In this week’s issue… “River” owner Silberberg dies – Remembering Jeff Shannon, Little Walter, Mrs. Rogers – Boston PD exits – Taylor adds Philly – Syracuse morning co-host steps down – 40 years for Matty
By SCOTT FYBUSH
Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada
MONDAY MORNING UPDATE: It is indeed a week of great losses in our industry, including one of the most prominent independent radio owners in New England.
NERW has learned that Steven Silberberg, whose holdings included Boston-market AAA “River” WXRV (92.5 Andover), has died.
His group also expanded to include several other FM stations and AMs with translators in Vermont and several station clusters in Wyoming and other western states. (As you’ll read later in the column, he’d just closed on the sale of four smaller New England FM signals to EMF.)
Silberberg had recently been diagnosed with an aggressive lung cancer, which claimed his life on Wednesday.
“His family has been quietly involved with the business for many years, and, together with the senior management team that has been in place for many years will continue to grow the company that Steven built and, like Steven, look for new opportunities to grow the business,” said Northeast Broadcasting CEO Ed Flanagan.
Memorial details weren’t immediately available
*Someday – someday soon, I hope – this column will open with good news. This, sadly, isn’t yet that week, as our industry mourns several losses, including at least two from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jeff was also a proud tour guide at the stations where he worked; back in 2014, we enjoyed a visit to both WWNY and WCIZ in his genial company, and we hope you’ll check it out now in his memory. (We will be resuming our new weekly Site of the Week installments soon, too.)
*For decades, one of the constant voices of oldies radio in Boston was Little Walter. Walter DeVenne started his “Time Machine” way back in 1967, when the “oldies” he was spinning on MIT’s WTBS (88.1, now WMBR) were still only a decade or so in the past. While running a record store, Walter kept his show going as a staple at a succession of local stations, including WBCN, the original WROR, WCGY, and then, from 1987 until 2002, at WODS. In later years, his show went into national syndication – and along the way, he began remastering and preserving some of the music he treasured. (It also ran for a time on WBOQ on the North Shore.)
DeVenne moved to Florida a decade or so ago, after surviving a bout with cancer that forced him to end the syndicated version of “Time Machine.”
And then, in the last few weeks, he contracted COVID-19, which led to his death on Saturday, which was also his 73rd birthday.
BUY THE 2025 TOWER SITE CALENDAR — COVER COMING SOON!
We don’t have a cover yet (stay tuned for the reveal!), but we’re hard at work on an achievement we never thought we’d reach – the landmark 24th edition of the world-famous Tower Site Calendar.
It’s not just a useful wall calendar. It’s also a tribute to more than a century of radio history.
And 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.
Visit the Fybush Media Store and place your order now for the next calendar, get a great discount on previous calendars, and check out our selection of books and videos, too!