On WGCH

I said what I (thought) needed to say yesterday on Doubleheader on the WGCH story in the Greenwich Time.

A day later, I'll tell you I still have issues with it, but my blood is further boiling because an AM radio group on Facebook is having their way with it.

As I've said previously about the play-by-play group that I belong to (and others), I'm normally just a reader. A lurker.

But my FB friend Matt Boland shared the story on the I Love AM Radio group.

Except Matt shared a story from 2011. The current story is linked above (Hearst will love that) though you need to provide an email address to read it. Your mileage may vary.

The comment at the top of this post was the thought of one of the members of I Love AM Radio.

From what he says, Mr. DiBello once worked at WGCH, and apparently had a much larger listening audience than I do. I realize his comment about WGCH not having a listener "since the 1980's" was an exaggeration.

Still, it bugged me, as it would hope it would bother any current member of the WGCH family. I'd also hope it bothers any past member of the WGCH family unless they have an ax to grind.

Perhaps Mr. DiBello does, or he simply holds on to his vision of what 1490 was, and thus it hasn't been good since he left.

I've been there since 1997, as you know, and I've seen the good, bad, and...well...

I remember the days of John T. Becker, who wanted whatever was best for the community. We'd cover the St. Patrick's Day Parade, Election Night, myriad events, and of course, sports. We were at every single baseball, basketball, football, and hockey game for Greenwich High School.

We dabbled in softball and lacrosse.

We jumped on a bunch of Brunswick games in the early 2000s. We added some Bridgeport Bluefish games, along with the 2002 Babe Ruth World Series.

I stayed extremely active and made a (fair) salary under the circumstances, given I wasn't even full-time.

We did talk shows. Lots of talk shows. Shows that I hosted and shows that I assisted with.

Then ownership changed and so did my work. It became less about the community, and that was their right. I had four shows the day the change took effect. I had zero by the end of the day.

The Bluefish were gone from WGCH. Soon, I was down to roughly 10-15 games. A year.

Yes. A year.

Simply put, things were different, but I still worked and actually had a full-time position for a stretch.

Again, eventually, more things (and ownership) changed.

And I'm still only doing 10-15 games on WGCH a year, and that's sad.

Don't worry, everyone at WGCH knows how I feel about this.

I was at the mic for Superstorm Sandy and given "nobody is listening" I'm curious how this letter got to the aforementioned Greenwich Time. I can assure you that no member of the GCH family wrote it. In fact, full disclosure, the writer asked if it was OK, and the station was pleased to say yes.

Given the transient nature of WGCH (as so many of our shows are brokered) I don't know everyone and am often there in different hours (if I'm on-site at all).

But despite everything you're reading here, I'm as passionate about WGCH (and other places that I've used a microphone at) as ever. I want it to succeed and thrive. If done correctly (and there is a way) WGCH can be a large part of the Greenwich media landscape. But it needs a better marketing push. It needs a local leadership, and that's what current owner Rocco Forte wants.

I have no issues with the Forte family. We didn't always agree (who does?) but I like my relationship with them.

WGCH can be special, with its "antiquated modulation" or whatever another commenter said. It does have an intriguing signal that can hit Long Island Sound (thus the reason we carried Hofstra sports for a few years).

It would help if those of us who know WGCH the best (like the silly sports director) had a stronger voice in the decision-making process.

We know what we are at WGCH. But don't give up on this little station that can and will.