Sign-on to sign-on

Nelson Sears, WGAL-TV Lancaster, Pa.'s first employee, signed onto the station back in 1949 as a 22-year-old just out of the army. Last week, when the station inaugurated its digital channel (58), it was Sears again, now 74, signing on. "We were sitting around discussing the launch of DT 58," said General Manager Paul Quinn, "and someone thought this would be a great idea." Sears became news director and program director at the station, retiring in 1994 but remaining in an advisory capacity to this day.