Lowell Sun Quietly Exits WUML?

[Mark Watson]

   It appears that when 2004 ended and 2005 began, the Lowell Sun ended it's 
involvement with the "Lowell Sunrise" program on U Mass Lowell's WUML (91.5 
Lowell). I've noticed that the ads for the show in the Sun have disappeared, 
and I received an e-mail from someone looking for a copy of an article that 
ran in the Dracut Dispatch (a weekly which was purchased last year by Media 
News, owners of the Sun) announcing the end of the Sun's involvement with 
the program. Said article never appeared in the Sun, unlike all the hoopla 
when the Sun announced the venture back in 2003.

    Searching the Dispatch archives on line brought only 2 hits, one a 
reprint of an article about Paul Sullivan's health issues, and an article 
that may have been the one in question from 1/6/05 entitled "Sun Sets On My 
Radio Days". However, one has to pay $2.95 to read the whole article. For 
the benefit of all of us on the list, as well as satisfying my curiousity, I 
sprung for the article, and got to read the column by Dispatch & Sun 
correspondent Dennis Shaughnessy who tells about the end of his involvement 
with "Lowell Sunrise" as of 12/31/04. One line which I think can help 
confirm for us the Sun's exit from WUML (quoted for scholarly purposes 
only): " The University and the paper have decided on a different approach". 
That different approach that I heard in listening for about 30 minutes this 
past Thursday has new liners, intros/outros, etc all voiced by Bob Ellis 
which have no mention of the venture between U Mass Lowell & the Sun, but 
some Sun reporters apparently still appear on the show. Also missing in the 
30 minutes I listened are the underwriting announcements, which were heard 
at the top & bottom of the hour plus a couple of times in between.

    Checking out the WUML message board, no official announcement there 
either, although there was one comment from someone regarding the Lowell 
Sun's "failed experiment". So curious minds want to know what happened 
between the Sun & U Mass Lowell to have the Sun set on it's radio 
involvement on WUML.

Mark Watson