In this week’s issue… WABC adds local overnights – Remembering Boston’s Severin, Maine’s Rogers, Springfield’s King, Delaware’s Loudell – FCC slaps New England pirates – New host named at CBC Toronto
By SCOTT FYBUSH
*Jay Severin was a fixture on the talk radio dial in MASSACHUSETTS – and, for a time, in New York – from the 1990s well into the 2010s, garnering both ratings and controversy as he jumped among stations before settling into retirement in recent years.
Severin, who died Tuesday at 69 after suffering a stroke, was apparently attempting a small comeback in the months before his death, even as he battled (and said he had defeated) cancer; while it had escaped our notice in this space, he’d been doing some Saturday shifts on WBOQ (North Shore 104.9) in Gloucester, near his home in Ipswich.
At the height of his career, of course, Severin soared much higher: after several decades as a Republican political operative, he started doing talk radio in the 1990s as a fill-in for Gene Burns on the WOR Radio Network, which led to his own afternoon shift on WOR in 1995-96.
Relocating to Boston, Severin worked the night shift at WRKO for a few months before becoming part of the inaugural airstaff at WTKK (96.9), Greater Media’s upstart FM talk challenger to the established WRKO.
Severin settled in to afternoon drive at WTKK, making appearances on MSNBC (in the days when Tucker Carlson had a show there) and surviving a suspension in 2009 after making racist remarks about Mexicans. Two years later, Severin was gone from WTKK for good, this time after defending a comment about how he’d slept with multiple interns at a company he owned. But he was back on the air again just a few weeks later, this time at iHeart’s WXKS (1200), his last local show in Boston before that struggling AM station’s flip to all-comedy in 2012.
Severin’s final full-time talk stop, from 2012 to 2016, was at Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze talk network; he’d been trying to find a new on-air home on and off since then, even as he battled health issues. Severin was 69.
(And he was, sadly, just one of several important obituaries this week; read on for more.)
Behold, the 2025 calendar!
We chose the 100,000-watt transmitter of the Voice Of America in Marathon, right in the heart of the Florida Keys. This picture has everything we like in our covers — blue skies, greenery, water, and of course, towers! The history behind this site is a draw, too.
Other months feature some of our favorite images from years past, including some Canadian stations and several stations celebrating their centennials (can you guess? you don’t have to if you buy the calendar!).
We will ship daily through Christmas Eve. Place your order now for immediate shipping!
This will be the 24th edition of the world-famous Tower Site Calendar, and your support will determine whether it will be the final edition.
It’s been a complicated few years here, and as we finish up production of the new edition, we’re considering the future of this staple of radio walls everywhere as we evaluate our workload going forward.
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 new Tower Site Calendar. (And we have the new Broadcast Historian’s Calendar for 2025 ready to ship, too. Why not order both?)
Visit the Fybush Media Store and place your order now for the next calendar, get a great discount on previous calendars, and check out our selection of books and videos, too!
In this week’s issue… WBUR backs off local talk - EMF's expansion in NY, nationally - Rochester broadcasters honored - Russell finds new PA radio home - Remembering Bruce Stevens - The new calendar's here!
In this week’s issue… Remembering WNY's Palvino, Harris - Will King sell Bangor stations? - Kay moves earlier - New signal on LI - Cumulus cuts hit PA, New England - Frizzell sells in NH
In this week’s issue… Saluting a small-town radio vet - Bell moves CP24 - Scott heads west - Burlington gets Air 1, "Experimental Radio" - Family Life heads down I-86
In this week’s issue… NY TV anchor, radio historian both retiring - XPN PD to retire - More Cumulus cuts - Rogers sells FMs as Corus makes big talent cuts By SCOTT FYBUSH Jump to: ME - NH - VT - MA...
