Bob Welch, anchor, WSTJ, St. Johnsbury, VT, 5/24/11.
Hi there... I bumped into your website and have at the same time stumbled upon a true time tunnel.. all those sounder elements.. thematic beds.. old news segments... Wow.. I can tell you've put a lot of work into all of this. I grew up in Central Mass and heard more of the late WEEI Newsradio 590.. especially when dad would pack up the car and us.. and drive up the Maine Coast or to Cape Cod. Of course, being in Central Massachusetts the 590 signal was beaten to a pulp by the station in the next town from mine WTAG 580. Obviously being the radio geek that put me into a job in radio for the past 13 years.. I listened to plenty of WCBS too. Yes, my dad would sit in the car with his watch to sync it to CBS tone on the hour. My dad and I heard a blooper.. they were rare.... between Pat and Ben while listening on Cape Cod one August. One of them forgot the mike was turned on by the other... started singing Mona Lisa or something... My dad nearly drove off the road he was laughing so hard. This from my dad who was professionally-trained as a broadcaster.. though switched to a college professor... He knew the expectation on a station like WCBS... that made the moment all the more priceless.
I listen to WCBS still nearly every night... I hear how the writing works and try to incorporate that into how I write for my local news block on the very tiny 1,000 watt peanut whistle WSTJ. I don't let the wattage get in the way of putting on a good broadcast. The boss has me do road reports every 10 minutes.. each report in a half-hour concentrating on either Vermont, New Hampshire, or the Southern Maine areas listeners are likely to find themselves driving to.. as it's rural and more laid out.. people tend to drive further. Too bad we're not on the internet streaming.. I do have a Facebook group named WSTJ Noon Report where you can hear the days local news and sports.. updated by about 3pm Oh.. one of the sounder elements I found on a cart in the building.. WSTJ was CBS back in the 70s and early 80s.. The owner at the time wanted WSTJ.. which at the time was the only station in town.. the best he could get on. That's still how I think today.
Sorry for being long winded here.. just a flood of ideas when I bump into a website like yours.
Bob Welch Anchor: Noon Report
1340 WSTJ
PO Box 249
1303 Concord Ave
St-Johnsbury, VT 05819 USA
802-748-1340
