Podcast: Haverhill Fire Department Hockey Team Plays Saturday in Support of Veterans

The Haverhill Fire Department hockey team is preparing for this Saturday’s charity game in support of veterans. Haverhill Deputy Fire Chief Gregory R. Roberts, a recent guest on WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” program, says the contest supports the Skate for 22 Foundation, which was founded to help veterans adjust to civilian life after getting out of the service

“As you know, about 22 veterans take their lives per day. So, they started an organization back in 2017 to try to bring a lot of the veteran community together into that locker room facility where they had the teamwork and comradery they had while they were serving our country, and try to get everybody to talk,” he explains. Roberts says the hockey rink, game, and locker room itself prove to be a very helpful setting. “We’re a different generation of veterans where we don’t typically go to the VFW or the AmVets.

Ensure Local News is Reported and Your Donation Will be Doubled by NewsMatch!

This is the first full week of WHAV’s most important fundraiser in support of local news coverage. This year, for the first time, WHAV is receiving help from NewsMatch, the largest grassroots fundraising campaign to support nonprofit news in the U.S. The only way to ensure WHAV’s sustainability is to broaden its base of support. Make a contribution, up to $1,000, now through Dec. 31, and it will be doubled. New recurring monthly donations receive are matched 12x up to the same amount.

WHAV’s Most Important Drive for Local News Starts Today

How to keep local communities informed has become one of the greatest challenges of our times as newsrooms continue to close or shrink nationwide. The formula showing the most promise nationally is nonprofit-owned media, such as WHAV. WHAV—on-air, online, in the daily Wavelengths eNewspaper, everywhere—delivers more local news, more news that matters and more often to the largest local audience ever assembled. This year, for the first time, WHAV is receiving help from NewsMatch, the largest grassroots fundraising campaign to support nonprofit news in the U.S., and benefitting members of the Institute for Nonprofit News. The only way to ensure WHAV’s sustainability is to broaden its base of support.

The Night the Martian ‘Death Ray’ Missed Haverhill; ‘War of the Worlds’ Airs Oct. 30

Editor’s Note: This is an update of earlier versions of this story. Marking the 86th anniversary of the historic broadcast, 97.9 WHAV airs the original “Mercury Theater on the Air” presentation of the “War of the Worlds,” Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 10 p.m., with an encore three hours later at 1 a.m. 

The supposed Martian invasion of Earth and its aftermath 86 years ago this week didn’t seem to faze Greater Haverhill residents. In fact, most locals didn’t even know about the “death rays” that destroyed metropolitan New York the night before. That is, until they picked up their newspapers Monday, Oct.

Podcast: Hunking Student Becomes National Champion in MLB’s Pitch, Hit and Run Contest

Updated: On Sunday, Oct. 27, Mollie MacIntosh became the National Champion in Major League Baseball’s Pitch, Hit & Run competition when she defeated the other regional winners in the 7- to 8-year-old age bracket. The National Championship was held in Los Angeles, the day after Game 2 of the World Series between the Dodgers and Yankees. Haverhill has been home to a few major league baseball players, most recently Carlos Pena, and the late Mike Ryan, and there is another talented ball player in the wings. It’s 8-year-old Mollie MacIntosh, a third grader at the Caleb Dustin Hunking School.

Following Censorship, WHAV Urges Public to Listen to Radio, Subscribe to Free eNewspaper

Increasing worldwide censorship and intimidation from social media giants could cause you to miss news of critically important local happenings, but there is a step you can take today to stay informed. To safeguard access to news, WHAV, on-air, online, everywhere is asking its social media followers to subscribe to WHAV’s free Wavelengths eNewspaper here. In the last week, a local news warning about the sinkhole along the southbound lanes of Interstate 495 near Ward Hill was flagged as spam and removed by one social media site. Another blocked WHAV story was news of possible restoration of Haverhill’s 1845-era (gun) powder house. The tech giant behind these removals piles on with intimidation by writing “Repeatedly breaking our rules can cause more account restrictions.”

WHAV is not alone.

Podcast: Mann Orchards’ Fitzgerald Previews Topsfield Fair and Looks Back 50 Years

If there was any reason to doubt it, the upcoming Topsfield Fair is a sure sign of fall. America’s oldest county fair, having started in 1818, opens Friday, Oct. 4, and runs through Columbus Day, Monday, Oct. 14. Although he hasn’t been around since the beginning, Bill Fitzgerald of Methuen’s Mann Orchards is as knowledgeable as anyone about the longtime tradition.

Podcast: Haverhill Bank’s Mortimer Shares Stories From the City’s Deep Financial Institution History

The banking business in Greater Haverhill has seen a many changes over the years and, similar to the person hawking programs at a sporting event, Haverhill Bank President and CEO Thomas L. Mortimer knows “you can’t tell the players without a program.”

Serving as a local banker for more than 40 years, Mortimer is the “go-to” historian for the local banking scene, you can’t tell the banks without a seasoned veteran. He shared some of his memories recently with listeners of WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” program. He starts with Haverhill Bank, which will be celebrating its 150th anniversary in a couple of years. “Haverhill Bank was founded on Aug. 13, 1877 and the very first meeting was at the Good Templar’s Hall at 53 Merrimack St., and, also at the very first meeting, the first loan was made to an F.S. McKenny for the sum of $400.