UTICA/ROME -- Joe Graziano, a Mohawk Valley radio fixture whose career spanned more than half a century, passed away on Friday at the age of 74. During the last several years of his career, Graziano hosted the Cuppa Joe Show on at least three different radio stations.
FLORIDA -- A former owner of WSGO(AM) and the man who started WGES-FM has died. Robert Gessner was 86 years old when he passed away in Florida. Today, you might know WGES-FM better as WTKV, the Oswego-based repeater of Galaxy classic rocker TK99 (WTKW). Dave Bullard has a complete profile on Gessner's accomplishments at oswegocountytoday.com.
Updated 9/17 with arrangements - UTICA-ROME -- NBC affiliate WKTV is reporting the death of retired local broadcaster Jack Fredericks, at the age of 84. Fredericks spent most of his long career at the TV station atop Smith Hill, but he broke into the business while he was still in high school, as an announcer […]
Updated 9/13 with arrangements - SYRACUSE -- Longtime Syracuse radio and TV journalist Jerry Barsha has passed away at the age of 83. His broadcasting career spanned more than three decades, most of it at 1030 James Street, dating back to the days when channel 3 was WSYR-TV and it shared the building with WSYR […]
WATERTOWN -- Longtime North Country broadcaster George Neher died today at the age of 65. Neher, who worked for decades at WWNY radio and WTNY, was found dead by his wife inside their home at about 1:20 this afternoon.
UTICA-ROME -- Bruce Manning, a former Utica radio anchor and PR director for the Mohawk Valley Comets hockey team, has died following a heart attack at the age of 55.
SYRACUSE -- Jack Abert, founding member of local band The Monterays, who went onto become what colleagues called a "trailblazing pioneer" in radio sales, died last weekend in Florida at the age of 63.
NATIONWIDE -- If you catch the top-of-hour news on WIBX/Utica, WTNY/Watertown, WHCU/Ithaca or any other CBS affiliate, you'll notice something missing today: those quick little "chirp" tones that had been part of the newscasts for more than three decades.
Updated 7/8/09 - Radio reacted quickly to the death of Michael Jackson last month, sharply increasing spins of his titles. But few local radio stations went out of their way to offer live coverage of the singer's memorial service in Los Angeles today.
Stations all over the country have been paying tribute to Michael Jackson, since the news broke of the singer's sudden death at the age of 50 on Thursday. Several in Central New York were among them, including at least two that threw out their regular formats to play the King of Pop's hits exclusively.