In this week’s issue… WTIC’s Dunaway to retire – TV auction for new signals – Noncomm FM window aftermath takes shape – New translators for AMs – Remembering CKLW legend Trombley
By SCOTT FYBUSH
*Few radio stations have been as stable in morning drive over the decades as CONNECTICUT‘s WTIC (1080 Hartford). Consider: since 1943, the station has had just two long-term morning hosts – the legendary Bob Steele, who held the job until 1989, and since 1992, Ray Dunaway.
Dunaway won’t quite hit the 30-year mark at the now-Audacy-owned station, though: last Monday, he announced that he’s retiring at year’s end, with his final show set for Dec. 24.
Now almost 72, Dunaway says it’s time to spend more time exploring Connecticut. He first came to the state to attend Trinity College, then moved around in a typically peripatetic radio career early on, eventually landing at Kansas City’s KMBZ, where he made a name for himself that brought him to WTIC’s attention. When he arrived in Hartford, he took over from two short-term hosts, Tom McCarthy and Arnold Dean, who had replaced Steele.
Dunaway settled in, bringing Hartford listeners a full-service morning show that had much the same appeal as the long-running Steele show, even as the rest of WTIC’s schedule began moving toward a harder-edged flavor of political talk.
Dunaway’s co-host Brian Schactman will take over the morning slot solo at the start of 2022. Can he have the same kind of staying power as Steele or Dunaway? If so, we’ll be writing our next article about a morning change at WTIC in the fall of 2051. (And no, we don’t intend to still be cranking away at NERW in what would be its 55th anniversary year!)
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
