I'm Familiar With It

 

I made it to the very end of the WCBS Newsradio 880 format change at midnight.

Oh, it wasn't easy. I actually dosed off for a bit before awakening around 11:30. From there, I heard the end.

It hurt. You knew you were hearing something historic and, in the process, a piece of radio died.

I've done the format change dance before. Sometimes, it's exciting to see things change, especially if there's still employment to be had.

While we didn't change formats, WGCH was part of a change in which the offices of our then-network, Business Talk Radio (and Lifestyle Talk Radio) shifted operations from Chicago to Greenwich.

I recall being there when the change was supposed to happen. However, it didn't proceed on the initial night. If my memory is clear, the change happened the following night, and I was there for that.

There was an intrigue to it. 

Beyond that, not a lot changed initially at WGCH.

On the other hand, it was several years earlier when I had just picked up work at WREF in Ridgefield.

Housed in a small building next to Connecticut Route 35, WREF ran a format of adult standards, though there was some early rock hits we played as well.

I started at WREF in the fall of 1996, as the Yankees were making their run to the World Series for the first time in 15 years. 

My job was as needed for fill-in work, which included my first professional involvement in sports. I was the board-op on four Ridgefield High School football games, which didn't involve any on-air work but it was still radio, and after being out of the business for a few years, it was nice to be back.

In the process, I was about to lose my corporate job at Kraft Foods. My position was moving to Chicago without me and my department was laid off.

In fact, I was asked to do an air shift on WREF the morning of my last day at Kraft. So I did some DJ work, including playing "In My Life" by The Beatles in tribute to my soon-to-be former colleagues.

But, maybe, I'd have a new home at WREF.

Alas, no.

The station had been sold.

But radio continued from the building on Route 35. In fact, I'd been given a Saturday morning shift that featured having a newsman to banter with.

After the news of the sale broke, the newsman didn't come back. I sat in the air studio, playing music, and gathered whatever headlines I could come up with.

In fact, WREF ran like that for the rest of its existence. I moved to a Sunday show of "Big Bands and Ballads" that allowed me to pick and choose from the wall of carts, a few CDs, and even a record or two.

In the process, I became the assistant general manager, which meant coming into the station, sitting in the big office, and answering any phone calls.

Plus, it also meant beginning to clear the building out. I didn't get much, to be honest. I went through the music library, creating cassette tapes of any songs that I liked and, admittedly, I still have two really old headsets. They're both in states of disrepair now but actually still work.

I used them on sports broadcasts for a bunch of years until finally upgrading a little over a decade ago. My own headset was an investment. It's one I'd like to upgrade again.

Having a say in how WREF ran through these couple of months -- as minimal as that say was -- was enjoyable. Family would sometimes come over, bring food, and hang out with me while I did my Sunday shift.

I also did a Christmas morning show. This was the first and, still, the only time I've ever worked on Christmas morning*. Feeling a hint of spirit, I played holiday tunes that I liked and made the best of the morning. A friend came up and hung out with me for some of it and my replacement -- the late Luke Michaels -- joined me on the air toward the end of my show.

*OK, I worked a midnight mass once on WGCH, meaning technically that was also Christmas morning (in 1999, I think).

But there was a bit of a freeform feeling to WREF in this in-between stage. I still maintained the format and followed any protocols that were put in place. WREF also needed to be turned on and off every day, as 850 AM is a clear-channel frequency, meaning smaller stations at the same dial location can't interfere.

Thus, I had to flip a switch either around 5:45 am or sometime in the evening.

By early 1997, after the joy of the Yankees winning the World Series, board-opping a football game on Thanksgiving (I completely forgot about that), and the Christmas shows (Eve and Day), I was only hosting the Sunday program from Noon to 4 p.m.

Most of the rest of the day was now taken by music being pumped in from the new owners. Still, Steve Goodwin (the acting GM) and I were there to hold down the fort.

Ridgefield Press, Feb 20, 1997

The end, unbeknownst to me, came on Feb 23, 1997. Coincidentally, I'd become a father five years later to the day.

My mother, sister, and a few others had come over to keep me company. I was in good spirits, continuing to play music and be an on-air personality.

But one of the guests -- a man invited by Mom -- began talking to me about it being my last show.

Wait. What?

I said I had heard nothing about it. Surely, I would have been told, right?

RIGHT?

He told me he had read it in The Ridgefield Press. His pushing the topic was making me a bit indignant.

Then, he went out and got a copy of the paper.

Boom.

WREF would cease operations from the Ridgefield studios, with programming to originate from the new owners' Danbury offices.

I called Steve Goodwin and got confirmation. Always check your sources, friends.

I did the rest of the show in a fog.

I don't think audio exists and I haven't exactly looked for it.

But I recall saying a sort of goodbye to the audience as I talked up one last song, which I believe was "April in Paris" by Count Basie. An absolutely brilliant recording.

However, somewhere before the song was over, someone else pulled the plug.

I never got to flip the switch.

Oh, the building had power but WREF was off the air.

From that same 2/20/97 Ridgefield Press:
Seeing my name in print as a host was bittersweet

The man who told me I was out of a job insisted on taking a picture of me as I was leaving the parking lot. Admittedly, I wasn't much in the mood for such jocularity.

The next day, with my heart in my gut, now completely unemployed, I put WREF on to see if there had been any changes.

They were now running things from Danbury for sure but only playing "It's the Same Old Song" by the Four Tops on a loop.

I thought for sure the "stunting" (as it's called) would end at the top of the next hour.

It didn't. It kept going. That's how stunting works.

I wasn't listening when the format finally flipped. It became a satellite oldies station.

While there was talk of keeping a local show, my understanding is that never happened. Either way, it wasn't going to be me.

One thing I know for sure: I was the last live broadcaster on WREF in Ridgefield. They've essentially been either satellite or simulcast of another radio station ever since.

In fact, the station is no longer WREF. It bounced between a couple of formats and eventually became WAXB and is "Juan 850" playing Spanish adult hits.

Yes, I quickly learned how cold it could all be. The new owner thanked me for my help in transitioning things and I could now say I had worked in radio management. A nice addition to my resume, I suppose.

Steve Goodwin and Luke Michaels both said they would recommend me to another radio station they worked at: WGCH in Greenwich.

I trained with Steve at the end of March 1997 and, that same day, visited the WREF building for the final time. It's now Enchanted Garden, "one of the area’s premier arts education centers since 1997," per their website.

There was a WREF dinner not long after that felt awkward, especially for me as the true newbie.

I've lost touch with almost everyone from there. Luke Michaels wanted to work with me on a drivetime radio show on WGCH but we lost him to cancer not long after I joined the station. Steve Goodwin did some board-op work with WGCH, including some games for me, but I lost track of him.

It's business, sadly. 

It's what could have been, I suppose.

Yet, 27 years later, I'm still with WGCH, trying to make us better than ever.

And now I'm the play-by-play announcer.

But, yeah, it can all be so fleeting.

And cold.

I returned to work in Ridgefield. As a writer. Occasionally for The Ridgefield Press.

And I've called Ridgefield High School football. I'll do that again -- from Ridgefield -- this fall.

Life's funny that way.