WBSM

WBSM

City of license	Fairhaven, MA
Broadcast area	New Bedford/Fall River
Branding	WBSM AM 1420
Frequency	1420 kHz
First air date	July 17, 1949
Format	News/Talk
Power	5,000 watts Daytime 1,000 watts nighttime
Class	B
Affiliations	Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots, Boston Bruins, Boston College Eagles football
Owner	Cumulus Media
Website	WBSM.com

WBSM is an AM radio station broadcasting in the New Bedford/Fall River market area with a News/Talk format. It broadcasts on 1420 kilocycles and is under ownership of Cumulus Media, with studios in Fairhaven shared with fellow Cumulus station WFHN/Fun 107. This station is the home of Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots, Boston Bruins, and Boston College football games.

Weekdays begin with First Light with Dirk Van, followed by longtime local favorites Pete Braley and Phil Paleologos. Afternoons showcase talk radio host Ken Pittman, who has been spot-lighted on national news shows such as Fox News Channel's O'Reilly Factor and Weekend Live, also appearing on CNN and New England Cable News (NECN) several times with Jim Braude. Evenings feature conservative Mark Levin and Jim Bohannon. Local weekend programming includes WBSM news reporter Taylor Cormier on Saturday mornings, Westport Board of Selectmen chairman and former New Bedford Police lieutenant Richard "Dick" Spirlet on Sunday mornings, and Spooky Southcoast, hosted by New Bedford Standard-Times sports reporter Tim Weisberg and Matt Costa on Saturday nights.

From its inception, WBSM broadcast high school football and basketball games for Dartmouth, Bishop Stang, New Bedford, Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech, Fairhaven, Apponequet Regional, Old Rochester Regional, and Wareham high schools. Local radio veterans Jack Peterson and Mike Green were the most recent announcers for these games. Follwing the 2011 football season, WBSM ended its local sports broadcasts due to lack of funding. The station also broadcast the home opener of the New England Collegiate Baseball League franchise New Bedford Bay Sox' inaugural season in New Bedford in 2009, plus 3 Sunday night home games in their 2011 season. Jack Peterson and Pete Braley announced these games.

WBSM has a five person news team headlined by longtime local broadcasters Jim Phillips and Jack Peterson. Jim Marshall and Bryan Booker anchor the news on weekends, and Taylor Cormier reports and fills in for anchors.

Notable alumni

• Hal Peterson: Host of "Open Line" from the mid 50s and thru various periods in the '60s and '70s. (Hal was the creator of the long-running charity "Quarters for Christmas". It was Hal Peterson that was responsible for giving Gil Santos his first job in radio as Hal's "Color Man" during New Bedford High School basketball broadcasts.)
• Stan Lipp: Host of "Open Line" from the 1960s until his retirement more than 30 years later.
• André Bernier: Weekend weather anchor (1975–1977). André was the first weather anchor seen on The Weather Channel and currently with WJW in Cleveland, Ohio.
• Don Gillis: Sports director (1949–1951), commentator for Red Sox, Boston Celtics, and Bruins broadcasts on WHDH AM 850 (now WEEI) (1950s-60s), sports director for Channel 5 Boston (1962–1983), host of Candlepin Bowling (1967–1996) (deceased)
• Gil Santos: Sports reporter (1950s), play-by-play announcer for Patriots radio broadcasts (1966–present)
• Henry Carreiro: Daytime talk show host during the 1970s, 80s and 90s, he also had a speaking role in Jaws as a loudmouth fisherman who among other one-liners tells Matt Hooper to "walk straight ahead" in response to the question about a good hotel or restaurant on the island.

References

• 1992 Broadcasting Yearbook, page A-166

External links

• WBSM's Official Site
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WBSM
• Radio-Locator Information on WBSM
• Query Arbitron's AM station database for WBSM