Throwback Thursday: Joanie and Pete

I was cleaning out some drawers the other day when I came across this picture. Joanie and Pete on WMYS. Good times. Good times.

I was driving in the car the other day with Cat Country on the radio when I heard a liner that said, “30 Years of bringing you the best in country.” Wow! I remember the day Joanie Pfeiffer came into the studio I was working in, (County St. in New Bedford) and she said we were changing the format to country music as of 5:00 p.m. That was 30 years ago.

It’s ironic that now I like country music.

It’s not that I hated the format back then but our first child had just been born and I was not sure about my future. I never had any meetings with management where they told me where I fit in with this new station. It was a week or so later that WBSM approached me to see if I wanted to make a change. They offered me more money, weekends off and a chance to develop my own show. I was nervous but excited about the challenge and, as I said, I had a new young family so I went with it.

I’ve looked back on it over the years and wondered “What if I had stayed?” but I try not to dwell on it. I met a lot of wonderful people and had some amazing experiences. I guess it turned out okay.

I’m happy to say I’m still in touch with Joanie. She is enjoying her retirement, her family and writing. (Ya gotta love Facebook.) She is also a published author as she recently published a children’s book “Annie:The Story of an Apple” under the name Joni Pfeiffer-Moser. (“Available now at Amazon. Order yours today!”)

We did that show for about 8 years and I still think of her often and every Christmas season as we used to have some long days getting the station ready to play Christmas music non-stop. That was the mid-to-late 80s when I still had hair and nothing hurt yet.

Some of our colleagues have passed on while others are still around though in different occupations. That was where I met Bernadette Coelho who is now in charge at New Bedford High School. Joe Cabral used to work weekends and I still get to work with him for New Bedford Cable Network doing games. Paul Santos was there before law school. Gary Golas and Barry Richard were across the hall at WNBH. Lynn Poyant covered the news every morning with Joanie and me in that small studio that we called the “Meat Locker.” For some reason it had a door that resembled a meat locker and it was kind of snug for three people. And on those few days the air-conditioning worked it felt like a meat locker.

We had some good times there at WMYS. It was a good station that people talked about for years. We played a softrock format with Fleetwood Mac, Doobie Brothers and the Eagles being the core artists. The problem was we just couldn’t seem to cut through and constantly competed with WSNE and LITE 105. I guess ownership decided to “stand out ” and be the only one to play country. It was a bold move in 1989 but I guess it proved to be the right move.

Thanks for letting me journey down memory lane. To think, this all started because I found one picture.