Getaway Guide: Trips For News Junkies
If the story was heart-pounding, dramatic or held you on the edge of your seat while your knuckles turned white anytime during the last half-century, you can bet you heard or saw it on KYW Newsradio or CBS3 Eyewitness News. Both are celebrating their 50th anniversaries this year amid recollections of stories that impacted the region for better or worse. I've been involved in gathering those stories at KYW for all but two of those years. So, let's take a news junkie tour of a few places and events that put us on the scene then, and what we find there now. – Jay Lloyd
NUCLEAR POWER IN RURAL LIMERICK
It was 1969 and KYW was reporting that plans were unveiled to build a nuclear power plant in Limerick, a rural and pristine section of suburban Montgomery County. The only thing most listeners and viewers knew about nuclear matters involved a mushroom cloud. Local residents were up in arms amid dire predictions of plunging property values and a radiated wasteland. So what happened? The nuclear plant began providing energy in 1986, a major road (Route 422) opened and Limerick became one of the fastest growing townships in the Delaware Valley. It draws visitors to play on its golf courses, shop at its major outlet complex, dine at scores of restaurants and sip at fun nearby pubs. Here are some spots to try for a weekend outing:
Golf at Linfield National, Landis Creek or Turtle Creek.
Shop at the Premium Outlets
Dine at Copperfield Inn or taste an impressive beer collection and shoot some pool at the Railroad bar.
THREE MILE ISLAND
Not all nuclear efforts went so smoothly. Nine KYW and Eyewitness News reporters and technicians raced to the Harrisburg area on a March day in 1979 to report the dramatic events surrounding the worst nuclear accident in American history. Residents had fled. When the "all-clear" sounded, we had averted a disaster and reporters learned something about nuclear energy. Today, the area surrounding Harrisburg is attracting visitors who still stop to photograph those towers rising from the Susquehanna River. Restaurants line the river banks, there's a minor league ball park and recreational fishing is alive and well on the river. If you're in the area, stop for lunch or dinner at the Rock Bass Grill or take in a Harrisburg Senators baseball game. Or, just stop by the capitol for a tour of the iconic building and neighboring Pennsylvania History Museum.
THE NOTORIOUS JOHNSTON GANG
It was 1999, and one of Pennsylvania's most notorious killers had broken out of a west-central Pennsylvania high-security prison. Norman Johnston was on the loose and spotted in southern Chester County. He knew the landscape. It was a region he, his family and members of his gang had terrorized throughout the 70s, which included the murder of two Kennett Square policemen. The 19-day manhunt before Johnston was recaptured focused attention on the vibrant region. Today, it's a major destination for visitors attracted by Longwood Gardens, the Brandywine Battlefield, the Brandywine River Museum and the Chadds Ford Winery. Norman Johnston also sought refuge in the Chesapeake Bay area of neighboring Cecil County, Maryland, a favorite cruising destination for area boaters, during his brief encounter with freedom.
PENNSYLVANIA STEEL INDUSTRY DIES, THOUSANDS JOBLESS
For 30 years, the KYW suburban bureau traced the decline and last gasp of a Pennsylvania bedrock industry, steel. The downward spiral began in the early 70s as foreign steelmakers shouldered aside high priced American Steel. Falls Township, Conshohocken, Coatesville and Phoenixville all suffered severe job losses as their major industry crumbled. Phoenixville, like its namesake bird, was the first to rise from the ashes. Today, the town has been reinvented. It draws daily visitors for festivals, unique restaurants and bars, a throwback movie theater, art galleries and boutique shops. Some favorite places are Molly Maguire's, Iron Hill Brewery, the Black Lab Restaurant and the Colonial Theater. Valley Forge Park is nearby, and so is historic Yellow Springs.
BRIDGE AND HIGHWAY OPENINGS SPEED TRAFFIC SHORE POINTS
Perhaps not as dramatic as many of the past half-century stories, but significant bridge and highway completions reported by KYW and Eyewitness News certainly made life easier for area travelers, especially those going from the western suburbs to the Jersey Shore. The combination of Blue Route, I-95, Commodore Barry Bridge and Route 55 in the Garden State provide a pleasant, less traveled and more scenic route to sea and sand. They took pressure off the Ben Franklin and Walt Whitman spans, Route 42 and the Atlantic City Expressway. For many suburbanites, some combination of the newer routes became the only way to go. If you haven't tried them yet, this could be your year of discovery.
COLUMBUS SAILED THE OCEAN BLUE - AND SO DID KYW!
I'm often asked what my best Newsradio assignment was. There's no question. It was the easy-to-take approval of live coverage, beginning at the Port of Huelva on the Andalusian coast of Spain. This is where a boat I would crew set sail to trace the 1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus. It was the 500th anniversary of the historic passage. KYW listeners heard the ceremonies in Spain and the Canary Islands on the first legs of the recreated voyage. Today, Andalusia and the city of Seville draws students for semesters abroad and visitors eager to see the storied land and visit wineries that produce the finest sherry. They gravitate to the town of Palos, where Columbus fitted his ships and then sailed for the Caribbean. Modern travelers can make the trip in a fraction of the time by jet. If you find yourself in Palos, do visit the 15th century monastery where Columbus was introduced to the Queen's treasurer who made his voyage possible. And don't forget to try the paella!
Life in the world of broadcast news is often unpredictable, but never dull. And oh, the stories to be told and places to go!
