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The old WIGY

M

MisterBilge

I didn't want to hijack WThorne's very cool Aircheck thread but I did want to get the oldtimers' thoughts on the former mighty Y-106 from back in the day... I always thought it was a brilliant station on par with many major market outlets. I believe Obie went to PRO but may be mistaken. Who took over for him? He was pretty good too, and carried on the tradition of excellence. Then, who bought it from Turner? I think one of the guys was Rick James (not to be confused with the r&b artist) and someone else. They always seemed (to me) to be a bit arogent and appeared to alienate and demoralize the staff while doing the same to the listeners. It appears that they had the ability to fix something that wasn't broken and drive it into the ground. (And no. I didn't work there and I'm not bitter. Well, maybe a little bitter 'cause it's sad to see a great station go away. ) Anyway, anyone have some stories to share?
 
Turner held on and even bought out WJBQ in 1986, making him the owner of two of the hottest stations in Maine! But your right MisterBilge the stations whent into the ground in the late 80s. Turner put all his energy into his TV station FOX51 WPXT and let the stations go. WIGYs calls are still here in Maine, now at CHR 97.5FM out of Madison ME. IGY went defunkt in 1996, being sold to a Christian outlet, the AM WJTO went to Bob Bitner, who still runs it as a 1 man operation. and JBQ went to Fuller- Jeffreys.
 
I primarily heard WIGY between 1980 and 1984. I recall it being kind of a high enery Top 40/AOR hybrid in those days, with jocks like Willy Mitchell and Scott Robbins. It kind of reminded me of the early days of Boston's WVBF. It is my understanding that the station went dark in early 1990, was sold and returned for several years as Classic Rocker WKRH, which I heard a couple of times in the early 90s. Several years later, WKRH was sold to the god squad....
 
the station went dark for 4 months while a buyer could be found, the KRH calls were used initially by the new owners, Fuller Jeffries. I was told a story by someone who was listening when "The God Squad" took over. He remembers Willie doing his usual sign off except when he called for his mom to pick him up, he told her to bring the van cause he was cleaning out his locker.
 
Did Turner Porter Actually own WIGY & WJBQ at the same time? Also I thought John Bride (former owner of WJBQ) was the original owner of WPXT.I don't think WIGY 97.5 out of Madison was ever CHR.I think they are currently simulcasting Sports,WFAU 1280.Several years ago they were simulcasting WABK.Are you sure about Fuller-Jeffery owning the 105.9 frequency?
 
I may be wrong but I seem to remember Turner selling IGY, then buying JBQ from John Bride almost at the same time, back when the Q was on Warren Avenue. Turner then sold JBQ to Fuller/Jeffries and moved on to ERZ/MYF in Exeter, NH (Portsmouth), then, I think he left the business after a few years in NH. Al Perry was Turner's GM at ERZ and Jack O'Brien was PD. Al's in beautiful downtown Augusta at the Moose now and Jack's with B-Berry bouncing between Augusta and Bangor. Meanwhile, F/J had moved BLM to One City Center, signed on CYY and bought CLZ (which was in Brunswick) then moved JBQ in there as well. Of course, all this could be wrong 'cause it's still close to New Year's Eve. Any additions, corrections, stories?
 
I'm learning lots here. Most of the information I've been given is pretty much WRONG. I do know Turner owned JBQ and IGY at the same time at one point.from talking to former G.M. of JBQ Rick Snyder. Turner is the reason he left the station in 1986. And I know from FCC records that IGY and JBQ were both owned by Fuller - Jeffrey.
105.9 going to It's current owner had something to do with J.J. getting WLOB, which is how Ted Talbot ended up on LOB.
 
Used to pull in WIGY back at Lyndon State College in VT when the station first moved to 105.9...was amazed at how they'd add records "out of the box"...songs like "Thunder Island" by Jay Ferguson were heard nationally in the spring of '78...WIGY was playing it about four months ahead of everyone else. Two of the station's legendary voices are no longer with us, Bob Anderson & Brian McGarry...I have airchecks of both of them from the spring and fall of '77 and spring '78 and Jack O'Brien and Jack Diamond (Diamond later went to WRQX in Washington DC). It was an incredible station from the beginning, and everyone at the college loved 'em (with the possible exception of the college station's PD). I got to visit the station once at midnight after a concert in Portland since a friend of mine knew one of their jocks and knew how to get there. Another friend of mine told me she was once the station's mascot (Wiggy the Wonder Dog) and used to work some overnights and weekends (Where are you these days, Trish? We miss you!) I even had a couple of the old "Album Station" bumper stickers once upon a time.

WKRH was on from 1991 till sometime in '95 (I'd love to hear frmo Bill Walker, wherever he is...we used to talk often and even had lnuch together once in South Portland), and then a few months later they became WBCI, which remains in place. Heard Bill not long after the changeover on WJTO during their short-lived "hot talk" format (as Josh Ambrutis). Somewhere I have a Rock 106 coffee mug...it's on a shelf next to my "WBLM Rocks Me at Work" mug!
 
WIGY and WJTO were both in bankruptcy around 1990 and/or 1991. The company that owned them just prior to bankruptcy was either based in Indiana and/or had 2 stations in Indiana. All 4 stations went into bankruptcy. And both WJTO and WKRH (or whatever it was then) were off the air for 11 months. The place in West Bath was closed up with a closed gate at the beginning of the driveway. The town of West Bath, were the stations are/were had a stipulation in the waiver of the land zoned residential; OK to be used as a commercial operation, but that waiver would go away if the stations ceased broadcasting for 12 months or more. They made it back on with one month or less to spare. --

On a related topic... what may contributed to croaking that company was an FCC-issued CP for WJTO to go 10,000 watts days and 500 watts night on the same site. West Bath never granted such, as it was a 5-tower plan... 5 towers to fit on 11 acres. The fellow who then-lived next door told me that the town would never have approved it. I have the CP application in my files.
 
In 1982, Donald Fagen released "The Nightfly" album with the single "I.G.Y.". At the time, I was working at WBLM, in those days at 107.5. When ever we played "I.G.Y.", management insisted that we back sell it as
"What a Wonderful World", due to their paranoia of any reference to a competitor.
 
Remember Geoff Webster the British DJ @ WIGY?He also was @ G-98.When he left G-98 he went to WTIC-FM in Hartford.According to the Connecticut board, 96 TIC Brings back Geoff Webster For Afternoons.
 
Hi, Guys,

Back when I was at IGY, when things went to Hell, you called the engineer. The one who was always there for me was Roger Brace.

Does anyone know where he's at today?

Willie
 
Roger Brace... man, there's a name from the past. He was always working on the WIGY studios in the evenings and wee hours, when I was usually on the air. Very nice guy. I googled the name and found a Roger Brace with Albany Broadcasting. Dunno if that's the same person.
 
Roger was (and I assume, still is) one of the good guys! I believe he was with Turner for a long time. As for Geoff Webster, that must be an old post regarding TICfm. He hasn't been there for about 15 years. Some on Executive Drive seem to think he left the business to devote more time to the restoration and reselling of classic imported cars.
 
Roger Brace also worked for Turner Porter at WWGT (formally WJBQ) when it was purchased from John Bride in 1986. Ran into him in the hallway, toolbox in hand at 2 am one morning while visiting a friend of mine there. Roger oversaw the TX switch from West Gorham to the current location on the WPXT tower in Gray. Indeed he is in Albany now at WFLY, last I knew.


MisterBilge said:
Roger was (and I assume, still is) one of the good guys! I believe he was with Turner for a long time. As for Geoff Webster, that must be an old post regarding TICfm. He hasn't been there for about 15 years. Some on Executive Drive seem to think he left the business to devote more time to the restoration and reselling of classic imported cars.
Click to expand...
 
What a place that was! I did middays there from 1986-1987....Whenever it rained the studio floor would flood!!
 
I worked Mornings ar WIGY starting in 1980
left 8 months Later
Found Myself at WJBQ for the 3rd time around
1986
Turner Bought WJBQ put me on mornings
Changed the calls to WGT..tried to be WGAN on FM
Don Huff in the Mornings with News
I had done afternoons at WGAN
After a year he Fired EveryBody
and went TOP 40
What a Biz!!
Joe Mc Millan
Last at WNSX/Ellsworth Maine
PS
Brian Mc Gary passed away???
 
Small world. Especially in Maine radio.

I worked at WIGY/WJTO during the Rick James (New York) and Steve Hunter (Chicago) owner fiasco. These two respected newsies went from buying IGY/JTO, a station in upstate NY, and a handful of stations down south to bankruptcy in a couple of years. Absolutely no business sense. I remember payroll checks bouncing, payroll tax not being paid, as well as the utility companies threatening to shut the station down for non payment.

I started as Production Director, then took over as morning host at WJTO-AM from Larry Bovin who took over mornings from Bob Anderson. Jocks included the lovely Kristina Altwicker, Frankie P, Beck (for all of 5 minutes), Eddie Hoffman...

Other than the Titanic-like atmosphere and all the backstabbing, the best time I ever had in radio was doing mornings at 'JTO.
 
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