William O’Shaghnessy -Vox Populi -the voice of the people
Tonny Guido, left, and Dennis Nardone, right, gave Westchester listeners the last, local, morning show for five years. Pictured with Tom Ralph, center
By Dan Murphy
Westchester News and Talk Radio Station WVOX, 1460 AM, quietly ceased operations last week after 55 years. The New Rochelle based station was the genius of Bill O’Shaughnessy, who passed away in 2022.
O’Shaughnessy created Whitney Media, which consisted of the AM station, and a profitable FM station, WVIP 93.5. Mr. O as he was known by those of us who appreciated him, was able to sell time on the FM station to a Caribbean group, and with those proceeds was able to float the AM dial.
Earlier this month, the news came out that the FM station was sold by the O’Shaughnessy family to Hope Media Group, a Christian media company that will use 93.5 for Spanish-language music.
After that sale, it was only a matter of time when WVOX 1460 would cease operating. It came quickly, perhaps too quickly and with not enough notice for the staff and the many who had answered Mr. O’s call to do a show.
The station was donated to a west coast company for tax reasons, which is not important.
This reporter did a weekly show for more than 5 years, and more recently did a 10-minute spot on the Dennis & Tonny morning show on WVOX. The Dennis & Tonny pair were the last true Westchester morning show, and they will be missed.
Tonny Guido emailed friends after the closure. “Doing WVOX Radio for 25 years and being part of the WVOX family has been a beautiful adventure of a lifetime. I am so grateful to our beloved Mr. O’Shaughnessy (who recently passed away last year) and the whole O’Shaughnessy family.
Mr. O (as we all affectionally called him) gave all of us the gift of community radio for 55 years! And what a gift it was, as it enriched the lives of many. He was all about uplifting communities and all their organizations. He was one of a kind.
I am so grateful and thankful to all the WVOX Staff, who have always been so kind to us, our loyal coffee crew and the guests and all the listeners and a special thank you to all our callers, who really made “Good Morning Westchester” a great success.
I thank my husband Carm for all his support and love and encouragement and for always listening to every show! I am also grateful to all my family and friends for their love and support…
And last but not least I thank Dennis Dion Nardone, who had this little dream of one day being a radio host and for making that dream come true and letting me come along for the ride. Dennis is a man of warmth and kindness, a great talent and wonderfully generous to all who has crossed his path.
WVOX will be greatly missed by many. WVOX has been a beautiful adventure of a lifetime and one I will never forget!”
While some of the WVOX family were not happy with the way it ended, at least the O’Shaughnessy family, and Westchester Radio President David O’Shaughnessy, kept the doors open for more than a year since Mr. O’s passing. The only complaint from the large WVOX family is that we didn’t have the time to say goodbye and have one last show on the air, in the studio.
What the closure shows is how difficult it is to run any media company in today’s online, I want it now, climate. If 1460 were profitable, it would have been kept open.
It was a special trip to WVOX to do a show. It was a professional operation and a real radio studio, with a board operator (My Op was Debbie Schechter-thank you) phone calls and newsbreaks.
You were given a CD of your show on the way out to listen to and critique on your way home before the next show.
Many of my readers and friends in Northern Westchester may not have listened to WVOX, but in the lower half of the county, it was a place to hear about local news, what people were talking about, and what our local elected officials wanted to tell their constituents.
Nobody was paid to do a show -and some people paid to get on the air. It was a big deal and it was a gift to the community.
And everyone was welcome. Mr. O had a gift of bipartisanship. His favorite elected officials were Mario Cuomo, Andrew Cuomo, but also Donald Trump. He endorsed Rob Astorino but then endorsed George Latimer.
Mr. O was down the middle-Paul Feiner called It democracy at its best.
“During the past 25 years I have had a weekly radio show on WVOX radio (1460 AM). On Thursday I learned that the station has discontinued programming-effective September 7. What a loss! The station is going out of business. This station, founded by the late Bill O’Shaughnessy over 68 years ago, was celebrated by the Wall Street Journal as “America’s Quintessential Community Stations.”
“The station featured shows from Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives and Liberals. Former Governor and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller even commandeered a WVOX mobile unit on one of his last nights on the campaign trail. Nelson, who called WVOX “my hometown station,” gave WVOX his last question of his final Albany press conference:
“What made WVOX so special is that no one ever told the host of a program what to say. Everyone with differing opinions could express them to the listeners of WVOX. And if listeners disagreed with what was being said – they could call in and express themselves. Democracy at its best,” said Feiner.
The lesson learned from WVOX’s closure is that our local media is hanging on by a thread. Enjoy it while it lasts, and help it survive.
Some of the weekly shows were appointment listening. Phil Reisman was my favorite.
Chris, a “never Trumper” once called into my show with a poem, Trumpty Dumpty. My daughter drew a picture of Trumpty and I printed it with the poem.
One of my favorite Mr. O columns was 101 Reasons why Trump won. Find it on Yonkerstimes.com
Podcasts have replaced radio, but there was something about walking into WVOX, being greeted by Don Stevens, who was the glue that kept it all together, with an occasional appearance by Mr. O. That feeling, and good vibe, I will always remember and can never been replaced.
I told this story at Mr. O’s passing, how he would say to me when he was in the office after my show—”You are special Murphy-you have that gift!” That made me feel great, but time passed, I wonder if he said that to everyone.
“Sooner or later… someone is going to blab it on WVOX.”
I already miss you!
