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WXXI's Simon Pontin "Retires"

M

Mark Giardina

Long-time WXXI-FM morning host Simon Pontin will be leaving the radio station in May after working there for over three decades. I had the pleasure of working with Simon for 14 years and wish him the very best.

Simon, along with a group of several others employees, were offered "early retirement packages"as part of the station's efforts to deal with a budget gap.
 
were offered "early retirement packages"
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No one ever wants to hear of these departures...but in the present situation, that could be the better of 2 evils. May the best happen.
 
heydaybegone said:
were offered "early retirement packages"
Click to expand...

No one ever wants to hear of these departures...but in the present situation, that could be the better of 2 evils. May the best happen.
Click to expand...

HDBG, whether intentionally or by accident, you just coined a great salutation. Mind if I borrow it?
 
Though I haven't seen or spoken with this fine British gentleman in years - we first met in the mid-60s when he was playing the "real classic hits" at classical WBFB-FM and I was over on the AM side playing "the hits" all night on WBBF.  How the time flies!

Congratulations, Simon on a great career.  I'm sure I join with many of your morning listeners in wishing you the best in the years ahead.

Enjoy!

Larry White
 
HDBG, whether intentionally or by accident, you just coined a great salutation. Mind if I borrow it?
Click to expand...

With due royalties! Just kidding!! :D Absolutely, use it if it works for you. I consider these boards public domain, and if anything is beneficial anywhere...then let it be so. (BTW - accidental...but it won't happen again, honest LOL)
 
Call Me Sherlock said:
...we first met in the mid-60s when he was playing the "real classic hits" at classical WBFB-FM...
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His tongue-in-cheek mocking of "classic rock" was apparently a long-term thing. I remember when one of the stations in town started using the slogan, "kick-ass rock," he responded the following morning by announcing that WXXI played "donkey-flogging classical music," or something of the sort.

Simon was my neighbor for awhile when I lived in my little apartment on Prince Street, within walking distance of my job at WEZO/WNYR in the mid-70s. We only met once, at a neighborhood function, not at a radio event. A great guy, and I really enjoyed his dry humor.

Congrats, Simon, on a terrific run!
 
As with Larry White, my relationship with Simon goes back to the days of his overnight show on WBFB. I was PD at WCMF in the early 70's, and the overnight jocks formed quite a little social club....calling each other during the night (often to keep each other awake) and going out for breakfast often. One night, Harry Abraham who did the jazz show on WHAM, Terri Hemmert who did overnights for us at 'CMF and Simon on the classical station hatched a plot to all play the same song simultaneously. They settled on Deodato's jazz version of "Also Sprach Zarathustra." I didn't hear it, but Terri reported several listeners, tuning around the dial at 3am, picked up on it and called to report how cool it was.

Harry also was known to tape the first hour of his WHAM show, play the tape back at 3am, and leave the 50,000-watt Gentle Giant unattended while he drove over to Midtown to play chess with Simon!

Several years later, Simon came in at WXXI as I was moving on. I talked with him several times over the years and he remained charming and delightful. Hip Hip Hooray for surviving for 33 years! And yes, may the best happen.

BTW, Terri Hemmert moved on from WCMF to join WXRT in Chicago, where she remains, doing middays. Going on 36 years at one station! It can be done.

Tom Teuber
Madison, WI
 
Allow me please to add one more comment about Simon.

When I worked at WNYR-WEZO and Simon was at WXXI, we used to run into each other almost every early workday morning at the Gannett Building buying the morning newspaper. While I had no idea who he was, Simon always had a smile on his face and a chipper "Good Morning" for me. I often wondered how someone could be so happy at 4:30 in the morning.

It wasn't until I started working early mornings at WXXI in 1990 did I realize who this fellow picking up the morning paper was.

One of the many things I missed when moved to afternoon drive is being able to walk into the FM studios each morning and have a chat with Simon. His dry sense of humor and my outrageous personality would have made a good morning team. We could have called ourselves Class & Classless.

Rochester radio will not be the same without Simon and his "birds" early mornings on WXXI-FM.

Cheerio old friend!
 
Heard a nice bit of coverage on Simon's retirement this morning on WXXI-AM including audio of Mayor Duffy's proclamation (5/15/09 is "Simon Pontin Day" in Rochester-- bravo).

Link on WXXI site:
http://interactive.wxxi.org/highlights/simon-pontin-host-sunshine-show-and-salmagundy-retires

Did I hear during the piece that Mr. Pontin is planning to spend time building a model railroad? I know some folks that would be happy to get together with him on that! (There is a whole "Tuesday Night Gang" of unaffiliated modelers in the area of which I am one, in addition to several formal clubs.)

Simon said that during his last show tomorrow he was planning to play all of the music for which he was called into the office.

Loved his reference to having been called by 'CMF on the day he started at 'XXI. "I could have been Wease," he quipped.

Best wishes!
 
As one of the two smiling faces I saw at the end of my overnight Blues shift (Mark Giardina being the other) my day always ended with a smile. :)
 
Simon was a happy man this morning. I expect he'll be even happier tomorrow morning, when he has the place to himself to let loose with one heck of a final "Salmagundy" show from 8-11.

Cheers to a true class act of the local airwaves! :D
 
Saturday morning out running errands I had my car radio tuned to 91.5 to hear Simon’s last show. As always Simon was great!

This morning, on my way to visit clients out-of-town, I turned on the radio and there was 91.5 but no Simon. That’s when it really hit me. Simon is gone for good. A mixture of emotions came across me: Sadness, emptiness and nostalgia.

One can not blame Simon for wishing to retire and start down a different path to his life.
It’s just that we don’t miss people until they are no longer there. Not that Simon has moved to the Great Beyond, but mornings will not be the same without him.

Despite my numerous posts about public radio and top management salaries, I will admit that I called in Friday morning and pledged money as a “thank you” to Simon Pontin for entertaining so many people for over three decades.
 
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