MEET THE FOLKS WHO MAKE WYAR POSSIBLE

 

GARY KING is the founder and general manager of WYAR.  During his long broadcasting career, Gary was an announcer on Maine radio, worked as a television engineer, and then as a television director, spent many years at Portland-based  WMTW, Channel 8, and later with Maine Public Broadcasting.  Gary now hosts Music Like it Was and produces the majority of the other local programming.

 

CARL BRADFORD is WYAR’s Jazz expert. In addition to his weekly jazz show on WYAR, Carl is known as Justice Bradford, a trial judge in the Maine Superior Court.  Always busy, Carl is also the leader of the Port City Jazz Sextet and the Port City Four, both of which feature the jazz side of the Great American Songbook.

   Carl grew up in Detroit, Michigan, a hotbed of jazz during the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s. In 2001, Carl approached Gary King, the founder of WYAR, with the outline of what would become Jazz At Y-A-R. The rest is history.

 

PETER MEZOIN is one of America ’s leading Banjoists. Making his home in South Portland, he makes his living gigging on cruise ships around the world. When in town between tours, he plays regional venues and hosts Banjo Perspectives at WYAR, which started airing bi-monthly in 2008. He specializes in Plectrum Banjo, featuring music from Pops to the Classics and has released two commercial album projects. We’re fortunate to have someone so talented, fanatically hard-working, and encyclopediacally knowledgeable about his instruments and art as Peter: he’s downright scary sometimes!  

 

KEITH GREEN came to WYAR from across the pond. Born and raised in England, Keith, who is now retired, lives in Maine. The Keith Green Show features the music he loves from the Great American Songbook with anecdotal information about the performers and hi own adventures. Don’t tell anyone, but from time to time, we have even heard Keith slip in an operatic piece.

 

WAYNE NEWLAND is producer and host of WYAR’s The Community Microphone, a public service program. A self-described “child of the fifties”, Wayne had never seen TV until his family moved from West Virginia to Baltimore when he was nine. He fondly remembers “real radio” and was drawn to WYAR during its first year in operation by the “golden oldies” being played, and by the desire of Gary King to be of service to Yarmouth and the surrounding communities. So, shortly after retirement from a 25-year career as an educator in New Jersey and a decade as an administrator of non-profit associations in Augusta, he became the very first volunteer for this unique radio station.

 

SCOTT SCROGGINS is half of the Retro-Radio Show team. Scott grew up in Woolwich. In Scott’s words, “When I was about twelve, I was going to yard sales with my grandfather. At one of them I spied a box of a hundred records for five bucks. What a deal! Of course I wanted it. My grandfather tried to explain to me that these were 78's and there would be nothing on them to interest me. I was          insistent, and, when I got my box of treasures home, I was disappointed to discover my grandfather had been right...Then I came across a recording of Blue Skies by Benny Goodman. It really didn't sound like anything I'd ever heard before, and I liked it...a lot. The next time I went to yard sales with my grandfather I looked for more by this "Benny Goodman" guy, and it just sort of grew from there. Jim and I met through our other hobby, Civil War re-enacting. One thing led to another and soon I was inflicting my 78 collections on him. He seemed to enjoy this type of music, too. An opportunity came to do a radio show on WYAR in Yarmouth (then 100 watts). We both said, ‘No, it'd take too much time, we don't have the time to spare...though it would be fun...but no, we couldn't possibly...could we?’ As you know, we could and did”

 

JIM BROWN is the other half of the Retro-Radio Show team, and Assistant Station Manager at WYAR. The youngest son of a talented and musical family, his passion for the keyboard began at an early age. Jim dates himself by being a rabid fan of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, a 1970’s rock group, much to the indulgent bemusement of the other staff. In his other life, he became an Electrical Engineer as an aftereffect of spending his teens trying to reinvent the Moog Synthesizer. His friend Scott Scroggins’ love for early recordings prompted Jim to invite Scott to meet “Uncle Gary”, the      founder of WYAR, early in 2005. From that meeting, the Retro Radio Show was born and the rest is history.

 

TIM FINDLAN and RACHEL MILLER had been fans and supporters of WYAR for years running when they started hosting the Tim & Rachel Show in 2009. When not otherwise engaged, they are also members of the performance group Sailing Over A Cardboard Sea, which is in its own way downright scary sometimes.

Personalities

HERITAGE RADIO SOCIETY, INC