WCRN Leaves Worcester Without a Word

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Patrick Sargent, GoLocal Worcester

Like the Colts fleeing Baltimore in 1984, WCRN AM 830 flew the Worcester coop this past weekend and headed to the town of Westborough without mention or word to anyone. After 20 years, the 2nd largest 24/7 50,000 watt station north of New York City is no longer calling Worcester home.

WCRN, behind only WBZ AM 1030 in size and audience, was located at 82 Franklin Street in downtown Worcester since 1994. The new location is off of Route 9 in Westborough at 276 Turnpike Road Suite #225 and has lower rent and more parking, but it has a much smaller studio space than Worcester.

John Weston, WCRN’s “Right OverNight” host on Friday and Saturday, said “It’s good for the station. It’s not changing our signal in any way, shape, or form.” WCRN is accessible during the day in all of Massachusetts, and parts of Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. It even reaches as far north as Montreal.

Beyond the cheaper rent and more parking spaces, Weston said, the move “will be able to draw people out of Boston that we haven’t been able to before.”

According to Weston, this move has been in the works for some time. “We have been talking about this for four years,” said Weston. “There’s really not an AM radio station in the MetroWest besides us and WBZ. WBZ has a $3.5 million antennae, while WCRN’s antennae is $1 million.”

Some residents and workers in Worcester aren't happy with WCRN moving to a suburb. "I am very sad to see WCRN gone. It looks so empty in there. I will truly miss seeing Hank and Sherman every morning. The radio station brought life to downtown Worcester, especially in the early morning hours, " said Diane Crowley, who has worked downtown across from the WCRN building for 15 years.

Nick Tomasetta, who has worked downtown for nearly ten years, said "Worcester has lost a business which brought great exposure to the city. It's sad to see this station leave because they leave an irreplaceable void."

Mike Ricardi, host of "The Power Hour" on Nichols College radio, said "It's a big loss. Having worked in the industry myself, I certainly know how the impact a radio station can have on a local community. The fact that it (WCRN leaving Worcester) was done in a secretive manner only compounds the loss. It's very unfortunate."

One peculiar aspect of the move, however, is the location of WCRN’s antennae. The antennae is located behind the Walmart in Leicester, just 20 minutes outside of Worcester. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires that all antennae must be within 25 air miles from the broadcasting station. With the move to Westborough, the distance between the antennae and WCRN’s new studio is closer to 30 miles. This leaves the station dangerously close to being outside of FCC’s regulations.

A move from the big city of Worcester to the suburbs of Westborough at the very least guarantees that the WCRN's On-Air hosts will no longer have to compete with distractions of the extremely lively folks in the downtown Worcester area. "With Turtle Boy (a statue downtown depicting a boy riding a turtle) across the street, we did see our share of action. The things people would do that statue at all hours of the day would surprise just about everyone."

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2. Nereida Melendez

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3. Anthony Mattero

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