Travis Sparks was born a long, long time ago (ok, 12/30/1974) at 5:38PM in a place far, far away (ok, Wilkes-Barre).

After some adventurous years at Dodson Elementary, he migrated to GAR Memorial Junior/Senior High School... where dear old Dad was always around to keep an eye on him.  Among other things, he was editor of the school newspaper, contributed to the yearbook and kept statistics for the boys' basketball team.  GAR Boys Basketball made it to Hershey in 1990 and 1991. Ironically, they played immediately after the Nativity Golden Girls' games both times. Little did he know he'd be broadcasting Nativity's future marches to Hershey. More on that later...

After GAR, he moved on to King's College. He managed to avoid all the parties and mischief at 'Margaridaville' in all four years of higher learning. "Maybe that's what's wrong with me."

All the while, he was getting himself ready for the radio biz.  Travis was Moonlight Bowling master of ceremonies (ok, he gave out rental shoes and announced a few things on the microphone) at Stanton Lanes in Wilkes-Barre. In the summer of 1995, he worked at WRKC, the King's College radio station.

In February of 1996, he started working for WICK/WWDL in Scranton.  His first assignment was covering President Clinton's visit to Wilkes-Barre. "One day in commercial radio and I'm rubbing shoulders with Governor Ridge, Wolf Blitzer, Brian Williams, Wendell Goler and all the White House beat reporters. No, the Secret Service didn't frisk me."

In August of 1997, he careened down I-81 to what was Exit 36 and was hired by T-102. On October 3rd, 1997, Sparks After Dark was born. Seven weeks later, he was moved to middays... "I spent three very interesting months with the Breakfast Crew as their sports slave.  In addition, I got embarrassed on air after RC & Tony stole my fun packs of cereal and tried to make a sausage out of me.  I got a bit of revenge a few weeks later when I won a hockey bet and made Tony read a prepared statement on air, where he was made to profess his love for all the hockey teams he hates and how much he likes bowling..."

Alas, at the time, management thought he was better in the dark... back to nights in June '98. Minus eight months in Nittany Lion country at 3WZ in 1999 and some fill-in news duties, he held the fort down for Sparks After Dark.  In September '03, he made the move to afternoons.  In April '04, he also added commercial writing duties. Then, once again, management decided to move him back to nights in September '05.

Travis added more sports duties along the way... finishing last on WPPA's Touchdown Tips in '00, '01, '03, and '04, but winning in '02! He also writes the feature stories in the T-102/WPPA Football Guide. In February '02, he took on the task of managing our website... something he is really enjoying.  He also began hosting the football edition of Sports Saturday on WPPA in August '02.  You might even catch him once in a while on television during special events on WVIA-TV 44, for Service Electric TV 2 Sports broadcasts or on the Pennsylvania Cable Network.

Aside from duties at T-102 and WPPA, he is an avid bowler, competing in leagues at Imperial Lanes Valley View, SpareTime Bowling Center, and Blue Ball Lanes.  He also runs a series of junior bowling tournaments on weekends... http://www.juniorbowling.com.  He also assists in operations of the Pennsylvania Junior Bowlers Tournament Series.  Odds are you'll find Travis at a bowling center sometime over every weekend of the year.

He also enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, studying top 40 radio history (http://www.reelradio.com), watching Match Game on Game Show Network and following high school sports.  "I've also fallen in love once again with the Jersey Shore... after a 19-year hiatus. I enjoy the three-hour trip thru Philly to AC, then down to the Wildwoods."

As far as music, he likes almost everything. His favorite artists are country singer Chely Wright, R&B crooner Luther Vandross, Frank Sinatra, and almost anything 70s/early 80s.

"My most memorable moment at T-102 is one I caused myself.  Prior to the 2000 PIAA Basketball Playoffs, I said on air that any team who wins a state championship can shave my head. Nativity won the Class A Girls Championship... that night, off came my hair."

MY FIVES

Five Favorite TV Shows: SportsCenter, Mad Money, Match Game, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and NFL Prime Time

Five Favorite TV Newspeople: CBS3's Larry Mendte & Alycia Lane, WGAL's Meredith Jorgensen & Katie Piper, and CNBC's Becky Quick

Five Favorite TV Sportspeople: Chris Berman, John Madden, Dick Enberg, Pat Summerall, and Darrell Waltrip

Five Favorite Foods: Pizza, Pizza, Pizza, Pizza, and Pizza

Five Favorite Vacation Spots: Wildwood Crest, Wildwood, North Wildwood, West Wildwood, and Cape May

Five Favorite Sports: bowling, football, baseball, duckpin bowling, and NASCAR

Five Favorite Teams: Seahawks, Redskins, Orioles, Avalanche, and Rusty Wallace

Five Guilty Pleasures: Atlantic City, Texas Hold 'em, Horse Racing, Frank Sinatra, and PayDay candy bars

Five Favorite Times of Year: high school football season, Christmas, late spring, August, and the shore offseason (cuz the rates are lowest!)

Five Places I Want To Visit: Seattle, Florida, Churchill Downs, Saratoga, and Hawaii

Five Things I Want To Try: golf, motorcycle riding, calling a horse race, buy stocks, and hosting a TV show

One of these days, they'll let me in on their spaghetti suppers...

FEATURES

MONDAY 8PM: The Mini Concert - 30 minutes of music from a national act on tour in our area

TUESDAY THRU THURSDAY 8:30PM: Concert Calendar - schedules of shows in Philadelphia, Atlantic City, and Baltimore/Washington

MONDAY THRU FRIDAY 10PM: The Time Machine - one hour of music from this day in history

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MY LINKS:

Schuylkill County Tobacco-Free Youth Coalition