WSKB Wednesday Morning host Tina Gorman
By KEN STOMSKI, JR
Contributor
WESTFIELD – Something strange – something different happened in Westfield last summer. For the first time since the days of WDEW or WLDM the Whip City once again had a radio station broadcasting to the community. Westfield State University and the City of Westfield joined forces to update the radio transmitter and tower of WSKB as a final step to the Ely Hall renovation, which made sense because the public access cable channel 15 studios were relocated to Ely a decade ago. Michael Knapik, Executive Director for University Advancement and the Westfield State Foundation says “they raised the antenna, and then nothing happened”. The students were worried that local people were going to take over, as WSKB 89.5fm was always a student-run radio station.
“We knew the signal was much stronger, and we knew there was an opportunity to serve the community from a multi-media perspective” Knapik said. “We believed we could solicit underwriters, and we knew there was some great homegrown talent in town, such as Bob Plasse, (people who enjoy the art of talking and who can communicate well) and we found a way to go about this without interfering with the students in the radio club at the University”.
And thus, Westfield Community Radio was born.
Cleef Milien, Nick Wyman, James Keedy, Harry Cliff, and Peter Cowles during the Gala fundraiser event at Westfield State University
The first transmission was on Wednesday, June 11, 2014 at 6 a.m. with Mayor Daniel M. Knapik and Council on Aging Executive Director Tina Gorman. This pair occupied the Wednesday and Friday morning time slots, with Bob Plasse and other local talents occupying the other slots. This was the “test phase” as to how community radio was going to work. There were only five slots per week, each from 6-88 a.m.
“If I had the time I would have taken all five time slots,” said Mayor Knapik. “I have always enjoyed being on the radio“. Mayor Knapik and a few of the other WSKB talents may have had some experience with radio, but Gorman didn’t.
“I asked Mayor Dan what we would talk about,” said Gorman, “and he said we will just wing it”.
During this part of the summer the WSKB personalities honed their skills. Shortly after the summer radio experiment began, WSKB Community Radio programming was simulcast live on public access channel 15 thanks to the hard work of Mark St. Jean at Westfield State. So, not only did our new hosts have to sound good in the morning, they had to look good, too!
Producer Peter Cowles has played a huge part of the success of community radio. At the very beginning, Westfield State University student and prior station manager Jake Lehan was operating the board and producing the show. After the first week he was informed that a position he was waiting for had opened up and could no longer produce the shows. Mayor Knapik called Peter Cowles, who works with the IT department for the city, and asked “You used to work in radio. How would you like to come in and produce some morning shows”. Cowles replied with “do I have a choice?” From then on, Cowles has been fine-tuning the operations of the community radio broadcasts, and has mastered the art of remote broadcasts. Affectionately referred to as the Chairman of the Board or just Producer Pete, he has been integral to the success of our programming.
“We probably do more remote broadcasts in a month than any of the commercial stations in the area” Cowles said. “I have setting up a remote studio down to 22 minutes”.
The official start of community radio was on September 1, which happened to be “Hoot Day”, (Helping Out Our Town), a day when Westfield State University students gather downtown to give back to the community. This is when the programming was expanded to twelve slots per week, 6-8 a.m. and 8-10 a.m. Monday-Saturday.
Saturdays were added with Wayne Smith and his two shows, a Polka show from 6-8a.m. followed by “Wayne’s World of Music” from 8-10a.m., which showcases music of yesteryear from many different genres.
On Mondays, Diana Mclean, the ”hardest working woman in Westfield” currently resides in the 6a.m. spot where she interviews folks involved with the community on her show, “Community Connections”. Michael “Buster” McMahan, Westfield State Class of ’92, follows her at 8 a.m. with “Owls On The Air”, where memories of attending Westfield State University are revisited, often though songs.
On Tuesdays at 6a.m. there is “Wow it’s Tuesday”, a show hosted by Bob Plasse. This is another show where members of the community are interviewed, where the topics could be about anything. Many times Plasse likes to close out the show by playing a game called “nitwits match wits”, where true or false questions of assorted trivia are asked of the in studio guests. “I wanted to have a game show atmosphere in some part of the show” said Plasse. That game show atmosphere follows him over to Thursday mornings. After Plasse, at 8 a.m. is producer Pete’s show “Conversations With”, where he interviews folks from a myriad of backgrounds – you never know who he will have on the air next.
On Wednesdays at 6 a.m., Tina Gorman starts the day off with her show, “Wake Up Wednesday”. Gorman spends the first half of the show making announcements of all the various events going on around town, and brings in a special guest to discuss many different topics. During the second half of her show, Gorman tends to have guests on health issues and there is no shortage at one of community radio’s main sponsors, Baystate Noble Hospital.
At 8 a.m. Mayor Knapik comes on for the “Mornings With Mayor Dan” show. Topics discussed range from local to state and federal politics, projects taking place in the city, current events and issues, and whatever else is on His Honor’s mind. This is also the slot where Ken Stomski, or “Kenny the Facebook Guy” has morphed from a twice a month guest to weekly sidekick, a fill-in host, and a fill-in producer as well.
On Thursdays at 6 a.m. the day starts off with a live remote from “The Press Room”, where Westfield News owner Patrick Berry interviews guests who are involved with everything Westfield. “I am fortunate being in the position I am in, as I always have guests lined up,” Berry said. This is the one show where guests are lined up over a month in advance at times. Following Berry at 8 a.m. is a show called “Making the List”, a hybrid talk show/game show where each panelist chooses a song in a predetermined category each week, and then take votes to see which song deserves to make it onto the “list” of songs that have taken the top spot each week. Hosted by James Keedy for the past year, Keedy has recently taken a new job in the eastern part of the state, and the hosting duties of this show have been taken over by Harry Cliff, WSKB student general manager. Bob Plasse joins as co-host, and each week you never know who the panelists will be.
On Fridays at 6 a.m. the morning starts of with Jay Pagluica’s “JP’s Talk About Town”. During the first half, JP covers musical events happening around the area and has the “Golden Age Of Radio” segment, where old radio shows and broadcasts are played, such as Superman or Jack Benny. During the second half Pagluica has been known to have musical talent performing live right in the studio. The 8a.m. time slot on Fridays is typically student driven, “Owl Sports Weekly” concentrates on sports programs at Westfield State University during times when school is in session.
Peter Cowles and Ken Stomski at the Galaxy remote from Westover Air Field
There have been some special events and broadcasts that WSKB has had over the past year. For the first time in over 20 years, the Westfield v. Cathedral Thanksgiving day football game was on the air for those who could not attend the game. On the day after Thanksgiving multiple musical acts were broadcast live right in the lobby of the third floor of Ely Hall up on the campus. A nine-hour “top 100” countdown of the songs from 1984 took place on New Year’s Eve. A live remote from the Galaxy breakfast at Westover Air Field took place on the day before the Great New England Air Show. A live remote was held outside on the campus for Westfield State University’s “Pathways to Excellence Gala”, a major fundraiser for the university.
“I think one of my favorite memories of last year was the New Year’s Eve countdown show,” Mayor Knapik said. “I was at a party, watching this happen on channel 15, and I just had to get down there”.
A similar countdown is slated for this coming New Year’s Eve, this time featuring the songs from 1985. Producer Peter Cowles has the technical know-how to produce a show anywhere he has Internet access, plus has the ability to pre-record shows to play at a later time. This allows WSKB to show up for special events just about anywhere around town.
Westfield is fortunate to have a local community radio station. During this upcoming election cycle, candidates will have the opportunity to go on the air to discuss issues that matter to them. This will be the first time in ages that a community radio station has been available for this – it will be interesting to see how many candidates take advantage of this opportunity. WSKB is continuing to gain a listenership, and a presence in the Westfield community. Those wishing to be an underwriter can call the Westfield State University Foundation offices at 413-485-7363. WSKB can be found at 89.5FM on your radio dial and streaming at wskb.org. Atomicradio.us carries a video feed of the show, and you can also watch everything happen live during the morning broadcasts on local cable channel 15. The studio line, if you would like to call in, is 413-572-5579. For those who missed a broadcast or would like to replay a previous one, all of the shows are archived on Vimeo.com.
