In this week’s issue… Vermont loses a radio legend – End of the road for “Franken-FM”? – From “Kat” to “Cat” – Another AM downgrade
By SCOTT FYBUSH
*It was a quiet week in NERW-land, and your editor was away all week (hence the slightly later than usual publication of this week’s issue), and we almost weren’t going to publish this week at all – but we couldn’t let another week go by without paying tribute to the broadcasting legend VERMONT lost last week.
Ernie Farrar had the kind of career you simply don’t get to have these days: after starting his radio career in St. Albans in the 1960s, he jumped to Burlington’s WVMT (620) in 1967 and never left.
At WVMT, Farrar became the voice of mornings for generations of Vermonters, waking them up for decades with the sort of full-service morning show that’s quickly become history in so many places. For the last 20 years of his WVMT career, Farrar was paired with a younger co-host, Chris Papillo (shown at right); both hosts announced their departure from the station at the end of 2018 as it prepared for a change of ownership.
Farrar’s other career was in boxing, as the longtime director of the Vermont Golden Gloves competition, he was also a legend in that arena, inducted into the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame as well as the Vermont Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Other honors included the name of the road that led to WVMT’s former studios, which was long designated “Ernie Farrar Drive.”
In recent years, Farrar had jumped back into his old hobby of amateur radio, where he was W1EF, as well as spending time with his large family. Farrar died July 7, at 78. Visiting hours will be held July 22 from 4-7 PM at the Heald Funeral Home in St. Albans; Papillo will host a celebration of Farrar’s life on July 23 at 11 AM, in front of a crowd expected to be large enough that it’s taking place at the Collins-Perley Sports Complex in St. Albans.
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!
In this week’s issue… After NAB, hope and confusion - WZLX, WBEB relaunch morning shows - WJTO, WLAM stay alive for now - MBC takes over Bell stations - Remembering Mimi Griswold, Herb Squire By SCOTT FYBUSH Jump to: ME...
In this week’s issue… Fear and Uncertainty in Las Vegas - Memory Stations to sign off - WNED, WBFO rebrand - Najman out at WDEV - Zoomer expands in Ontario By SCOTT FYBUSH Jump to: ME - NH - VT...
A visit to many of the sites in Pennsylvania's Poconos, plus Bold Gold's stations in Scranton
In this week’s issue… Remembering Pittsburgh's Quinn - Seven Mountains enters Harrisburg - My launches new brands - Ryan out at B101 - More cuts at Radio Vermont - Another AM deleted
