WELM

Infobox Radio Station
name = WELM


area = Elmira, NY
branding = "Your Sportstation"
slogan = "The Sports Giant," "All Sports, all the time"
airdate = 1947
frequency = 1410 (kHz)
format = sports
power = 5,000 watts (daytime) 1,000 watts (nighttime)
class = B
facility_id = 52120
coordinates = coord|42|07|11|N|76|48|37|W|region:US_type:city
owner = Pembrook Pines Media Group
website = [http://www.1410welm.com/ 1410welm.com]
callsign_meaning = W ELMira

WELM signed on in 1947 as Chemung County's second radio station and the Elmira-Corning, New York market's third. It broadcasts on 1410 kHz.

In its early years, it produced several local programs, including the "6:00 News", with newscaster Gordon M. Ridenour, from 1947-1948.

It was a highly rated Top 40 station in the 1970s and early 1980s, gradually shifting to adult contemporary in the middle part of the decade. By 1990, it had become an oldies station.

Jeff Whitaker and Pat Salois were popular personalities on the station during those decades, voicing several original characters on Salois' evening show in the early 1980s and later hosting the morning show.

One of their characters -- the Lake Welmer Swamp Monster -- developed a following throughout the community. The mythic creature allegedly lived in "Lake Welmer," their nickname (which has stuck) for a swampy area between Lake Street and Grand Central Avenue near the station's three towers. They referred to the creature often in bits, and sometimes produced "news reports" in which an intrepid reporter would try to interview the monster. The responses typically were clips of lyrics from popular songs (clearly influenced by Buchanan and Goodman's "Flying Saucer")

Whitaker and Salois later hosted the morning show until late 1995, when they were released and the station format was changed to sports. Both were in poor health at the time -- about which they often joked on the air -- and died within a few years. At Whitaker's viewing, Salois came in -- oxygen tank in tow -- and said, "I win," in reference to a bet over who would die first.

Bob Michaels, a well-known sports broadcaster in the market, has been a personality on the station since the switch to sports.

Alumni

Ken Chiampou of the "John & Ken Show"

References

* Sies, Luther F. "Encyclopedia of American Radio 1920-1960." Jefferson, NC:McFarland, 2000. ISBN 0-7864-0452-3

External links