Al Sisson in 1938

Al Sisson was on Rochester radio from the 1930s to the late 1950s. He mostly did short human interest reports where he talked about people and places around the area.

Last weekly I scanned his Down the Road A Piece with Al Sisson from 1952. This booklet contained 15 of his scripts that he picked to be published. In here are stories on Jackson and Perkins from Newark, the races at Watkins Glen, Wayland Centennial, and the Veteran’s Hospital in Bath. Other stories deal with going to the dentist, sledding, spring cleaning, and church auctions.

In 1949 Al did a series of scripts called Monroe County Library Series that were published in 1950 by Lincoln Rochester Trust Co. It has scripts on Riga, East Rochester, Irondequoit, Webster Scottsville and other libraries as they were in 1949. Rochester Public Library scanned that and the link will take to those scripts on the RPL website

I am going to donate my Sisson booklet to be included in the Rochester Radio collection at St. John Fisher University. So I wrote the short biography, below, to give them along with the booklet.

Allen Lester Sisson was born Nov. 18, 1901 at Italy Hill, Yates Co., NY. He graduated from Ithaca College and then taught school in Ilion, NY from 1923 to 1928. In 1928 he was made head of the Dramatic Department at Ithaca College.

In 1933 he started working at radio station WHAM in Rochester. There he was first a staff announcer, next a news and sports reporter and then acted as a news editor at the station. In 1938 Al was doing the early evening and late news reports on WHAM. Each report was only 10 minutes long.

During World War II he joined the American Red Cross as a Field Director. He served in both Africa and Italy before returning to the US. Back in Rochester he acted as a master of ceremonies on the Main Street Liberty Bridge that solicited war loan funds.

In August 1944 he was hired by Lincoln Rochester Trust Company as a member of their Customer Relations Department. As part of that organization he started a show on WHAM that was on during the 7 a.m. hour called “Main Street.” The show lasted until November 1956 having racked up 2,930 broadcasts.

Soon after leaving WHAM radio in 1956, Al ended up with a similar Sunday show (3 – 4:30) titled “Main Street Matinee” on Rochester radio station WVET. In 1962 he had a show on station WHEC.

From 1954 to 1957 Al did an early morning report on TV station WHAM (now WROC-TV).

For many years he hosted many kinds of local events. He also did some slide shows showing photos of his travels.

In 1986 Al and his wife are residents of the Fairport Baptist Home. He died in Rochester on March 8, 1987.