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Joseph, who hosts a talk show Saturdays at 3 p.m. on 1540 AM WNWR, says the sign had been erected several years ago to honor the late Facenda as a pioneer in local news broadcasting. Although Joseph wasn't certain who put up the sign or when, he saw it regularly.
"Our radio station is a block away, and I passed it on the way to the studio," Joseph said.
The sign hung from a pole at the corner of City Avenue and Monument Road near WCAU-TV, where Facenda worked for years as a news anchor. It unofficially recognized a portion of Monument Road as John Facenda Way.
Then, one day last summer, Joseph noticed the sign was missing. A car had hit and knocked down the light pole from which the signs hung. Since then, the pole has been replaced. However, the Facenda sign was never returned to its spot.
Facenda delivered the news from the Bala Cynwyd-based WCAU-TV studios from Sept. 13, 1948, to March 23, 1973. He is also credited with being the first 11 p.m. news anchor at a time when most station managers didn't believe people would watch the news that late at night.
In the 1960s, Facenda became known as the voice for NFL films.
Sometime after Facenda passed away in 1984, the sign unofficially designated a portion of Monument Drive in Bala Cynwyd as John Facenda Way.
"I grew up loving this guy," said Joseph, who now lives in Roxborough."When I was a child and wanted to get into broadcasting, I went to the same Mass as he did, Saint Bernadette's in Drexel Hill.
"Every Sunday after Mass, he would say, 'Ron you have to get into broadcasting.' So he inspired me," said Joseph who has been in radio broadcasting since the 1970s.
For the past several months,, Joseph has been on a mission, asking his radio listeners if anyone out there might know what happened to the sign and how it can be replaced.
One of Joseph's listeners recommended he call state Sen. Connie Williams. In a letter back from Williams' office, the state senator noted that her staff contacted the state's Historical and Museum Commission, the agency that places the blue historic markers along many roadways throughout Pennsylvania. She also contacted the Lower Merion Township Historical Society and the Lower Merion Historical Architectural Review Board, but no one knew anything about the sign.
She then recommended Joseph contact the Main Line Times.
The Main Line Times immediately contacted former Lower Merion Commissioner Joseph Manko, who, before retiring last summer after 27 years, represented Ward 9, which includes the Monument Drive intersection.
Manko said he remembers the sign because the township conducted a ceremony the day it was unveiled. Although he wasn't aware that the sign had been missing, Manko agreed that it needed to be replaced.
"He's a legend," Manko said of Facenda. "If the sign is down, it needs to be put back up.
Manko said employees from the Lower Merion Public Works Department made the sign, which is similar to one the department made for Manko after he retired as a member of the board of commissioners.
"If [public works] needs to know what it looks like," added Manko, "you just ... tell them that they need to make the same kind as the one they made for me."
Tuesday, George Manos, Lower Merion Township commissioner for Ward 9, said that the township would replace the sign. However, he was uncertain exactly when that would happen.
