Steve Sawyer, 98.3//1240 WHAI AM/FM Greenfield MA | October 25, 1998

Date of Recording: 10.25.1998
Station: 1240 AM (WHMQ) / 98.3 FM WHAI Greenfield, Massachusetts, USA
Format: Adult Contemporary (AC)
Featured Air Talent: Steve Sawyer (West) (WCAT/WFGL/WFMP/WXLO/WHAI/WINQ/WEZL/KOUL/KLTG/WOGY/WMBZ/WGKX/WJZN/WMC-FM/IRN/WCTZ)
Contributor: Steve Sawyer
Airchexx Entry: 1,465

We get to do this all over again next hour…

Comments:

At the time this was recorded, I was working full-time as a long-haul truck driver for a company out of Gill, Massachusetts, Transcend Carriers. I enjoyed trucking. It was the first real, full-time job I held after leaving the U.S. Navy the previous year. I had been working in radio, mainly part time since joining the service in 1984, but before that, had been full time for a few years right out of high school.

With that introduction, here’s the story behind this aircheck. On some weekends, when I wasn’t taking a load off somewhere, WHAI’s then Program Director Jay Fidanza (whom I have known since 1983) scheduled me for a shift. As recently as 1998 when this was recorded, the station had no computer automation; the music was played on Denon CD Carts, commercials were still on traditional magnetic tape cartridges, and the station still aired CBS Network News. This was the time just prior to Haigis Broadcasting selling the station to Saga Communications of New England.

This particular weekend, I did the overnight show. As described above, there was no automation, it was a live show, and on this particular night it was the end of Daylight Savings Time. So, I had a theme, of sorts, and ran with it.

Included in this recording are two CBS Newscasts, a few local WHAI promos and a good sampling of the format, in general. This was, incidently, the tape that I presented to Program Director Matt Albritton at WOGY “Froggy 94” that earned me the night show. I’m always amazed that Matt saw something in this tape that prompted him to give me a crack at major market radio – and I’m eternally thankful!

Today, the AM and FM are separate stations, in fact, AM 1240 has the calls WHMQ. The FM is AC branded “The Valley’s Best Variety”. The Program Director is Nick Danjer.