NorthEast Radio Watch 6/16/2025: Townsquare, Corus Cut Deeper
In this week’s issue… Oneonta signals go dark - Whiteoaks takes over in Niagara - Corus empties Ottawa studios - CBS-FM shuffles talent - Armstrong anniversary to be honored
NERW Year in Review 2014 Part 6
Those We Lost
By SCOTT FYBUSH
It’s that time again: at long last, we’ve arrived at the end of a challenging year, both for the industry as a whole and for your editor personally. And that means we take a break from our weekly roundup of industry news for our 21st annual Year in Review edition. Year in Review installments will appear daily all week long through our wrap-up on Saturday, January 3, so check back every day for a new installment. We’ll resume our regular NorthEast Radio Watch report on Monday, January 5, 2015, and Tower Site of the Week is back Friday, January 9, 2015. (And in the meantime, our own Twitter and Facebook feeds and RadioInsight will be here with any breaking news!)
Back to Part Five: The Year’s Top Ten Stories, #5-#1
We wrap up our coverage today, as we always do, by remembering the broadcasters our community lost over the past year:
RICHARD AGER, 60, NH Public TV reporter (Dec. 29, 2013)
BOB GRANT, 84, New York talk legend (Dec. 31, 2013)
GEORGINE TIDMORE, 84, WAVT/WPPA Pottsville PA co-owner (Jan. 3)
KATHERINE “Kitty” BROMAN, 97, WWLP-TV co-owner (Jan. 5)
LLOYD SMITH, 71, Mohawk valley DJ/engineer (Jan. 7)
JEAN CAINE, 90, CHWO Oakville founder (Jan. 8)
JOSEPH RAYBALL, 81, former WARA Attleboro owner (Jan. 11)
AL BONNER, 85, veteran WJLK engineer (Jan. 18)
CARL SILVA, 50, Yankees radio engineer (Jan. 19)
CHET CURTIS, 74, iconic WCVB/NECN anchor (Jan. 22)
BEN BASS, 59, Buffalo engineer (Feb. 3)
RALPH KINER, 91, Mets broadcaster and Hall of Famer (Feb. 6)
PETER DESBARATS, 80, original Global TV anchor (Feb. 11)
BRUCE HOLCOMB, Harrisburg air talent, sports announcer (Feb. 14)
BEN (Shatto) BARBER, 70, Carlisle PA morning man (Feb. 18)
GARRICK UTLEY, 74, NBC anchor, SUNY journalism prof (Feb. 20)
PORKY CHEDWICK, 96, Pittsburgh radio institution (Mar. 1)
JERRY BRENNER, 73, New England record promoter (Feb. 24)
NORM DURKEE, 91, WESX Salem GM (Feb. 28)
DOUG MASCOTT, 49, WMWM DJ (Mar. 5)
JACK ROBERTS, 62, New England DJ/PD (Mar. 7)
GEOFF EDWARDS, 83, WOKO DJ turned game show host (Mar. 5)
DON MOORE, Cape Cod radio owner (Mar. 7)
MORDECAI LIPSHUTZ, 64, WXXI-FM classical host (Mar. 9)
JOE ZINGALE, 80, WFAS co-owner (Mar. 10)
RICHARD HAYES, 84, WMCA, WWDB, WCAU talker (Mar. 10)
DEAN SLACK, 85, WCBA Corning owner (Mar. 12)
DAVE MARTIN, 64, former WHUD jock (Apr. 9)
NORM PETERS (Pohlman), 84, Springfield/Hartford anchor (Apr. 9)
ALBERT “Del” MONACO, 85, WYRK Buffalo ND (Apr. 12)
LEE MARSHALL, 64, CKLW newsman (Apr. 26)
CURT HANSEN, WEBE founder, Cumulus regional VP (Apr. 30)
BEN HOBERMAN, 91, WABC GM/ABC Radio VP (May 3)
KEN STEIN (Steinberg), 76, WPUT Brewster morning man (May 19)
KNOWLTON NASH, 86, CBC anchor desk legend (May 24)
BOB DODENHOFF, 57, former WKLX Rochester owner (May 26)
DAVE HERMAN, 78, WNEW DJ under a legal cloud (May 28)
JOHN RENO, 80, WTIC-TV/WFSB chief engineer (May 28)
TOM TRACY, 85, WNEW music director (May)
BOB TRACY (Taraski), 66, WJET Erie jock (June 3)
KEITH ALAN AUSTIN, western PA jock (June 8)
JIM BRADY (Felton), 67, CFTR/CFGM jock (June 5)
MIKE FOTI, 63, former WGBH engineering director (June 12)
VALERIE GUNDERSON, 59, WGBH executive (June 14)
ALEXANDER TANGER, 94, Marlin Broadcasting founder (June 21)
BOB AUSFELD, 64,veteran Albany market manager (July 13)
PAUL WAINWRIGHT, 56, Hamilton/Niagara DJ (July 15)
BILL STEPHENSON, 85, CFRB sports director (July 22)
ROLLIE JACOBS, 86, WWLP sports director (July 16)
SAMANTHA STEVENS (Nicole Loban), 44, Connecticut DJ (July 28)
JACK PETERSON, 70, New Bedford morning man (July 30)
ED JOYCE, 81, WCBS talent turned CBS News executive (Aug. 2)
STEVE POST, 70, WBAI, WNYC-FM host (Aug. 3)
AL MEREDITH, 68, WCBS-FM newsman (Aug. 15)
DON PARDO, 96, WJAR Providence announcer turned SNL legend (Aug. 17)
DON CANNON (Dominick Canzano), 74, Philadelphia legend (Aug. 22)
DAN DONOVAN (Blaine Harvey), 73, WMEX, WFIL, Minneapolis DJ (Aug. 31)
ROY LEONARD, 83, WHDH/WNAC newsman turned Chicago talk host (Sep. 4)
JOAN RIVERS, 81, comedian, WOR, WPRO talk host (Sep. 4)
BOB KLEIN, 92, WALK, WRIV jock (Sep. 18)
BOB BADGER, 75, DJ and station manager (Sep. 21)
JOHN SLATTERY, 63, WCBS-TV reporter (Sep. 25)
BRUCE GLASIER, 69, Maine sportscaster (Oct. 1)
KEVIN METHENY, 60, WNBC programmer (Oct. 3)
STAN DAVID (Distenfeld), WNYC-FM overnight announcer (Oct.)
DALE DORMAN, 71, Boston morning institution (Oct. 21)
FREDA TARBELL, 65, Erie reporter (Oct. 21)
TOM MAGLIOZZI, Car Talk co-host (Nov. 3)
LOU “Kilroy” MORTON, 88, Connecticut DJ, PD (Nov. 11)
JEFF CHAFITZ, 65, WHAM-TV producer/director (Nov. 19)
BOB CONNERS, 80, WJET, WEEP DJ (Nov. 23)
DONN WUYCIK, 60, WMBA owner (Dec. 2)
BILL PUTNAM, 90, WWLP Springfield founder (Dec. 20)
JOE DEANE (Joseph DiNicola), 74, Rochester, Pittsburgh DJ (Dec. 29)
Did we miss anyone? Drop me a line or a comment and I’ll add them to our list.
Thanks once more to the generous sponsors who’ve helped to make NERW’s Year in Review possible:
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SPRING IS HERE…
And if you don’t have your Tower Site Calendar, now’s the time!
If you’ve been waiting for the price to come down, it’s now 30 percent off!
This year’s cover is a beauty — the 100,000-watt transmitter of the Voice Of America in Marathon, right in the heart of the Florida Keys. Both the towers and the landscape are gorgeous.
And did you see? Tower Site of the Week is back, featuring this VOA site as it faces an uncertain future.
Other months feature some of our favorite images from years past, including some Canadian stations and several stations celebrating their centennials (buy the calendar to find out which ones!).
We still have a few of our own calendars left – as well as a handful of Radio Historian Calendars – and we are still shipping regularly.
The proceeds from the calendar help sustain the reporting that we do on the broadcast industry here at Fybush Media, so your purchases matter a lot to us here – and if that matters to you, now’s the time to show that support with an order of the Tower Site Calendar. (And we have the Broadcast Historian’s Calendar for 2025, too. Why not order both?)
Visit the Fybush Media Store and place your order now for the new calendar, get a great discount on previous calendars, and check out our selection of books and videos, too!
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