WARE

[mwaters@mail.wesleyan.edu (Martin J. Waters)]

        Just before 9 a.m. today, Gary James (also ex-WHYN) made a short
statement at the end of his morning show (which may be pre-recorded) on
WARE saying that the station's new owners are taking over within a few
days, that the station will be going off the air temporarily, and that the
format will be changed, as well as, "as far as we know," the call letters.
I'm not sure if he meant off the air as in a period of silence before the
new format, or off the air as WARE as it has been.
         Gary also said that he first worked at the station 31 years ago,
when he was 18, and has been associated with it in one way or another ever
since. In the 9 a.m. news, also canned as far as I know, J. P. Ellery, also
brought back recently to the station where he was ND in the 1970s, was more
specific. He ended the newscast by saying that as of Sunday midnight, WARE
will "cease to exist." And he signed off the news, "for the last time." The
station is automated oldies except for those two guys in the morning.
        Why in the world I happened to have turned this on a couple minutes
before that, just to see what was up with WARE, I'll never know. The radio
geek angel must have guided my hand.
        The folklore at WARE always was that only that station and WACO in
Texas had calls that matched their COLs. WACO-FM lives on, according to the
FCC database, although the former WACO (AM) has different calls now. WARE
was started in 1948 or 1949 by "Judge Tarlow," who, also, I believe, was
the original owner of WHIL (now WXKS (AM)), which he had started shortly
before WARE.
        Sign me "mystified in Connecticut" as to why someone would put
Spanish on that station, especially with the directional patterns it uses
and the mega-levels of interference to the night signal, such as it is.
Polish would seem a more likely format.

--Marty, ex-WARE long time ago