The rock radio station in Augusta that helped launch the careers of bands such as Civil Disturbance and Dead Season is undergoing major changes, including the departure of well-loved DJs Chris Rush (“Rushman”), Steve “Reverend” Smith, and mid-day Workforce Lunch host Jessie. These three, along with several other WTOS employees, were shown the door last Tuesday, after the ink dried on the sale of 17 Clear Channel stations (of which WTOS was one) to Maine-based Blueberry Broadcasting.
You would think this would be a good thing — locally owned company buys back stations from a massive media conglomerate — but devoted fans of the station and its on-air talent (who are now calling that day “Black Tuesday”) are worried that support for local music will dwindle with the disappearance of the DJs who actively buttressed (or, in some cases, created) WTOS Homegrown, the show dedicated to local rock bands, and the Battle of the Bands in Skowhegan that grew out of it.
“I am one of the thousands of saddened and pissed-off listeners and advertisers,” one extreme fan (as exemplified by his WTOS bicep tattoo — no joke!), known on air as “Wild Bill,” wrote in a letter hand-delivered to the Phoenix office. “This is a very dark time for Maine rock radio!!”
Steve “Reverend” Smith, who claims he was escorted out of the building without much explanation beyond “the new owners decided not to retain us,” says he’s “never been blindsided like this before.” While he affords Blueberry Broadcasting — whose president and vice-president, Louis Vitali and Bruce Biette, are regional radio veterans themselves — the right to take another direction, Smith calls it “a sad day for radio when talent no longer matters.”
It’s unclear who (or what) will replace the fired DJs, or whether WTOS’s commitment to local bands will change; Blueberry Broadcasting representatives could not be reached for comment. The Battle of the Bands is still scheduled to take place at the Skowhegan fairgrounds this Sunday.
“We don’t know much about Blueberry Broadcasting,” says Nikko, the drummer for Civil Disturbance, which won last year’s WTOS Battle of the Bands. “I’d like to think that since they’re a Maine company they’d support even more local music.”
That would be nice.
