EBENEZER โ An introvert in an extroverted world.
A deliberate, thoughtful, conversational style of delivery.
A radio show that evolved into something way beyond simple music or talk.
Greg Lyons isnโt merely the human being โ the voice, the personality, the face โ behind The Lyons Den. He is The Lyons Den.
Lyons is retiring from local radio broadcasting. And today, when he walks away from his popular early morning show, The Lyons Den on WLBR 1270 AM, it will be with a mixture of remorse and pride and uncertainty.
For 41 years, Lyons provided the voice to which Lebanon County residents woke up, prepared themselves for the day, and drove to work. Quite accidentally, The Lyons Den became a local institution, a part of our lives, of what it means to be from Lebanon, PA.
โWhat you indicated is very true,โ said Lyons, during a candid interview with LebTown on Thursday morning. โIโm not a party person or someone who has to be the center of attention. Some people thought I was anti-social or a snob. But thereโs nothing further from the truth.
โItโs all part of an act,โ continued Lyons. โWhat you do in radio is an act. Itโs show business. You donโt have to be the person on the radio that you are in real life. Everybody has something going on in their life thatโs making them unhappy, for some reason. Itโs like, โYouโre not aloneโ. When you think of it that way, it doesnโt make your problems seem so bad.โ
Since 1977, from 5am to 9am every day, The Lyons Den program has been broadcasted over the airwaves by WLBR. Thatโs more than 10,000 shows, reaching countless listeners, from Lebanon County and beyond.
To say, Lyons has placed his own personal stamp on the locale would be an understatement. He did it his way, with a unique combination of preparation, spontaneity and experience.
โThe mutual decision has been in the works for a couple of months,โ said Lyons. โI turned 70 a couple of weeks ago. I was going to do it eventually.
โThe way I feel right now, Iโm in some sort of Twilight Zone,โ added Lyons. โI just canโt believe itโs happening. Itโs like a strange dream. I just canโt come to grips with the fact that itโs really happening. Iโm not sure whatโs going to happen afterwards. Thatโll be my first challenge, finding something to do. Right after I throw away all of my alarm clocks.โ
Over those years, The Lyons Den took on a life of its own. Those four hours became packed with news, weather, sports, opinion, Traffax, AccuWeather, the Pennsylvania lottery, fun, local tidbits and trivia, Personal Thoughts, History Mystery, Stump the Sports Guy and just the right amount of music.
โThe early days are a blur,โ said Lyons. โI donโt have a great memory for what it has become today. But the one thing Iโve learned is that, of all the things we do, the most important is the conversation. All the other things are secondary. The conversation is what people want the most. Iโve developed an ability to be a good conversationalist. But until this week, I didnโt realize what good of a job I was doing.
โIt went by so quickly,โ Lyons continued. โItโs hard to believe itโs over. I need a slap on the face. What weโve been doing the last few years is a radio dinosaur. There are very few AM stations doing what weโre doing in the mornings. What weโre doing is counter to what other people are doing. My thinking was that that was the reason weโre number one.โ
All delivered by Lyons. The Reading native developed a radio speaking style that caused listeners to think he was talking to them personally. There became a certain level of comfort in that.
โThereโs two different ways of talking, when youโre on the radio and when youโre not,โ said Lyons. โMy voice is the same, but the delivery is different. My voice is recognizable. Someone once asked me, โSay something in radio.โ Itโs like a foreign language. You do fake it a little bit.
โOne of my claims to fame was my ability to sound like I was having a good time when I wasnโt,โ Lyons added. โI never let my personal life interfere with what I said on the air. The show went on as usual.โ
Part of Lyonsโ connection with his listeners revolved around being in tune with them. For him itโs been easy, because where it counts most, heโs really no different than them.
โSometimes you forget there are thousands of people listening to you,โ said Lyons. โBut in a way, you probably shouldnโt think about it. Thereโs always those people out there who are glued to everything you say. Feedback from listeners was always very important to me, and most times it was positive. Itโs what kept me going. I always wanted to make sure listeners knew how much I appreciated their honesty and feedback.
โSomeone recently told me, โThank you for your service,โโ continued Lyons. โFrom that point of view, Iโve been fulfilling a function. The downside of working in radio is you wonโt get rich. I subscribe to the retirement plan similar to what Homer Simpson once told Bart, โsave your money so you can buy more lottery tickets.โโ
Lyons really knew little about Lebanon County when he came to WLBR 41 years ago. After working his way up the ranks at WRAW in Reading, Lyons was part of a mass employee exodus that came from management being assumed by a new group.
โIt wasnโt always โThe Lyons Den,โโ said Lyons. โWe hired a consultant in the ’80s to try to come up with things to juice up the place. I didnโt care for it at the time. But it grew on me and now it rolls off the tongue. Itโs one of those things thatโs going to be hard to get rid of.
โIt is pretty amazing,โ added Lyons. โI donโt think thereโs too many people who have survived at a radio station for 41 years. I hope people will remember me. Somebody like Henry Homan was a legend. Everybody loved him. If I could achieve that same level of adoration, Iโd be happy.โ
There are positives and negatives with everything. There are some things Lyons will miss about his job, and other things he wonโt. But he entertains few regrets.
โIโve thought about that,โ said Lyons. โ โWhat if?โ is a question everybody asks. Thereโs really no answer to how things wouldโve turned out if I had done something else. Itโs best not to think about it.
โSomebody asked me, โDo you ever get used to getting up at three in the morning?,โโ Lyons continued. โI just like getting up in the morning. Whatโll happen next, I donโt know. Everybody tells me Iโve got to find something to keep from going nuts. Iโll probably find a part-time job, but thereโs a lot of uncertainty.โ
Somewhere far away from the bright light of the public spotlight.
Lyons can be heard one last time this morning through 9am on WLBR 1270 AM.
An earlier version of this story misstated the number of shows Lyons has completed over his 41 years with WLBR.
I’m sorry, but you’re afraid that people won’t remember you??? I think about you from 3,000 miles away in Seattle, because of you! When I was a kid going to Ebenezer next door I was in a group of kids who you gave a little tour and explanation of the station to, and it was amazing. It was the best day of elementary school! I was SO upset because we were the “smart kids” and you were like “Okay kids, let’s see who can get the closest to guessing the height of the radio towers, and whoever is closest will win this transistor radio.” Well, OMG, I wanted that thing so badly, but I said something stupid like 800 feet, and a kid named John said closer to 300 feet, so he won. Grrr. (I answered too quickly because I wanted to win – and John was SO happy to have been right, anyway, so it was okay.) You gave me a little boost in the “it’s okay not to be right all the time, because this is still awesome to be having the chance to do it” lesson. And my family life wasn’t all that great, so it WAS a great lesson… yeah, you’re stuck in my brain forever. Thank you for ALL of that, and all of the talk. It’s been an honor, sir. <3