Robin Fancher
Radio veteran Robin Fancher has joined WHAV 97.9 FM, the only Haverhill-based news source, as on-air talent. In her new volunteer role, Fancher will voice Community Spotlight announcements, advertisements and other broadcast news.
As Fancher tells WHAV, she first became interested in radio in 1978, when Boston radio station WCOZ played a song on-air that featured her vocals and bass music. Later, when her military family relocated to Guam, Fancher answered a newspaper ad for a receptionist job at a local station – and fell into an on-air role.
Then a student of mass communication at the University of Guam, Fancher recalls visiting the combined AM/FM station in the center of the island where she lived. During her interview, Fancher was stunned when her conversation with the station manager changed course.
“When he got past the initial ‘who are you?’ part, he asked if I had any radio experience, so I explained how I had been in a rock band and spent some time in recording studios, learning to mix audio from tracks we had laid down,” Fancher remembers, “and he said, ‘Can you start next Saturday night?’ As it turned out, they preferred to have a Saturday night disc jockey over a very efficient receptionist.”
Fancher credits the stint with fostering her appreciation for local radio. “I was hooked and now I’m delighted to be welcomed here, at WHAV, enjoying great contributions to the Merrimack Valley community and appreciating the important values of local broadcasting,” she said.