WCAP

[Bill O'Neill]

Here's my reply to a local Lowell blog in response to the pending change 
at WCAP (980 Lowell) ( 
http://www.leftinlowell.com/2007/08/11/the-wcap-sale-local-radio-stays-local/ 
)


--
I echo the sentiments of my old pal, Dave Faneuf. I have been fortunate 
to keep in contact with Maurice Cohen over the years since my leaving 
the area in 2000 and consider him a friend. I logged in many years 
behind the microphone at WCAP. I will forever consider WCAP the station 
that I called home. As Joe Corcoran, former program director, once put 
it as I was considering a return to the station in 1988, “WCAP is like a 
comfortable old shoe” that you can return to. I did, and shortly after, 
WCAP flipped to Talkradio 980. I can tell you that in my many years with 
The Bill O’Neill Show not once did the late Ike Cohen, Maurice, Station 
Manager Pauline Yates or Joe Corcoran even take me aside or enter the 
studio to shift me off of a topic or to challenge my right to express my 
opinion. Having also worked at other stations that were corporately 
based, I assure you that it was not the case elsewhere.

I was the program director at WJUL at ULowell when I also transitioned 
over to WCAP. I will forever look back on these two Lowell gems as being 
integral parts of my vocational and social development for 20 years of 
my young adult life. And for that, I shall be forever grateful.

I know that Maurice and I will stay in touch because as much as WCAP 
Radio was a part of Maurice’s life, the people in it who remained loyal 
throughout the years earned his loyalty right back.

I am grateful to Gary Frascarelli for making WCAP’s 50th Birthday Party 
of the Air a reality. My opportunity to return to host that event will 
be one that I will forever cherish. And as times change and another 
chapter closes, those moments at WCAP will only increase in value to me.

The future of Lowell radio is bright so long as the commitment to live 
and local remains, and respectfully, remains separate from other major 
news voices in the market.

Bill O’Neill