WJPZ at 50

Today, we turn the tables on our host and put Jon "JAG" Gay, from the Class of 2002, in the hot seat.  Doing the honors is his classmate and one of this year's Hall of Fame inductees, Matt DelSignore.   Matt starts by asking Jag about the WJPZ at 50 Podcast, how the idea started, and what he's learned by hosting it.  From there, we turn to Jag's time at Syracuse and WJPZ.  His story is very simila...

Lauren (Levine) Corriher grew up in Syracuse and in radio.   Her father Ed owns radio stations in Syracuse and Utica, and Lauren was listening to WJPZ on the bus to and from middle school.   In fact, 13 year old Lauren was recalling a great Z Morning Zoo bit around the dinner table, and she didn't believe her father when he told her the station was run by SU students.   That couldn't be, she thoug...

Chris Velardi, Class of 1995, is the Director of Digital Engagement and Communications of SU's Office of Alumni Engagement.  He joins us today to walk us through his time from Connecticut to Syracuse to Connecticut to Syracuse.   Chris got to SU from the Nutmeg State, like many of us, wanting to be a sportscaster.  He quickly found a job in the Carrier Dome.   When that, um, changed, he found WJPZ...

As we count down to Banquet, we've got a special episode of the podcast today.  WJPZ Hall of Famer Carl Weinstein, Class of 1988 joins us along with his sole Cole, who followed in his WJPZ footsteps and just graduated in 2021.   Carl talks about discovering Syracuse as a journalism school and getting to WJPZ shortly before the moved over to the FM dial.  He went from news to on-air to program dire...

There are a number of people, on the technical side, that have worked tirelessly to keep our radio station going for half a century.  Over the last 20 years though, Stephen "Tex" Kurtz is at the top of that list. Born in raised in Dallas, he wanted something different.  And having spent some time in upstate New York as a kid, he liked the area.  And when he toured the campus, despite the fact that...

Email Jag: jag@jagindetroit.com Hey everyone, it’s Jag with a couple of quick announcements about the podcast. First and foremost, I can’t thank you enough for your incredible support of this project. Thank you to those who have come on the show, those of you who have listened and shared it, everyone who has helped me put this together, and anyone who’s dropped me a nice message about it.  And a s...

Today's guest is Steve Simpson, morning news anchor and editor at the legendary WCCO in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He's WJPZ Class of 1985, and he tells us some great stories from Syracuse, as well as a lengthy radio career in the Midwest in his time. Steve grew up in Bucks County, PA, near Philly.  Like so many of us, he was infatuated with radio, rigging equipment in his basement, and quickly lear...

For most of our alumni, today's guest needs no introduction.  He's a WJPZ Hall of Famer, he's the VP of Urban Programming for SiriusXM, and he's got as charismatic an individual as you'll find in our group.   From the Class of 1995, we welcome Neon Dion Summers. Dion talks about finding WJPZ on a high school visit and watching BB Good in the studio.  That made the decision to go to Syracuse easy....

Today's guest will be inducted into our Hall of Fame at this year's Banquet.  His classmates know him has "Happy" Dave Dwyer, but now his listeners on SiriusXM's Busted Halo show know him as Father Dave Dwyer.   Before he got either nickname, he arrived in Syracuse and joined WJPZ, just using his given name on the air.  And it wasn't until he started using his nickname from Lawrinson, "Happy Dave,...

Maureen "Mo" Cooper from the Class of 1999 is the first voice you hear at the beginning of this podcast.  An imaging guru, she and Ed LaComb ('85) have done the production for this show.   A Central Square native, Mo grew up listening to Z89, even if she had to work to get the station to come in that far north.  She's always loved radio, and began working in the Syracuse market before she even got...

Today's episode is a must-listen, especially for those of that are sports fans or ever had aspirations to get into the field. Howard Deneroff, WJPZ Class of 1989, is the EVP and Executive Producer of Westwood One Sports.  He's been with the company since immediately after graduation, and has worked the Super Bowl, World Series, Final Four, Stanley Cup Finals, and more. Like many of us, Howard deci...

Liz Gupta (nee Doyon), always knew she wanted to be an attorney.  And when she learned that an undergraduate degree in journalism would provide her a great foundation, she headed off to Syracuse.  And while she knew what she wanted to do for a long-term career, she wouldn't have guessed she'd be a 19-year-old general manager of a radio station, asking the Chancellor for a million dollars, and work...

"If you stay ready, you ain't go to get ready."   - Sugar Free That lyric is a mantra that Southern California native Kendall B has lived by ever since he got to Syracuse University and WJPZ.  When a morning show co-host didn't show up, this young overnight jock stuck around to do the show with Jim Gallagher.   When the prior host of the Saturday Night Dance Jam didn't show up to train him, Kendal...

Hall of Famer Bill Bleyle is liking a name you know as synonymous with the founding of WJPZ in 1972-1973.  Today he's joined by another trailblazer, his classmate Carol Mason, to take us back to the very beginning of WJPZ. A Buffalo native, Bill grew up fascinated by the technology of radio, picking up stations from Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles at night.  By the time he got to SU, he'd alrea...

In the first of two episodes featuring original JPZ'ers from the 1970's, we sit down with Greg Hernandez.  In addition to being one of the key figures at the start of WJPZ, he's had a fascinating career since, working with some of the top names at ABC News and having a front-row seat to some significant events in history. Like many of us, Greg first got in front of a microphone in high school, and...

Today's guest is Hall of Famer Larry "Rocket" Ross, from the Class of 1992.   He was at the station when WJPZ-FM was really coming into his own, but we start today by hearing about the one air shift he'll never forget.   He explains how Z89 was the only media outlet, at one point in time, that had the list of Syracuse University students killed aboard Pan Am 103.  As a freshman covering a midday s...

How does a goofball from the Crazy Morning Crew end up building a massively successful syndication company? You'll find out in today's podcast, with Hall of Fame guest Danno Wolkoff from the Class of 1986. This Cleveland native starts by telling us how he found out about Syracuse and Newhouse by accident, and then how a dorm mate asked him to do a radio show.   This was just before WJPZ moved to F...

You'd be hard pressed to find someone who understands the radio industry as well as today's guest: Jay Nachlis from the Class of 1994.   Like many of us, this San Francisco native came to Syracuse with plans of being the next great sportscaster.  But as luck would have it, he fell in love with the music at WJPZ, eventually becoming the station's program director. In fact, he's the PD that first br...

John Ferracane was one of the key figures in the survival of WJPZ when the station was temporarily moved to an off-campus house on Ostrom Avenue for the 2000-2001 school year.   With the help of an incredibly dedicated staff and some supportive alumni, we were able to keep the station on the air, then upgrade when we returned to Watson - and the new "Menchel Media Center" in the Fall of 2001. As t...

One of the hallmarks of any great leader is sharing the credit with his or her team.  Hall of Famer Dave Gorab, Class of '93, rose through the ranks of WJPZ to become General Manager at a very successful time in the radio station's history.  From there, he eventually became VP and GM of talk programming at SiriusXM Radio.   Throughout this episode, you'll hear Dave give the credit to those around...

One of the amazing things about WJPZ is how many of our illustrious alumni actually grew up listening to the radio station.  This has been true for decades.  Liverpool native Corey Crockett, from the Class of 2015, is no exception.  Upon arriving on campus, Corey quickly got involved with the sports and research departments. He eventually became GM at a pivotal moment for the radio station - the c...

Simply put, Harry Wareing and Dena (Giacobbe) Laupheimer are two people the radio station wouldn't have survived without. Both members of the Class of 1999, Harry first came to the station as a freshman and became a "utility player" for Jeff Wade and Dan Austin when they launched The Pulse in 1995.  Dena joined later. working her way through the promotions department and up into management. In 199...

From December 1995 until July of 1997, WJPZ-Syracuse changed formats, to an alternative lean, and re-branded itself as "89.1 The Pulse."  Today, we talk to the architects of that transition, Hall of Famers Dan Austin and Jeff Wade from the Class of 1997. First, we hear how they both found the station.  For Dan, the native Central New Yorker, it started working summer staff in high school.  Meanwhi...

For several years, Eileen Spath (Class of 2014) chaired the Banquet Committee.   When we all come back to Syracuse every year for one of our favorite weekends, we may not realize what happens behind the scenes to get this show "on the air."  Today we go behind the scenes. We start, however, with Eileen's story - how she got to Syracuse and then found Citrus TV and WJPZ.   And while she loved her t...

You may know today's guest by many names - JD, Governor, or even his given name, Damian Redman.  He talks about coming to Syracuse the summer before his freshman year, meeting Dion Summers, and finding WJPZ together. You'll hear Damian's true character come out in this interview, when he talks about his passion for working with on-air talent.   This started in his days as Chief Announcer, and cont...