The Man Who Launched Fun 107

The year was 1989.  Wes McShay had just been fired from a radio station in Billings, Montana, so he did what every out of work radio DJ did back in those days.  He picked up a copy of Radio and Records magazine (known as R&R to industry insiders) and started picking through the want ads.

"It was actually kind of a nice thing because it was a horrible job, anyway.  I called after seeing an ad for the Program Director's job in New Bedford, and they called me back.  That job was hiring to launch Fun 107."

Wes was in his early 30's when he was brought in a few weeks prior to a March launch.  He needed to hire an airstaff, get the music and jingles together, and to figure out how to get word out about what would be "Bristol County's hit music station."

"I was the very first Program Director for Fun 107, in fact I was the very first DJ.  I signed it on the air.  It was a low power FM back in those days, but yeah, it caught on like a wildfire.  We had a lot of fun."

We stumbled across this photo of Wes McShay on the internet last week, and decided to reach out to him at his home in Northern Idaho, where he was originally from.  McShay said he was "pretty much retired now."

We asked him about the picture.  He didn't remember where the picture was taken, but he remembered he had to duct tape the Fun 107 banner to the side of it.  "I know that was a WBSM van.  We didn't have our own van, so we had to use that banner to cover up the WBSM logo."

Fun 107 was just the little kid brother of WBSM back in those days.

Is McShay Suprised that Fun 107 is Still on the Air 35 Years Later?

"Oh no!  That doesn't surprise me at all.  We were successful right off the bat.  For a little low power FM, we just dominated locally."

In the 35 years Fun 107 has been on the air, there have only been 4 Program Directors:  Wes McShay, Joe Limardi, J.R. Reitz, and myself, Michael Rock.

McShay says he was surprised when he got fired a few years later.  "I think it was mostly political," said McShay.  After being let go from Fun 107, McShay stayed in New Bedford and took a job with the City putting together programming for New Bedford Cable Access.

McShay later programmed radio stations in Nashville and Kansas City, and was even nominated for R&R national radio program director of the year.  "I've lived in all four time zones.  I had some great times."

McShay shared this picture of the 1992 Fun 107 airstaff including (from left to right) Joe Limardi, Wes McShay, Kevin Matthews, Kristie McIntyre (middays), Mike Kelly, and Jesse Garcia (nights).  Not pictured is Fun 107's first morning man, Greg Evans who was later replaced by Joe Blaney.