Re: WUPI

["'A. Joseph Ross'" <lawyer@world.std.com>]

On Thu, 19 Nov 1998, Donna Halper wrote:

> WUPY(FM), Lynn, Aug. 1, 1961. 105.3 mc, 1.4 kw. 23 Central Avenue.
> Phone Ly 9-2211.  Harvey Sheldon (original owner). Harvey Sheldon,
> pres & gen mgr; Al Nevins, coml mgr; Pat Mathews, prog dir; Don
> Kelson, prom mgr; Si Cassel, news dir; Steve Frohock, chief engr.

WUPY, a year or so later, went dark for awhile, then returned to the air
as WUPI before it was discontinued.  I'm not quite sure how long it
lasted, but I remember someone at WMUA around 1965 or so telling me about
it and saying that the FCC had eventually killed the channel assignment
because of interference with some other station, possibly 105.7 or 104.9.

According to this guy, someone, possibly Harvey Sheldon (and possibly not)
had been a first-class con artist and had convinced Anthony of Anthony's
Hawthorne (I think the same Anthony of Pier 4) to underwrite the station,
somehow thinking he would own it.  I do remember that when WUPY started,
every newscast was sponsored by "Anthony's Hawthorne, Hawthorne by the
Sea, and the General Gloverhouse."  There was an evening show hosted by
Harvey Sheldon from the GG, and I noted (being in high school at the time)
that he didn't sound at all like a radio professional.  He rambled on and
on about the fact that the station would soon be "going stereo, but don't
worry, you'll still be able to hear us without a stereo radio."

I think WUPY actually was one of the very first stations to go stereo,
maybe second after WCRB.  When the station returned to the air as WUPI, I
heard it once, with Harvey Sheldon as DJ and sounding much more
professional.  At that time, Sheldon was calling it "Woopie Radio." The
format was initially jazz 24 hours a day, and while the broadcast day may
have shortened, the jazz format never changed.

As I recall, my informant at WMUA claimed to have been at WUPI at the time
of its last broadcast.  I believe he said that after they signed off for
the last time, as luck would have it, the tower was struck by lightening,
frying the transmitter.  Given the time frame when he told me that, the
station can't have lasted more than three or four years, from beginning to
end.

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 A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                                         617.367.0468
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