Pencor Services, Inc., (Pennsylvania Entertainment, Communications and Recreation) with its corporate home in Palmerton, Pennsylvania, is the provider of a wide variety of telecommunication services. They are the result of the vision of its founder, Claude Reinhard, and his sons, Donald and Fred, who have followed in his footsteps. Claude’s dream was to make television signal reception available in Palmerton.

In 1951, Claude Reinhard, with the financial help of a few investors, founded the Palmerton TV Signal Corporation. An antenna was erected at the top of the Blue Mountain and a pole line was built from the mountaintop to the Sokol Hall on Lehigh Avenue in Palmerton, where Philadelphia channels 3, 6, and 10 were demonstrated to the public for the first time. From this initial cable event, the company, Blue Ridge Cable Technologies, Inc. has evolved into one of the top 25 cable providers in the United States, with service to subscribers in 15 counties of Eastern and Central Pennsylvania.

The company further expanded its interest in communications when it purchased the Palmerton Telephone Company in 1955 and the Blue Ridge Telephone Company in 1956, which now provides traditional telephone service to subscribers in Palmerton, Bowmanstown, Kresgeville, Kunkletown and surrounding areas.

To keep the public informed about enhancements in cable TV and its programming, Cable Grams, a weekly publication, was established in 1967. When his interest in the newspaper business piqued, Reinhard purchased the Jim Thorpe Times News and within two years added the circulation of the Lansford and Tamaqua daily newspapers. In 1987, a weekly newspaper was purchased in Emmaus and since then seven other weekly newspapers were started serving school districts in the Allentown area. TN Printing, a commercial sheet fed and web press printing division, grew along with the newspaper business.

Staying ahead of the curve with technology, Pencor invested in several wireless ventures in the early 1980’s and became a long distance carrier when Palmerton Long Distance was launched.

In 1994, an Internet service provider partnership, PenTeleData, LPI, was formed and serves dialup, cable modem and commercial customers over a large area of Pennsylvania and part of New Jersey. The partnership operates the largest privately owned fiber optic and cable network in Pennsylvania and was the first in the country to offer high speed Internet service over cable.

As the public interest in purchasing telecommunications devices exploded, Pencor Superstore sites were opened to meet the needs of customers for cable, telephone, Internet, cellular, paging equipment and associated services.

Pencor Services and its subsidiaries employ approximately 1100 people who continue to grow the vision of Claude Reinhard and his pioneering spirit.