WLYN

[arusso@smcvt.edu]

just a brief comment as a radio enthusiast and lynn resident on the current
status of WLYN. . .for the last twenty years, the city of lynn (the fifth
largest in the commonwealth) has been left without a quality source for
news, information, and local programming. though WFNX has been a valued
member of the community, their programming has always targeted Boston and
more recently, the New England region, and WLYN has taken on the
LMA-brokered ethnic format in order to make money. as a result, lynn has
been left without any source for truly local programming. though WESX, WNSH,
and WBOQ have tried to incorporate lynn news over the years, it is apparent
that their programming is predominantly focused on the salem-peabody-beverly
tri-city region, leaving lynn as the odd city out. the only consolation had
been that WLYN (at least) maintained a studio presence in lynn, but when
puritan broadcasting LMA'd to arpin three years ago, all that was left of
WLYN in lynn was the transmitter and tower. 

lynn is a large, vibrant, ethnically diverse community, and i think it is an
important for our city to have a multicultural voice on radio. however,
WLYN's programming of late has more of a canned quality, and as a result,
any community ties to lynn have been severed. upon learning from this
listserv that WLYN's sale to arthur liu's group had gone through, i
contacted their corporate office in nyc to express my concerns and my hope
that they will move the station back to lynn and once again focus on local
programming in a variety of languages. i am still awaiting a return call,
and unfortunately i don't think i will ever receive one.

it seems a sad commentary that every major urban area in the commonwealth
has a strong local radio voice, all except lynn. i sincerely hope that
multicultural radio broadcasting will reverse puritan broadcasting and add
radio group's longstanding apathy toward the lynn community, and maybe even
buy the "WLYN" domain so they can change that bizarre website that has
nothing at all to do with radio. 

drew russo
lynn ma/colchester vt