city. community, including our brave men and women serving in the U.S. March 2005: WBZ begins to offer online streaming audio from its website. WBZ continued its full-service AC formatby this point featuring four songs an hour[72]until January 1991, when Gulf War coverage led the station to stop playing music on a regular basis and pivot to news and talk full-time,[51][73] joining WRKO and WHDH (850 AM, now WEEI) in the format. September 24, 2008:David Brudnoy, Larry Glick, and Carl DeSuze are inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame. (Down with sandwiches. Norm Nathan and of course, the great late David Brudnoy, to name be himself and not fit in the "mold. Bud Sawyer, former WGAN Morning Host 1960's-1970's-Part 2 . He's come a long way from as a career choice -- he is a household name in the Boston area Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1935, he grew up in a musical home: his dad was a church organist and choirmaster, who was also a music teacher. This brought Gil Santos to the station. [74] Separately, morning show producer Bill Flaherty and morning host Tom Bergeron also concluded that it was not appropriate for WBZ to play music in the midst of the war. Robby has a livewire voice that comes jumping out of the airwaves and Its been an honor to share my take with WBZ listeners for the past 30 years, he tweeted. found a long-term home at Magic 106.7 FM. [4] The sale of WBZ, WRKO, WZLX, and WKAF to iHeart was completed on December 19, 2017, ending WBZ's 96 years of lineage under the same ownership. Mass -- Another legend from the 1970s (at the old WHDH), [35] A directional antenna array was constructed, consisting of two 520-foot- (160-meter) tall towers. Love you, Bill https://t.co/uvp7Taszxt. New | Site Map | Contact [47] The following year, WBZ expanded its broadcasting schedule to 24-hour-a-day programming. As a youth, he taught himself not to stutter by talking repeatedly into a tape recorder. Liam Martin, who joined WBZ in 2015 and previously co-anchored the 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts, now co-anchors the weekday morning newscasts from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. alongside Kate Merrill.. [41] The transmission tower built at the studios for WBZ-TV would also replace the Hull site as WBZ-FM's transmitter. knowledgeable alternative music base. Rick Sobey is a multimedia, general assignment reporter -- covering breaking news, politics and more across the region. While some announcers only wanted to be on during the day or the early evening, Dick saw great possibilities in doing the overnight shift. [45] A power outage caused by the storm disrupted WBZ's programming for three minutes. talk radio with his Boston-accented wit and command of local, WBZ has long been one of the highest-rated stations in the Boston area. Steve Laveille (Left) and Jordan Rich (Right)Photo: WBZ Archive Photo. [77][78], When WEEI dropped its all-news format for all-sports programming in September 1991, WBZ began a marketing campaign to convince former WEEI listeners to switch to WBZ;[79] this was followed on January 13, 1992, with a shift to all-news programming during drive time (5 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m.). Nancy He was also the voice-over at the On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom (which locally owned WEEI, WEEI-FM, WKAF, WRKO and WAAF); the sale would be conducted using a Reverse Morris Trust so that it would be tax-free. Recently He asks a lot Paul Sullivan made the transition nicely several years ago to The Master of Ceremonies for the event is WBZs Jordan Rich. with the talented June Knight (newscaster) and still has plenty process and a slight chip-on-the-shoulder atttitude. [147] By the end of 2017, the staff included Deb Lawler and Josh Binswanger as morning anchors; Mary Blake and Rod Fritz as midday anchors; Jeff Brown and Laurie Kirby as afternoon anchors; and Dan Rea and Bradley Jay as nighttime talk show hosts. For nearly a year, while the technology was being perfected, WBZA shifted between the two transmitting frequencies, before finally going to full-time synchronous operation in June 1926. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. talk show hosts. Ed Walsh Photo: WBZ Archive Photo June 28, 2007: Paul Sullivan does his last show for WBZ Radio. WBZ, along with fellow CBS Radio all-news stations WINS in New York City, KYW in Philadelphia, and WNEW-FM in Washington, D.C., added an affiliation with Westwood One News in 2014. landmark radio station. Hank Morse brings traffic reporting to ", It should be noted that Adams Dale Dorman, It was a shame that former nighttime host Ted Sarandis left WEEI After three decades, WBZ, along with all but one of the other Westinghouse Broadcasting stations (KEX in Portland, Oregon, was affiliated with ABC), ended their affiliations with NBC Radio on August 26, 1956, following a dispute over the network's daytime programming. February 5, 2009:After losing his popular overnight show to budget cuts in early January, Steve Leveille gets his show back due to public demand. Matt Siegel The company will now group its markets by common needs and characteristics into three distinctly different divisions to make sharing of resources and experiences easier and more targeted, iHeartMedia said in a statement. Fortunately, they don't take that [5] As part of the sale, CBS Corporation entered into a long-term license agreement with iHeartMedia and Beasley Broadcast Group for continued usage of the call sign on both WBZ and WBZ-FM;[154] corporate successor Paramount Global currently holds the trademark for "WBZ" as a brand. Street, WODS FM, Oldies 103.3 -- Bright, cheerful and flawless in But while he admired Williams, he was not expecting to become an announcer either. A Texas boy who embraced New England, and LOVED telling stories here. the 1960s and 70s, Dorman is now a consumate professional, intuitive Easily one of the top interviewers of any format, Jay Dunn. I had the pleasure of working with Bill in the mid-/late 2000s. We believe Adams will be [106] Shortly afterward, David Brudnoy gave up the 10 p.m.-12 a.m. portion of his show;[105] this timeslot was given to Lowell Sun columnist and former WLLH (1400 AM) host Paul Sullivan. out of the radio in almost three dimensional fashion every night. https://t.co/E6pjknEw3f, Anchor Paula Ebben noted Shields took a bite out of life., He was my friend, but truly - he was everyones friend. show, LaPierre has been on the air in Boston since the 1960s, In 2017, awards included Overall Excellence, Best Newscast, Excellence in Social Media, and Excellence in Writing. Former long-time WBZ Radio host Jordan Rich, a Hall of Fame Board member, will emcee the luncheon. [96] Bob Lobel (by now WBZ-TV's sports director) and Upton Bell returned to the station on May 17, 1997, for a Sunday night sports show (with Calling All Sports moving to Saturdays). the afternoon drive, keeping things alive and flowing well for google_ad_format = "468x60_as_rimg"; He suggested that Maria should try TV. [113] Per Brudnoy's wish, Paul Sullivan took over the 8 p.m.midnight time slot in January 2005, with the 7 p.m. hour given to an expansion of the WBZ Afternoon News. The jingles, the dramatic phrases, wacky contests Undaunted, Dick continued sending tapes, until finally, Heacock contacted him and flew him to Boston for an interview. WBZ was one of a handful of stations which already met the new standard, and its initial license was the first Limited Commercial license that had specified broadcasting on the 360-meter wavelength that would be formally designated by the December 1 regulations. outspoken and sometimes obnoxious, but those traits have little [157] On January 15, 2020, as part of an iHeartMedia restructuring, WBZ laid off political commentator Jon Keller (who remains with WBZ-TV), morning news anchor Deb Lawler, overnight host Bradley Jay, and sports anchor Tom Cuddy. [64] Starting in 1972, WBZ's football broadcasts featured the play-by-play team of Gil Santos and Gino Cappelletti. Still, Carr is one of a kind, a Boston wiseguy who knows local Flack or Peabro Bryson song than probably anyone in the country. (A prime example was the American Radio & Research Corporation's experimental station, 1XE in Medford Hillside, Massachusetts, near Boston, which was relicensed in early 1922 as WGI.) May God bless the entire Shields family. Cant even think of him without a smile, Ebben said in a tweet. Previously, only major events were regularly covered. [29] By 1927, it was operating with 15,000 watts. formats and a sound that is identical to stations in other cities, WBZ was granted its first license by the United States Department of Commerce on September 15, 1921, and was originally located in Springfield, Massachusetts, before moving to Boston in 1931. [19], When WBZ began operations, there were no specific government standards for what constituted a broadcasting station. The best known personality in WBZ's history, Dave Maynard, joined the station in 1958. radio jock and helping those in need have made Hill a local legend [75] The format change became permanent on March 4, 1991; concurrently, WBZ began promoting itself as "Boston's News Station",[72] positioning the station as the primary competitor for all-news station WEEI (590 AM, now WEZE). Shields retired from his role at WBZ in 2021 after covering the news for CBS Boston for 41 years. [18] It was located at the company's East Springfield facility on Page Boulevard. all that more special. Lynn, Massachusetts WLYN became WFNX Former Rock DJ (disc jockey) at WBCN 104.1 FM Rock was our business and business was good Former Busser, Waiter at TGI Fridays Newbury St Boston Great gig. She didn't have a radio voice, but she sure had a TV face. field hockey, lacrosse results, etc. Ordway is incredibly perceptive and cuts to the chase like no well to the microphone. a few more obscure ones. Listen to more episodes. An iHeartRadio station. Steve Leveille. with an attitude (Nick Carter, the former WBCN source of irritation) at top-40 WRKO AM 680 in the 1970s, has always been a natural going "against the wind.". Kim Block, WGAN Anchor/Reporter, 1979-1980. -- Hill has done so much for charity a walking encyclopedia of musical knowledge, Callahan counts thrilled to announce Robyn Hitchcock, Weezer and Tori Amos songs. He has a distinctive, methodical style and can introduce a Roberta This initial station proved successful, so in 1921 the company expanded its activities by building three additional stations, beginning with WBZ, and followed by WJZ in Newark, New Jersey (now WABC in New York City), and KYW, originally in Chicago, and now in Philadelphia. [27], WBZ increased its transmitter power to 2,000 watts by April 1925. He has a nice repoire Angel Aristone, an iHeartMedia. While not reporting, he enjoys long-distance running. Long-time sports director Gil Santos retired after 38 years with the station on January 30, 2009; after a week-long fill-in by Bob Lobel,[129] Walt Perkins took over as morning sports anchor on February 7. Bradley Jay PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY: On-air radio personality and talk show host for 38 years in the Boston market; Exceedingly skilled interviewer and digital content creator Boston,. [35] The shortwave transmitters soon began carrying government-provided programming (a service that ultimately evolved into the Voice of America) that would remain the shortwave station's primary function until leaving the air permanently in 1953. A master story-teller and an excellent example of personality radio the way it used to be done, Dick continues to seek out new ways to reach out to his audience, just as he did on WBZ Radio in the 1960s. He also has a gifted way of playing with the Hilarious. Bostons WBZ Newsradio 1030 cuts ties with, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), High school tournaments: Winchester stuns No. in hand and a nice easy going personality, Casey brings announcing After listener efforts were made to restore LeVeille and Dyett to the station, WBZ announced on January 27, 2009, that LeVeille would reassume his shift on February 2, while Dyett would host a half-hour early morning public affairs program on Sundays. [19] WBZ's Bruins broadcasts, which began in early December 1924, made it the first Boston station to broadcast a professional hockey game; the first play-by-play announcer for the hockey broadcasts was local sportswriter Frank Ryan. After a successful stint for [130], The Bruins once again left WBZ following the 2008-09 season, after CBS Radio launched a third incarnation of WBZ-FM on 98.5MHz as an all-sports station, which also took the Patriots from the former WBCN. Emmy award-winning journalist Kathryn Hauser anchors the WBZ-TV news team for both the morning and noon shows, while meteorologist Danielle Niles hosts the WBZ-TV AccuWeather reports for both of these shows. [87] As with the weekday lineup, talk continued to be programmed at night, including three of the specialty shows (Kid Company on Saturday evenings and a revived Calling All Sports and Looking at the Law on Sunday evenings), a Saturday night talk show hosted by Lovell Dyett,[83] and an overnight show with former WHDH host Norm Nathan. Kelly, de force of music, with a great announcer to match. Justin is a delight to listen to, and WBZ ultimately dropped it's NBC affiliation in 1956 after 3 decades, deciding to program popular music around-the-clock. Salty Brine) have been around more than 20 years and know radio What's the point sarcastic, but most of the time it's justified. Nowlin's relationship with his audience In 1972, he was back on New York radio, at WPLJ, then WNBC, and WYNY. I hope youll continue to follow my work on WBZ-TV.. 122. Bill was an incredible journalist and storyteller who also made us laugh along the way, WBZ President and General Manager Justin Draper said in a statement. [151] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17. in energy, consistency and too many lightweight topic segments. to an artistic and technical level -- he could probably do this He also wanted to entertain. Westinghouse built new studios at 1170 Soldiers Field Road in the Allston section of Boston to house both the radio and television stations, with the new facility opening on June 17 of that year. WXRV FM, 92.5, Haverhill, Mass.--A former journeyman has found a home his enthusiasm confirms his love for the profession. Art Spencer, A small number of stations were already providing regularly scheduled entertainment broadcasts, most of which operated under Amateur or Experimental licenses. Her personality, The bulk of the station's schedule, except some weekend programming, is produced in-house. Washington in New Hampshire to the beaches of Massachusetts during strong winter storms. BOSTON, Dec. 10 - David Brudnoy, an iconoclastic but urbane radio talk show host whose thoughtful treatment of politics and culture made him one of New England's most listened-to radio. with his livewire voice and engaging personality. [29][31] With this change the station also began running commercials for the first time. stations in the country. Working overnights, a shift some station managers still considered unimportant, Dick proved there was a large and loyal audience just waiting to be entertained, and he made them part of his radio family. Sullivan, | Links in for somebody 20 years back, but now has established himself 40 leanings actually help the country format, by bringing in The Texan native, who fought cancer twice, covered the news for CBS Boston for 41 years. | Link To Us |, Guestbook | Privacy [141] On October 3, 2013, the station announced it was canceling the Jen Brien Show with immediate effect. ago at Channel 56 Boston! Still sounding October 1st, 2007:Longtime WBZ-TV news reporter Dan Rea takes over the 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. shift on WBZ NewsRadio with his new talk show Nightside with Dan Rea.. Bridges is a throwback to top 40 DJs from the 60s and 70s. He began his broadcasting career in 1970 with WMAS in Springfield. and Paula is to be commended for that and her sunny personality. a Tom Brokaw imitation. [51] The combination of hit music, popular hosts, powerful signal, and top-notch news coverage, made WBZ the dominant radio station in the market. Many are friends and former co-workers in the Boston radio arena, including, Mike Addams, Roger Allen, Tom Bergeron, Mary Blake, Bruce Bradley, Peter Casey, Joe Cortez, Tom Cuddy, Dale Dorman, Pete Falconi, Rod Fritz, Larry Glick, Dan Justin, Gary LaPierre, Harry Nelson, Judi Paparelli, Nancy Quill, Phil Redo, Matt Siegel, Linda Smith, and Peter Millions of college students, night owls, and insomniacs thought of him as a friend, and even years later, many former listeners remember him fondly. [47], During the 1950s, entertainment shows began moving to television, with the amount of music programming on radio increasing as a result. the format by maintaining the energy, passion for sports, and Deb Lawler celebrates 35 years on WBZ NewsRadio 1030 News is breaking that WBZ Newsradio's owner, IHeartMedia, has let a number of long-time on-air employees go. This is a considerable challenge, given WEEI's juvenile an instantly identifiable personality -- like all other WEEI Sort sports format. the next level with a personality-filled voice and sharp sense The edited broadcast included four hours of audience reaction with the participants and was aired on WBZ for 15 hours without commercials. audience the tall ships were coming to Lowell, Mass.