The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Star 102.5 to sign off at 10 a.m. Friday

Dale Patterson · June 8, 2023 9:00 pm

https://buffalonews.com/entertainment/alan-pergament-star-102-5-will-sign-off-friday-after-sale-to-religious-broadcaster/article_b8ea424c-05fb-11ee-a840-efb097220540.html

ckg927 · June 8, 2023 9:36 pm

Is it nostalgic of me to wonder if Roger Christian and/or Sandy Beach pops up during Star's on-air farewell, or am I wishing for too much?

I say this because for years, Roger was the ONLY live voice on what was WBEN-FM(doing mornings). It didn't go fully live until 1987 when it switched to top 40 as Majic 102-starting a short-lived, but NASTY battle with WKSE(Kiss 98.5). Beach succeeded Jim Bosh in AM drive as it segued into hot AC Q 102.5.

Last edited by ckg927 (June 8, 2023 9:36 pm)

RadioActive · June 8, 2023 9:43 pm

Though Friday is the last day, morning man Rob Lucas gave a sometimes emotional explanation of the change and said an early farewell Thursday. It was an unusual segment - no music for over 10 minutes and a longtime employee actually getting a chance to say goodbye to his listeners. That's pretty rare these days.

You can hear it here.

Radiowiz · June 9, 2023 10:21 am

Kiss airing on both 98.5 and 102.5 for the next week.

Radiowiz · June 9, 2023 10:31 am

Meanwhile...down the dial! (If I were the competition, I suppose I'd do the same thing)

Last edited by Radiowiz (June 9, 2023 10:32 am)

RadioActive · June 9, 2023 11:04 am

ckg927 wrote:
Is it nostalgic of me to wonder if Roger Christian and/or Sandy Beach pops up during Star's on-air farewell, or am I wishing for too much?

I say this because for years, Roger was the ONLY live voice on what was WBEN-FM(doing mornings). It didn't go fully live until 1987 when it switched to top 40 as Majic 102-starting a short-lived, but NASTY battle with WKSE(Kiss 98.5). Beach succeeded Jim Bosh in AM drive as it segued into hot AC Q 102.5.

I think I heard both, but only from previous airchecks. Sandy Beach was definitely on the tape. Enjoyed the Rock 102 jingles!

RadioActive · June 9, 2023 11:21 am

Radiowiz wrote:
Meanwhile...down the dial! (If I were the competition, I suppose I'd do the same thing)

Interesting that on their new webpage, "The New Star" pledges to pick up WTSS-FM's all Christmas Music format come the winter.

June 9, 2023 12:38 pm

RadioActive wrote:
Radiowiz wrote:

"The New Star" pledges to pick up WTSS-FM's all Christmas Music format come the winter.

Winter begins December 21. Did you mean to say come Halloween?

RadioActive · June 9, 2023 12:45 pm

I'm using it in the generic term of when people start feeling in the Christmas spirit. The format change does, however, seem to come earlier every year.

ckg927 · June 9, 2023 5:03 pm

RadioActive wrote:
ckg927 wrote:
Is it nostalgic of me to wonder if Roger Christian and/or Sandy Beach pops up during Star's on-air farewell, or am I wishing for too much?

I say this because for years, Roger was the ONLY live voice on what was WBEN-FM(doing mornings). It didn't go fully live until 1987 when it switched to top 40 as Majic 102-starting a short-lived, but NASTY battle with WKSE(Kiss 98.5). Beach succeeded Jim Bosh in AM drive as it segued into hot AC Q 102.5.
I think I heard both, but only from previous airchecks. Sandy Beach was definitely on the tape. Enjoyed the Rock 102 jingles!

Per Scott Fybush of NorthEast Radio Watch, you can thank Steve Cichon for that. He used to work at WBEN and 102.5 and is also a local radio historian.

RadioActive · June 9, 2023 5:25 pm

Yes, he was thanked on-air by Lucas for supplying the jingles and the airchecks. I've been in contact with Cichon over the years, trying to get his book (which he would later put up in its entirety on his Buffalo Stories site) and even sent him some material I hoped he could use.

We need a Toronto-counterpart!

mace · June 9, 2023 5:51 pm

While 102.5's signal is impressive, while searching a list of grandfathered high powered FM stations, I found Grand Rapids, Mi. has two of the three most powerful FM stations in the U.S. 93.7 WBCT cranks out 320K from a 781' tower while 105.7 WSRW blasts 265K from a 581' stick. 99.7 WMC in Memphis gets 300K from its 909' tower. 97.5 CJKR Winnipeg holds the distinction of being the most powerful FM station in Canada at 310K.

AspectRatio · June 9, 2023 6:08 pm

RadioActive wrote:
I'm using it in the generic term of when people start feeling in the Christmas spirit.

RadioActive · June 9, 2023 8:09 pm

Here's WGRZ-TV's take on the last day of 102.5. Check out those impressive shots of that all-powerful transmitter.

Buffalo radio station Star 102.5 signs off the air

Jody Thornton · June 9, 2023 10:51 pm

RadioActive wrote:
Yes, he was thanked on-air by Lucas for supplying the jingles and the airchecks. I've been in contact with Cichon over the years, trying to get his book (which he would later put up in its entirety on his Buffalo Stories site) and even sent him some material I hoped he could use.

We need a Toronto-counterpart!

Where is this recording of the old jingles and airchecks? Was it just aired on WTSS?

RadioActive · June 10, 2023 9:59 pm

It was only a small part of their overall goodbye message. You can hear the 10-minute farewell here.

Jody Thornton · June 10, 2023 10:09 pm

RadioActive wrote:
It was only a small part of their overall goodbye message. You can hear the 10-minute farewell here.

Wow! What a listen. That's the second Rob Lucas aircheck I've heard. The other was quite emotional.

Tomas Barlow · June 11, 2023 12:25 am

Rob Lucas came off sounding like a jerk on the final morning. A former producer mentioned something about his temper and a sales rep mentioned how she met him at a high school dance when she was a teenager and he basically told her to get lost. Then she told a story about how a different producer didn't know that he hates birthdays and made the mistake of decorating the studio and he tore it all down. He continued the story saying that he demanded to know "who the blank" decorated the studio. He ended the story by saying by saying, "It's okay. She didn't know." So even now he thinks the offense was the decorating of the studio, and not him yelling at her. Sounds like a MASSIVE ego. I pity all of the people who have put up with that over the decades. That sounds like an unpleasant work environment.