NorthEast Radio Watch 1/12/2026: Syracuse Veteran Exits
In this week’s issue… Gary out in Syracuse - VT stations flip formats - SE Mass station sold - New morning show in Toronto - Remembering Maine's MacLaughlin
NERW Update: Hartford Gets a “Whale,” WOR Gets a Morning Show
By SCOTT FYBUSH
Two quick updates for your Tuesday morning, and both fall under the “huh?” category for us here at NERW Central:
*In Hartford, Connoisseur completed its reconstruction of WDRC-FM (102.9) with a Tuesday morning transition from classic hits to classic rock. Gone is any trace of the “DRC-FM” identity that Connoisseur had mostly dismantled when it bought the station from Buckley and ousted its established airstaff last year.
Instead, it’s now “102.9 the Whale,” with a harder-edged sound that’s very, very similar to sister station WPLR (99.1) down the road in New Haven. The stations were already sharing the morning team of Chaz & AJ, and the new lineup includes Allan Lamberti in middays, Michael Picozzi in afternoons and “Miss Klonk” at night. Klonk is an alumna of the former rock WCCC-FM (106.9), and the new “Whale” is squarely aimed at the audience that WCCC-FM once drew.
*In New York, the wait for a new morning show at iHeart’s WOR (710) was so long that most of us forgot we were still waiting. But just when most of us assumed that WOR had quietly decided to make its interim host roster permanent, the announcement came out of left field this morning: its new morning show will pair veteran sportscaster Len Berman with Todd Schnitt, iHeart’s longtime Tampa-based talent who segued from top-40 to talk a few years back.
What’s that all about? More in the next NorthEast Radio Watch…
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