NorthEast Radio Watch 4/28/2025: Letterman’s Maine Surprise

In this week’s issue… “Nite Show” goes out in style – Remembering Erie’s McKay – Rhodes retires in Scranton, Russo in Buffalo – Islanders drop radio team

By SCOTT FYBUSH

Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada

*Did you know MAINE had its own statewide late-night talk show? As it prepares to go off the air in a few weeks, “The Nite Show” earned national attention last week when the audience at one of its final tapings in Bangor was stunned by the appearance of the show’s biggest guest ever.

Yep, that was David Letterman himself, needing no introduction as he walked on to the bare-bones talk show set at Husson University in Bangor to raucous applause.

“I still can’t believe it happened,” host Dan Cashman said after the taping. “When he came out, I got weak in the knees.”

As with most of us of a certain age, Cashman idolized Letterman growing up, but unlike most of us, Cashman actually made his late-night dreams come true, starting the “Nite Show” in 1997 while he was in college, running it on Bangor TV for five years, then reviving it in 2010 for its most recent five-year run.

And Bangor, as devout “Late Show” fans may remember, had a special place in Letterman history. Early on, it was reportedly the market with the lowest Letterman viewership in the country, prompting Dave to call random Bangor residents picked from the phone book and urge them, on the air, to start watching his show.

Might there have been a phone call or two from the “Nite Show” set? Nobody’s saying just yet, since the Letterman episode won’t air until May 10 on Cashman’s little network that includes WABI in Bangor, WGME/WPFO in Portland and WWPI in Presque Isle. After that, there’s one more “Nite Show” episode after that, which will run May 17.

“He was everything — charming, funny, silly, smart, and complimentary,” Cashman told WGME of Letterman’s brief visit, which lasted only a few hours before he flew back out of Bangor.