Haverhill

Podcast: WHAV Goes ‘Behind the Mic’ with Community Spotlight’s Jenifer Cosgrove

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The announcing staff at WHAV is more than a collection of voices. They are a gathering of individuals who care about serving the community. On a recent “Win for Breakfast” morning segment—the first of series featuring those “Behind the Mic—Jenifer Cosgrove stopped by to share her story. She began volunteering at WHAV in 2019, reading Community Spotlight messages, heard at quarter past every hour, 24-hours a day. Hearing Cosgrove’s voice over the radio still catches some of her Holy Family Hospital co-workers by surprise.

Haverhill

First Launch of WHAV on FM was 75 Years Ago Friday, But Few FM Listeners Then

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Seventy-five years ago this Friday, April 14, WHAV was heard on FM radio for the very first time. Since its founding a little more than a year before, WHAV had been heard only on AM radio. That, however, was never the intention of founder John T. “Jack” Russ. When he first announced plans for a Haverhill radio station exactly three years earlier, Russ planned to deploy only frequency modulation—Major Edwin Howard Armstrong’s high-fidelity, static free invention. “FM is the latest in radio transmission with a strong appeal because of its noise-free reception.

Region

Podcast: Groveland Native Says Her Oscar-Winning ‘Navalny’ Aims to Bring Justice

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A Groveland native, who picked up an Oscar Sunday for the documentary “Navalny,” said her larger goal is to help secure justice for the Russian dissident who survived state-sponsored poisoning and now is jailed in solitary confinement. Geralyn White Dreyfous, who went to Pentucket Regional High School before attending Harvard, was part of the team that won an Academy Award for the film Navalny. Appearing Wednesday on WHAV’s morning show, “Win for Breakfast,” she says the film tells the story of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption activist exposing corruption on the local and national levels in Russia. “For that he was poisoned with a chemical toxin called Novichok and went into heart arrest on a plane leaving from Siberia, a small village. He was then medivacked from Russia to Germany where he rehabilitated and they were able to investigate the toxin and where it came from and the movie really exposes what’s called ‘state sponsored assassination’ of which there have been many under Putin’s reign,” she explains.

Haverhill

Radio Listening Overtakes Television for the First Time; Studies Cite Cable Cord Cutting

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Radio has overtaken television for the first time in history among persons 18-49 in average audience and weekly reach. According to the watched Nielsen Total Audience Report, live and time-shifted television’s dominance has been consistently shrinking over the last few years. In 2022, the long-predicted resurgence of radio in the face of cable cord cutting came to pass. Media trade publications, citing other confirming studies, this week reacted to the seismic shift in Americans’ preferences. “The MRI Simmons January 2023 ‘How Americans Watch TV’ report reveals 51% have cut the cord.

Haverhill

Podcast: Former Fiorentini Rivals Turn His Refusal to Seek Re-Election Into Roast, of Sorts

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Part 2 of 2

On Monday, WHAV reported on Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini’s decision not to seek re-election and his overview of the past 20 years. This report focuses on the reaction of former mayors, current elected officials and others reflecting on the mayor’s legacy. Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini’s remarks last weekend that he will not seek another term came as little surprise to those that attended his breakfast, but did bring out an impromptu and good-natured roast by those who have worked for, or competed against, the man. Former Mayor James A. Rurak observed the presence of many of Fiorentini’s past political rivals, including himself, former Mayor William H. Ryan and retired Sen. James P. Jajuga. “First time we competed, I beat him.

Haverhill

Podcast: Tzitzon Details Little-Known Story of the Former Job of Registry of Motor Vehicle Inspector

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Those Massachusetts residents securing driver’s licenses prior to 1992 may remember having a state Registry of Motor Vehicles inspector as a passenger. Haverhill native James Tzitzon, who started his career as an inspector before becoming a state police trooper, tells the little-known story of how and why that position was eliminated in a consolidation with the Massachusetts State Police. His new book, “The History of The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicle Inspector,” details the inside story. “We had different regulatory duties, responsibilities to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, with licensing, investigations, assisting the public, public relations, all those aspects. Investigating serious fatal accidents,” he says.

Haverhill

Podcast: Bergeron Returns to WHAV Studio Where Career Began; Reflects on Meeting His Idols

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(Additional photographs below.)

Transcript: WHAV’s recent move back to its original building in downtown Haverhill has brought back pleasant memories for many people, including Tom Bergeron, who made his way back to the very studio where he began his broadcasting career in 1972, while still attending Haverhill High School. Bergeron, who in the meantime has hosted “Hollywood Squares,” “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and “Dancing with the Stars,” among other shows, sat down with me and his former WHAV co-worker Tim Coco. He was asked if his move to Hollywood was, in part, a way to meet some of his childhood idols that included William Shatner, Dick Van Dyke and Carl Reiner. “You know it worked out that way. It really did.

Haverhill

Podcast: Couple Quietly Saves the Haverhill Southwick Clothing Legacy and Creates New Jobs

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The high-profile shuttering of Haverhill-based Southwick Clothing in 2020 was well known, but not so the story of how the company’s legacy was rescued and put people back to work—some as owners. Closing the maker of Brooks Brothers clothing meant not only the loss of 400 jobs, but an end to the only job some workers ever had since moving to the United States. May Tan, Southwick’s then-chief financial officer tasked with closing the factory, and her husband Ed Pap, told the story during a live interview during WHAV’s morning show. During the final days of the plant, she said she found an older Vietnamese woman in tears. Tan said the woman came to Haverhill after years in a refugee camp and her worst fear was being unable to support her family.