WDVE 'World Tour' ends

The final stop of the 102.5 FM WDVE Morning Show "World Tour" ended at the Springdale Township fire hall before a clustered knot of fans that broke most often to follow the sticky path back to the beer wagon.

The show was recorded live Thursday night and expected to air this morning.

Doors didn't open until about 7 p.m., but tailgating started two to three hours before.

"When we first opened, it was unbelievably crowded around the beer wagon," said Pam Manning, fire hall president.

The fire hall was stocked with 30 half-barrels of beer and about 500 Jell-O shots.

Before 8:30 p.m., the $1 Jell-O shots were almost gone. The shots were a big hit, Manning said, but some of their popularity may have been due to the girls in short jean skirts weaving through the crowd to sell them.

The show featured Jim Krenn, Randy Baumann, Val Porter and Mike Prisuta, a sports columnist for Tribune-Review News Service, as well as mainstay characters such as Ralph the Cat and others.

The evening also marked the last Morning Show appearance of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Gene Collier, who's joining KDKA radio.

In a departure from previous years, the tour took place in the evening, as opposed to a live broadcast during the morning show. And instead of hitting bars, the morning crew stopped at fire departments to help them raise money.

The tour already hit Harrison City and Hopewell before coming to Springdale Township.

The local fire department plans to use the money to whittle away at its $125,000 mortgage.

"'DVE is awesome to do something like this," said Lenny D. Rains Jr., who is a firefighter with Arnold Fire Company No. 1. "Fire companies are doing fundraisers all the time. I think someone with 'DVE's stature and with the kinds of crowds they draw, doing something like this is unbelievable."

"This puts the money where it needs to go, instead of a bar," said Melissa Mitchell of Springdale Township, who arrived early to tailgate with friends.

"It's like a reunion for us," said Debbie Rusek, of Springdale, joining Mitchell. "We've grown up with this radio station."

It was the first time Steve Hitrik, of Tarentum, was able to go to one of the Morning Show's tour stops.

"They were always in the morning, and I had to go to work," Hitrik said. "It's nice to see their faces; now I can put their faces on the voice."