Explaining my departure from WLNG.
As many of us have, I've lived through several station sales and restructuring, and they have never been good because there's ALWAYS a new owner who thinks they can do it better. I knew that scenario would be a possibility at WLNG when they finally made the sale, but I wasn't prepared for the train wreck that took place. When it happened I started getting phone calls, E-Mails and texts all asking pretty much the same question.....what the hell is going on over there? Listeners asking me why the audio sounds so flat. What happened to the jingles? What happened to the news? Since the decisions to change things weren't mine, I wasn't going to offer any explanations except "I had nothing to do with it."
Every Saturday I would do my show with the nagging question "when is the nonsense going to catch up with me?" in the back of my mind. After hearing the dreadful changes I knew it wouldn't be long before the new owner's personal interpretation of "oldies" would have a major effect. Sure enough, I was informed that my show, Sock Hop Saturday Night, which started on April 2, 1994 on WICC in Bridgeport, and had been a fixture on WLNG, would now be shortened from 4 to 2 hours, and that they were looking for some dark, dank, portion of the Sunday night schedule to stick me and my 2 hours into. And I knew exactly where this new idea and directive came from.
Since I joined WLNG in March of 2004, we had nothing but a positive relationship between myself and my fellow station mates. I loved my job, and how often can you hear someone honestly make that claim? I deeply respected everyone I worked with, and that respect was always mutual. So when I got the word that my 15 year experience at the station meant absolutely nothing now, it was clear this decision was not the work of those I had respected and worked with for so many years.
This kind of boot of a jock into the wilderness is not how a 27 year veteran is to be handled. This is what you do to the new board op who seems he can't handle the spot loads. Agitated, I took some time to consider all the angles. At my age, did I really want to go through with this arrangement? Apparently my talents were pretty close to worthless with the new owner. Probably after a month I'm sure the show would have been cancelled altogether anyway at this rate. I figured it was time to retire from broadcasting. I wrote up a lengthy letter of resignation, explaining my reasoning and my thoughts on the way the new owner was guiding the ship, the changes, the complaints, etc and sent it to Gary Sapiane. I also CC'd it to the new owner. I felt they both deserved to know how I felt, although I did make it very clear that I knew the reasons for the changes were out of Gary's hands, and I thanked him for his friendship and support during my years there.
However, things unexpectedly happened in a single day with phone calls and E-mails, and in just 24 hours my show found a new home at WPPB 88.3 FM......4 hours as before, and with the freedom to continue the show in the same manner I have been doing for nearly 26 years.
So for anyone who may have been wondering what happened to cause my sudden and unannounced departure from WLNG, here you have it. Scotty Hart had Emailed me right after my show was gone, wishing me the best in the future, and I wished him likewise. I know that Scotty is now also departed from WLNG, but I have no information as to why or what happened. But, based on my experience in the last couple months of my job there, nothing would surprise me.
Mark Edwards
Sock Hop Saturday Night.
