Salvation Army Honors Former WCAP Owner Maurice Cohen

[Bill O'Neill]

Congratulations to Maurice Cohen. He and his late brother were 
intrinsically involved in the Christmas drive.  Contrary to the new WCAP 
website information, the radiothon goes back even before the early 1980s 
when I became involved, under the direction of PD Joe Corcoran. There 
were many non-Salvation Army members who really turned out for the 
event.  The real heroes were the ones who were behind the scenes, etc.  
Back then, 20K or so was not uncommon and that was almost all from one, 
fives and tens, with very little from corporate giving.  The brothers 
would turn over the whole station, including front offices, phones, to 
volunteers and the station would run spot-free from 6a to 7p wall to wall. 

One of the more memorable ones I recall was the day after Malden Mills 
burned. Many of the SA members responded to that - who would have been 
at the station -  IIRC, the giving was at record levels that day.  
Typically, I anchored the last 3 hours or so (and got more credit than I 
deserved for it).  The most memorable things would be the unsolicited 
testimonial calls from folks with their story of how the SA helped them 
and their kids at Christmas, crises during the year, etc.  Those were 
the calls that you would just let go while you shut up and listened. 

Bill O'Neill



Mark Watson wrote:
>  Today's (Saturday 5/31) Lowell Sun contains an article about the 
> recent annual Lowell Salvation Army Corps Annual Civic Dinner, where 
> former WCAP owner Maurice Cohen was presented the the Salvation Army's 
> "Others" award, the highest honor they bestow on civilians. For 35 
> years, Maurice Cohen, along with his late brother Ike (who served as a 
> Salvation Army board member for 20 years) raised tens of thousands of 
> dollars via yearly radiothons and special remote broadcasts on WCAP. 
> The radiothons continue under WCAP's new ownership. In fact, one of 
> WCAP's new co-owners, Sam Poulten, represented 5th District 
> Congresswoman Niki Tsongas and presented Maurice with a Congressional 
> citation.
>
>   The article can be found on the Lowell Sun's website:
>
>     http://www.lowellsun.com/religion/ci_9437595
>
>  Mark Watson
>