-hour retrospective that WFBC-AM and FM aired Saturday and will repeat from 1-5 p.m. Sunday on WFBC-AM. For the past six weeks, Norvin Duncan, longtime Greenville radio and TV announcer, has listened to electrical transcriptions (16-inch discs), scanned old newspapers and sifted through his voluminous files for material to be included in the anniversary show.

He and WFBC morning man Russ Cassell will host the show. Many of the highlights are contained on the huge black discs that are stacked in Duncan's office. They contain syndicated shows, such as The Tune Detective, Senator Frankenstein Fishface, the Frank Black Cadillac Show, Words in the Night, The Coke Club with Morton Downey, and performances by Frank Sinatra and Xa-vier Cugat's orchestra. There are the voices of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill; the recording of an NBC reporter's shocked reaction to the fiery Hindenburg crash in 1937; famous personalities, such as Bob Hope, Fred Allen, and Bing Crosby; and the sounds of the Big Band Era, with Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey.

There are local heroes, such as Alice Wyman host of Housekeeping: A Hobby announcer Bill Bivens and Crutchfield. "Norvin has just done a yeoman's job," said Bruce Buchanan, general manager of WFBC Radio. "He uncovered things for the special that I think are remarkable." Station officials last week shared their joy with a former radio man who sent a telegram congratulating the station. The message was signed, "Ronald Reagan." During the 1930s, Duncan said, many newspapers sought licenses for radio stations. The Federal Radio Commission (forerunner of the FCC) allotted licenses by zones.

The First Baptist Church in Knoxville owned a radio station. It was a simple operation, used primarily to broadcast the church's services on Sunday and Wednesday. The church turned in its license in the early '30s. The Greenville News-Piedmont which had applied for a license, learned that the radio station's equipment was available. It took the equipment and the station's call letters, moved them to Greenville and set up shop in the old Hotel Greenville, known then as the Imperial.

For seven years thereafter, it was the only game in town. The WFBC studios were located in what must have been an old ballroom, Duncan said. There was a huge column in the middle of the floor, and bare cement walls. WFBC remained there from 1933-41, then moved to the basement of the Poinsett Hotel. "It was like moving to Radio City after the other place," Duncan recalled.

There were larger quarters, nicer facilities, and Celo-tex walls for acoustic enhancement. And prestige. The Poinsett had become well known as a luxury ing on Rutherford Street. In the late 70s the radio annex building was finished, and much to the delight of TV and radio people the separation occurred. The station's history is illuminated by the names of station managers, program directors and announcers.

B.H. Peace son of the publisher of The Greenville News and The Greenville Piedmont, was the station's president. One of the most memorable names associated with WFBC Radio is that of Beverly T. "Bevo" Whitmire, who was named general manager in 1934. When WFBC went on the air, Whitmire was a photographer for The Greenville Piedmont.

His father, Bartow Whitmire, ran the Greenville Opera House. "Bevo had a flair for show business, so the Peace family wanted him as manager," Duncan said. "And did he ever become a manager!" Under Whitmire's direction, the station became widely known, throughout the state and even in advertising circles on Madison Avenue. By 1936, when WFBC became affiliated with NBC, Whitmire had put the station and the town on the map, Duncan said. "He would go to New York and come back with sales orders," Duncan said.

"He'd go up there and sell them on this little station in Greenville. Who ever heard of Greenville, South Carolina in those days?" Whitmire's abilities as a salesmen were important, Duncan said, because in those days air time that was not supported commercially was considered "the lowest form of life." WFBC didn't have to worry. "Under Bevo, the WFBC got more orders than any other station in the state probably in the South," Duncan said. The biggest local story mentioned in the special, Duncan said, is the propane-gas explosion on Nov. 19, 1946, of the Ideal Laundry building, which killed six people, devastated homes and shattered windows for miles.

"It was the biggest mess I ever saw in my life," said Duncan, who covered the aftermath from the scene with engineer Jack Fulmer and the ubiquitous Whitmire. While Duncan was on the air, Whitmire rushed into the store, breathless, with the news that there was another propane tank set to explode. There was a pause. Then, true to the spirit of newsmen, he asked, "Do you think we can get closer?" Among the famous who have toiled for WFBC Radio was Frank Blair, the former announcer who went on to anchor the NBC Today show. But there were others, less celebrated, who enjoyed success after WFBC.

Like everything else in wartime, men in their 20s and 30s were in short supply. The call went out for "under-aged" males, women and older men to work at the station, Duncan said. WFBC recruited a precocious 16-year-old, Ray Stanfield, who worked as a soda jerk at Bruce Doster's drug store on Main Street. Stanfield had a good voice, and would run down between sodas to do WFBC station breaks. A few years later he served a stint in the Navy, but afterward returned to his old radio job.

Stanfield later joined Paul Chapman son of former Greenville Piedmont editor Judson Chapman in a radio station brokerage business. Chapman, who started the business with his brother in Atlanta, retired recently. Thus, Stanfield, the onetime soda jerk, operates one of the country's most successful radio-brokerage businesses. Duncan loves radio and the memories it has given him. He takes issue with the suggestion radio is not viable in a video age.

"For so many years, radio was it," he said. "For the last 15 years or so, radio has had to adjust to other influences. When FM radio came along, some people fel. it would do away with AM. Likewise, people thought TV might kill radio.

But I never felt that it would. Radio has adjusted and specialized. Its potential is unlimited, really." -4 IHl ff 1 'A3- -vJ hotel. "People traveled out of their way to come to Greenville," Duncan said, "just so they could say they stayed at the Poinsett." In 1933, WFBC went on the air with 250 watts of daytime power, 100 watts at night. That later was increased to 1,000 watts and, finally, to its present 5,000 watts.

The FM station, which signed on 15 years after the AM side, has a signal. In the early days, WFBC could be found at 1200 on the dial, Duncan said. It later moved to 1300, "for technical reasons," and to its current address at 1330. In November 1953, the entire WFBC Radio staff moved to cramped quarters on East North Street, across from the Elks Club, to await the move to television. WFBC-TV, you see, was about to go on the air.

The staff of WMRC Radio, headed by station manager Kenneth Beachboard, assumed command of WFBC Radio. Ironically, among the personalities who joined WFBC Radio was Bob Poole, WMRC's morning announcer, who drew a huge audience with his regular attacks on the Greenville News-Piedmont Co. WFBC made no headway against Poole until they got Alan Newcomb, who hosted The Breakfast Nook and wrote a newspaper column, The Breakfast Newk. Newcomb also was host of Kitchen Capers, an audience participation show, and the Strietman Street Man segment. Newcomb was a fighter pilot during the war, was shot down and spent a year in a German POW camp.

He later wrote a book, Vacation Without Pay, about his experiences. In the spring of 1955, the WFBC radio and television operations moved into the present TV build Alan Newcomb's was a familiar voice at WFBC Hlealth official says state might have more AIDS victims By Al Dozier Piedmont Capital Bureau In South Carolina, as elsewhere in the nation, the most likely victim is the male homosexual, he said but noted the gay community may not be as prevalent here as in some larger cities, such as Atlanta. He said the second most likely victim is the intravenous drug user. DHEC will learn more about AIDS in South Carolina as monitoring for the CDC in Atlanta is conducted, Brenner said. "It's an unfolding story.

Each-month we will know more." COLOMBIA A state health authority said there may be more AIDS victims in South Carolina than the three cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. AIDS, which stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is a disease without a known cure that attacks the body's immunity system. It has been associated with male homosexuals, intravenous drug abusers and Haitians. Dr. Edward Brenner of the De- question about the disease: "What are its symptoms?" "There is no such thing as a symptom.

A victim could have meningitis, pneumonia, diarrhea. A person could say he has chills and fever, takes intravenous drugs and has AIDS. But he could have the flu, just like anyone." Doctors do not have any diagnostic tests to positively identify the disease and suspected victims would have to undergo a batteiy of tests, Brenner said. U.S. cities to monitor the disease, but about two weeks ago requested the help of the state health departments throughout the country.

He said DHEC will assist in the monitoring effort by providing doctors in the state with reporting forms for AIDS. He said doctors in major population areas who specialize in infectious diseases will be the most likely source for discover-ingcases, Brenner said he is unable to answer the most frequently asked CDC in Atlanta. Officials said South Carolina AIDS cases are being treated in hospitals in Aiken and Charleston. Brenner said he has heard there are more cases in the state but has not confirmed them. "They're in Atlanta and I'm in Columbia.

From my position here in Columbia, I would say there are several other suspect cases. I think there are more than three." Brenner said CDC had been relying on health departments in major partment of Health and Environmental Control said on Friday he learned there were three AIDS cases in South Carolina the last time he talked to officials with the.