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Cover Story
C O V I D R A D I O
W O R C E S T E R
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CRAIG S. SEMON
Who can forget Elvis Costel- lo’s “Radio, Radio,” R.E.M.’s “Radio Free Europe,” The Clash’s “This Is Radio Clash,” Rush’s “The Spirit of Radio,” Rage Against the Machine’s “Guerrilla Radio,” Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga,” Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio,” the Ramones’ “Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Radio Nowhere,” Donna Summer’s “On the Radio,” as well a Golden Earring’s “Radar Love,” The Velvet Un- derground’s “Rock & Roll,” and Jonathan Richmond’s “Roadrunner”?
Whether it’s an AM or FM station play- ing some forgotten song that offers rock ‘n’ roll salvation or the corporate machine being chastised for trying to anesthetize the way that you feel, there has been some great and not so great songs that have celebrated and eviscerated radio in the annals of pop culture.
But that was all before what I like to term COVID Radio, radio in the age of the coronavirus.
Yes, like everything else, radio, the staple of the morning commute, your number one place for last-minute snow cancellations and the first thing many sleepy heads hear when their clock radio goes off, has been affected by the recent pandemic.
For instance, Howard Stern has been broadcasting his popular Sirius Satellite radio show since March 23 from remote ISDN lines from his home. And, if you have ever listened to his coronavirus pan- demic broadcasts, it doesn’t sound like the 66-year-old shock jock, whose five-year contact lapses at the end of 2020, wants to go back to the studio, due to his fear of catching the coronavirus and his constant criticism of the alleged lack of cleanliness of some of his staffers.
Closer to home, Bob Goodell, the regional vice president of Cumulus Media (which includes WXLO 104.5 FM, and it’s sister stations The Pike 100 FM and NASH Icon 98.9 FM) said the radio world changed around the Ides of March.
“We were all told in 48 hours, Even better news, XLO had a our company was going to give us a nice spring ratings book, durway so we all could work remotely, ing the height of the coronavirus including the DJs, which is somepandemic. thing that had never been done Released last week, the Nielsen before,” Goodell said. “And, me, Radio Summery for Worcester being naïve at the time, I thought, Metro ( from March 26 to June 17) oh, we’ll do this for a few weeks found WXLO number one with and we’ll be back. This will be over. adults 25-54 from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Well, it’s been a lot longer than a Monday through Friday, with a 7.4 few weeks.” average share. The station’s closest
As of this week, Goodell’s radio competitor Country 102.5 WKLBpersonalities and sales staff for the FM earned a 6.6 average share. three stations are still out of the Also, XLO’s sister station, The Commercial Street office in DownPike, finished with a 4.1 average town Worcester indefinitely, with share on the radio summery. no return date in mind. WXLO’s popular morning show,
Around mid-March, Apple’s pub“Jen and Frank in the Morning,” lic mobility trends showed about featuring Jen Carter and Frank 60 percent of the people living in Foley, has been broadcasting live, the Worcester Metro area weren’t remotely and respectively, from the driving their cars anymore. radio personalities’ Worcester and
“Radio, as a medium, it’s mostly Charlton homes. consumed in the car. People mostly So how do Jen and Frank, the listen to radio in the car,” Goodell stars of morning radio, like workexplained. “Basically, we know ing remotely from home and being from the middle of March until the away from the studio? second or third week in May, there “I don’t like it,” Foley said. “You were a lot less people that were in lose some of the energy. It’s so WXLO morning show producer Kyra Losora with Jen Carter on her phone screen via their cars. Subsequently, we saw a much nicer when we’re in the same FaceTime July 29 at the studio. 30 percent jump in online listenroom together. We’ve been together CHRISTINE PETERSON ing.” for so long that we obviously enjoy
Currently, Goodell said Worceseach other’s company. I would “There’s an energy that comes istry in our relationship and how and see how this feels and see if I ter is actually above pre-COVID much rather, 100 percent, prefer to from doing morning radio. There’s long we have known each other, can still squeeze in there,” Carter levels of travel, according to Apple, be back in the studio.” an energy being with other people that there are times when there’s confessed. “I can still button them which is good news for the radio Carter agrees with her morning that gets lost over FaceTime,” a technical glitch or we need to go up but they’re snug.” station. cohost. Carter said. “Because of the chemon the air quickly, then I can just Foley feels he has overstayed his look at him and we read each other welcome in his own house. very well at this point in our lives.” “If you want to hear from a Carter and Foley do agree that person who can’t wait for me to there are some perks about workget out of my kitchen, you can call ing from home. my wife,” Foley insisted. “And that’s “You can empty your dishwasher exactly what she’ll say.” in the morning. You can throw in a Carter has three children, load of laundry,” Carter said. “I do including a six-year-old daughter, everything quietly because when which sometimes makes broadI’m set up, I’m in the mudroom of casting at home rather interesting. my house. It keeps it far away from “There were many times I see my kids. So they’re upstairs sleepher little face pop in at the door at ing because we start so early. I’ll be the kitchen, like, ‘Can you make me in the kitchen taking dishes out.” a waffle?’” Carter said. “I’m in the kitchen. I’m not going Not only do the two like workto lie to you,” Foley confessed. “I’ve ing together, they like working made bacon and eggs before, durtogether at the station. But, at the ing a commercial break.” same time, they have proven that Before the pandemic, the two they can work effectively at home. popular radio personalities would “We’re just really, really lucky wake up around 4:30 and make it a that we have had the relationship point to meet up at the station, 15 that we have,” Foley said. “We minutes before the show’s 5:30 a.m. can do this a lot easier than most airtime. Now, sometimes, they roll people. And, we’re also fortunate out of bed with only a few minutes to work for a company that gave to spare. us all the tools we needed to do it. “At some point, I was wearing We got top of the line equipment yoga pants and sweat pants every to do it from home, where other morning and there was a break radio stations and people we know Ernest C. Floyd is the executive producer of Unity Radio – WUTY 97.9 FM when I was like, all right I got to who do our job don’t have that FILE PHOTO/STEVE LANAVA put on a real pair of pants here advantage.”
While Foley is very fond of Carter (and the feelings are mutual), Foley is not too fond of Carter’s cats, especially during a live morning show remote.
“The most irritating thing for Frank is my cats will climb all over me if I open the door,” Carter said.
“The cats jump off and Frank will always get nervous and be like, ‘Get those cats away from that equip- ment,’” Carter added.
In the Commercial Street studio, the morning show producer Kyra Lasora, all by herself, mixes the show together and takes care of it live.
A Comrex unit, an audio IP codec, feeds the remote audio from Carter and Foley back to Lasora at the station where she plots it up on her board. In addition, all the music is still physically at the station loaded on computer with fidelitybased “wave files.”
“That woman has kept that radio station on the air. She has been unbelievable. She has the hardest job of the three of us,” Foley said of Lasora. “When it comes to produc- tion and making sure commercials are running, that woman has done more than her share.”
In addition to radio personalities and disc-jockeys doing their job from home, the three radio stations under Goodell’s leadership had to cancel many events and promo- tional appearances, including 104.5 XLO’s “Awesome ‘80s Prom,” a sold event annually held in April at Me- chanics Hall; Nash Icon’s “Rock the Dock” held Wednesdays (mid-May to mid –September) at Waterfront Mary in Webster; and The Pike’s “Rock the Dock” various times dur- ing the summer at Indian Ranch in Webster.
Right now, the always sold-out XLO’s “Acoustic Xmas,” which had multi-platinum-selling artists
Troy Tyre is the executive director of WCUW 91.3 FM.
Adam Lambert last year and the Goo Goo Dolls in 2018, is not looking too good, Goodell said.
Goodell said producing commer- cials have also been a challenge, especially when you can’t allow clients to come in the studio to be recorded for radio spots. But they found a solution. In addition to his duties as a disc-jockey, Zip Zipfel (of Bob and Zip fame) has been doing remote commercial produc- tion, recording clients, producing the spot and sending them to the studio.
“All of our staff had a one-week furlough for three weeks over a 14 weeks period,” Goodell said, “I took a pay cut for that period of time be- cause I couldn’t be furloughed. But we’re now through the furloughs. No one has lost their job. We’re back to 100 percent staff level. And I’m really proud of that.”
Goodell sees the disc jockeys coming back to the station and broadcasting from the booths.
If all the disc jockeys from the three stations were giving the
CHRISTINE PETERSON
choice, Goodell thinks 90 percent of them (including Carter and Foley) would prefer to come back to the studio to broadcast, rather than do it remotely from home.
Goodell said social distancing won’t be an issue at the station.
Commercial radio stations WXLO, The Pike and Nash Icon are not the only local stations strategiz- ing how to be socially distant while staying socially relevant.
Ernest “Ernie” C. Floyd is the executive producer of Unity Radio – WUTY 97.9 FM and host of his own evening listening program, “Smooth Grooves.”
“Initially, it affected us because we had a routine where people were coming in on a regular basis and we were rotating the hosts, rotating the guests, and we were just getting our rhythm, as far as getting exposure in the community,” Floyd said. “All of a sudden COVID comes in. It shut everything down for a good number of weeks.”
Only on the air for three years, Unity Radio started playing repeat programs, as they tried to figure out its next move.
Now, Unity Radio is doing some interviews in its Waldo Street studio.
“We continue to wipe micro- phones and computer desk tops and the desks and people come in with masks and we separate them,” Floyd said. “We feel as though we’re getting our rhythm back and we’re starting to get good underwriters. We’re starting to get recommended for grants now. And people are reaching out to us to support the station.”
Slowly but surely, Unity Radio’s 15 radio personalities and disc jockeys started coming back around three weeks ago. Only a few are still broadcasting from home, Floyd said.
“When COVID hit, and we had that three to six week layoff. Then, we started being creative and in- novative with Zoom and then we learned TeamViewer,” Floyd said. “We learned how to edit and then we learned how to come up with a format to insert the shows on MP3 from remotely or our producer would come in by himself and just lay the schedule out. Now, we’re able to do a live show with our guest sitting six feet apart. And, then, we have people call in Zoom and we’re able to pop them up on the screen. We’re able to talk to them. So it’s pretty cool.”
WCUW 91.3 FM were mailing
out its spring fundraising letters when the pandemic hit, Troy Tyree, the station’s executive direc- tor, said.
“The day that they shut us down, we were going into our spring fundraising drive with no- body in the station to actually do fundraising,” Tyree said. “We used program recordings from this time (in March) last year which was also the start of our fundraising drive. So the programming was on air. So we had a little bit of good fortune in that way.”
One of the major ways the coro- navirus affected the 910 Main St. location is performance-wise.
Time.
“We were partnering with Cinema 320 and, in doing that, we rebuilt our stage,” Tyree said. “We got a nice, semi-plush performance stage and a black curtain. We installed a screen. We were liter- ally ready to open that week with Cinema 320. The very first movie was going to be “WBCN and The American Revolution (which is now available online with the por- tion of the proceeds to benefit the WCUW) and then the coronavirus hit.”
Tyree said they had a rather robust schedule of performances, and, due to COVID-19, they lost a huge chuck of money because of it.
“We were calculating anywhere from 35 to 50 people per show,” Tyree said. “For our standards, that’s a good turnout.”
Tyree said he is looking forward to the day when we can, at least, have an indoor performance to an empty room that they can broad- cast live and will be ecstatic when they can do a live show with an audience of 15-20 socially distant patrons.
Currently, WCUW has four pro- grammers that are broadcasting remotely, while 35 have returned to the station in the last few weeks, Tyree said.
“We have it set up, so there’s a time gap between programming,” Tyree said. “We wash our mikes and screens. Everybody has to wear gloves. Everybody has to wear masks. So there’s good distance be-
WXLO morning show producer, Kyra Losora with radio personality Jen Carter on her phone screen via Face-
tween each programmer. So we’re
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trying our best to keep it safe.”
Tyree said WCUW gained 10 to 15 percent new listeners during the coronavirus outbreak. And, only time will tell if these new listeners will translate to long-term donors, he said.
“We’re totally independent,” Tyree said. “We have no federal or state funding. We not part of Clark University. We own our building. We have a tenant (Fantastic Pizza & Cafe). We get some support from the Great Worcester Community Foundation. And, between a bit of underwriting, the memberships and our tenant, somehow we are still here.”
