  The pygmy-dipole resonances and photon strength functions in stable and
unstable Ni and Sn isotopes are calculated within the microscopic
self-consistent version of the extended theory of finite fermi systems which
includes the QRPA and phonon coupling effects and uses the known Skyrme forces
SLy4. The pygmy dipole resonance in $^{72}Ni$ is predicted with the mean energy
of 12.4 MeV and the energy-weighted sum rule exhausting 25.6\% of the total
strength. The microscopically obtained photon E1 strength functions are used to
calculate nuclear reaction properties, i.e the radiative neutron capture cross
section, gamma-ray spectra, and average radiative widths. Our main conclusion
is that in all these quantities it is necessary to take the phonon coupling
effects into account.
