New WCAP-AM owner Clark Smidt (right, with founder and former owner Maurice Cohen) wants to make the 5,000-watt station "inclusionary of the entire Merrimack Valley."
(CLARK SMIDT)
Radio Tracks
There's a new voice in Merrimack Valley. After months of planning, a group of investors led by longtime Boston radio veteran Clark Smidt took over Lowell's WCAP-AM (980) last week. By Monday, Smidt, whose Merrimack Valley Radio LLC purchased the station for approximately $2.6 million, had already instituted some changes, all in keeping with the master plan to make the 5,000-watt station, in his words, "inclusionary of the entire Merrimack Valley."
"Rather than focus on politics and being critical of things," says Smidt, "we're looking to let folks know of all the excellent things there are to do here."
The station had been owned and operated by its surviving founder, Maurice Cohen, who launched WCAP with his brothers in 1951. It has historically focused on local news, syndicated programs, and occasional music.
Starting this week, Smidt has moved the politically minded host George Anthes out of the weekday morning slot and into his own evening show, "George at Night," from 8 to 10. The new morning drive-time show, "Merrimack Magazine," weekdays from 6 to 10, brings in former Boston Herald staffer and current Globe freelancer Dean Johnson, Jack Baldwin, and sports maven Teddy Panos. (Johnson is one of the station's investors.)
The new show will offer local news and weather, but also "events, business, restaurants, and entertainment," says Smidt.
An afternoon talk show, hosted by Regina Faticanti and Ryan Johnston, will continue, but now also carries the "Merrimack Magazine" name.
In addition, the station has announced agreements to broadcast Lowell Spinners minor league baseball in the spring, as well as college hockey from the UMass-Lowell River Hawks and pro hockey from the Lowell Devils, plus high school sports in season.
The station continues to carry some syndicated programming, including G. Gordon Liddy's talk program (11 a.m. to noon). But Smidt and his colleagues say they will be adding more local shows soon. Already, the station has opened a satellite broadcast studio in Haverhill. That satellite will begin contributing to the WCAP broadcast day this Sunday, with coverage of the Haverhill Christmas parade.
Plans are also underway to augment regional news.
"There are going to be some interesting partnerships with other local news operations," says Smidt. "There's a lot more to come."
In the meantime, Smidt has changed the filler music. Formerly, the station played a mix of easy listening from the 1940s through the '60s overnights and when no other programming was scheduled. That has been replaced by a mix Smidt calls "Beatles and Before," which he describes as "AM radio hits from 1954 to 1968."
"A lot of people still listen to AM radio," says Smidt. "We want to revive what AM radio used to be."
Smidt's reputation gives the station's newest incarnation an edge, says Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers, a Springfield-based industry magazine.
"He is one of the finest broadcasters around," says Harrison. "The best of the old school, yet with an eye on the future. He and his partner are going to make a very sincere attempt at providing the WCAP listening area with a live and local station, with a focus on the community - as evidenced by their new lineup."
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
