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Saturday, March 29, 2003

By Cindi Lash, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

John Dove Gibbs, a former KQV executive who pulled off a broadcasting coup by using a 30-second delay to circumvent a ban on airing the Beatles' first Pittsburgh concert live in 1964, died of a stroke Tuesday in his home. He was 80.

Mr. Gibbs, of Mt. Lebanon, got into radio in the early 1940s when he was spurred to apply for a job as an announcer by friends who'd grown tired of hearing him make fun of the on-air talent at a station in Morgantown, W.Va. He spent four decades working in broadcasting and communications, becoming vice president and general manager at KQV and later a professor at Duquesne University.

A native of Cumberland, Md., Mr. Gibbs was the son of a Methodist minister who moved his family during the 1920s and '30s from Maryland to California and back east to West Virginia. Mr. Gibbs graduated in 1937 from Morgantown High School and attended West Virginia University before going to work as a laborer at a DuPont munitions factory in Morgantown, said his son, Jeffrey F. Gibbs of Bethel Park.

While at DuPont, Mr. Gibbs entertained and exasperated co-workers by mocking the announcers on the local radio station. Finally, they dared him to try it himself if he thought he could do better.

"He climbed down off the roof, went home and put on his best suit and walked into the radio station," his son said. "He got the job."

After working at WCLG-AM in Morgantown, Mr. Gibbs moved on to Pittsburgh and KQV. From another on-air slot, he worked his way up through administrative positions to become vice president and general manager in 1957.

"After the big snow of 1950, he walked all the way from his home in Dormont down through the [Liberty] Tubes and single-handedly got the station on the air," his son said. "That in itself showed his dedication."

During Mr. Gibbs' tenure at KQV, the station was owned by ABC Radio, which used the station as a test market for rock-and-roll music. The station, which later began simulcasting on both the AM and FM bands from its window-encased, street-level studio at Seventh Avenue and Smithfield Street, emerged as a rock and Top 40 station with a national reputation.

Mr. Gibbs helped to arrange the Beatles' first appearance in Pittsburgh in September 1964, then enraged his rivals at KDKA by getting the Fab Four on KQV's airwaves first. Because the Beatles had insisted that their Pittsburgh news conference and concert could not be broadcast live, KDKA had planned to tape and broadcast the events an hour after they ended.

Mr. Gibbs, however, beat them to it by broadcasting nearly live -- using a 30-second delay. He also introduced one of the first fully mobile broadcasting trailers and other publicity tactics aimed at keeping the public's ears tuned to KQV.

In 1972, Mr. Gibbs left the station after it was sold to another radio network. He worked briefly at 3WS Radio before becoming a professor of communications at Duquesne, where he remained until he retired in 1980.

Along with his wife of 55 years, Evelyn Forbes Gibbs, he was a longtime supporter of the Pittsburgh Symphony and particularly enjoyed the works of Beethoven and Mahler. He was also an avid tennis player and fisherman and was a member of a number of broadcasting clubs and associations.

In addition to his wife and son Jeffrey, Mr. Gibbs is survived by a son, Nathan Gibbs of Murrysville; a daughter, Jeremy Horgan of Aliquippa; a sister, Catherine Robertson of Chicago; and four grandchildren.

There will be no visitation. Plans for a memorial service are incomplete.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Dorsey's Knob Fund, Greater Morgantown Community Trust, P.O. Box 409, Morgantown, WV 26507. The fund will be used to restore Dorsey's Knob, a hilltop park with an expansive view where Mr. Gibbs played as a child.