Plug pulled, WWZN staffers bid adieu
BURLINGTON -- Yesterday was anything but a normal day at the WWZN studios. Staffers at 1510 The Zone were exchanging goodbyes and wishing each other good luck as they packed up belongings, took pictures off the walls, and helped each other carry boxes to their cars.
Sporting News Radio, in a corporate cost-cutting yesterday, eliminated the station's two local sports talk shows -- ''Eddie Andelman" and ''The Diehards" -- and released all but three staffers: Anthony Pepe, Jon Anik, and engineer Brad Roberts. The trio will oversee local operations, including the station's many nighttime and weekend shows, everything from NASCAR (''Weekend Thunder") to soccer, to collectibles, to ''New England Ringside" boxing, to the legal show, ''SportsCourt."
Andelman, a Boston radio legend with more than 12,000 radio shows and 1,500 television shows to his credit, was organizing records for his numerous charitable endeavors and wondering whether he'd be back on the air -- or if he wants to be.
''It's hard to find the fun in sports these days," he said. ''Sports has become the opium of the people. Our country has its lowest savings rate in history, and people are spending so much of their incomes on entertainment."
Still, the lure of the microphone remains. ''Under the right circumstances, I might like to do a show like 'Anything Goes,' a show I did for two years at the old WHDH," he said.
''Diehards" mainstay Ryen Russillo offered to help Andelman with a planned final show Thursday to benefit the Chelsea Soldiers' Home. ''I should have plenty of time next week," Russillo said.
Russillo was relieved that the decision, which had been hanging over the station, finally had been made. ''I've got to look at it as an opportunity," he said. ''I'm looking forward to my local TV spots. FSN ['New England Sports Tonight'], Mike Giardi [NECN's 'Sports LateNight'], and CN8's Lou Tilley have been good to me."
So, he said, was The Zone. ''This is the place that gave me the opportunity to go on the air in my home market [he's from Martha's Vineyard]. That's something I'll always carry with me."
Former general manager Mike Winn, who departed to take a job at ESPN Boston Radio (890 AM), came back for the day with the blessing of the SNR corporate officers and his boss at ESPN, Jessamy Tang.
''I wanted to be here to say thank you to everyone," Winn said. ''People came in here and did everything they could. They were working for a dream."
Pepe, who graduated from Curry College in 1994, has been at 10 stations in his radio career. ''This is by far the best facility," he said, of The Zone's four-year-old studios.
When the station did a first round of cutbacks two years ago, Pepe found himself on the air with Russillo and Winn as ''The Diehards." Kevin Winter and Anik later were part of the show.
''We did 583 shows," Pepe said. ''I'm proud of that. A lot of people would be happy to do one show in Boston.
''Jon [Anik] and I would be here every morning, doing the business part of the job," he said. ''Then, at 1 p.m., we'd switch hats and do our show prep."
On Wednesday, Anik did the final ''Diehards" show wearing a 1510 The Zone placard with the addition, ''We believed."
Now the station's business manager, Anik has been a writer/editor at the MetroWest Daily News, contributes to the Boston Sports Review, and does Saturday night guest spots on NECN.
