News Talk 930, as the station was billed, continued with its three talented, mainstay hosts, Michael Dobbs, Ron Chimelis, and Jonathan Evans. The station featured talk and news programming during the week and various ethnic and mainstream music on the weekends.
During election years, candidates were invited to be interviewed or participate in face-to-face debates. In 1985, incumbent mayor Ernest Proulx and Michael Mannix faced off in a debate hosted by Ron Chimelis.
1985 was also the year that the station’s iconic newsman, Richard Lavigne, died, a year after suffering a stroke. A tribute to Mr. Lavigne will be paid as an epilogue to this series.
The station was sold to Dumont Holding Company of Chester, New Jersey, headed by Allen B. Dumont Jr. The purchase price was $644,000. The station was profitable; however, its 12- year owner, Joseph Alfano, was seriously ill and no longer able to perform his duties. Mr. Alfano died in the following year.
The station continued with its social and charitable programs, raising money through on-air auctions for the Kiwanis, No No’s Against Drugs, and the American Cancer Society, to name a few.
In 1990, the station rebranded itself as “Springfield’s News Talk Station,” prompting speculation that WREB was moving to Springfield. Surveys showed that 72% of the listeners resided in Springfield, West Springfield, Ludlow, Longmeadow, Agawam and other communities. The remaining 28% of listeners were located in Holyoke, South Hadley, Granby and Belchertown.
On October 22, 1991, Dumont Holdings shuttered the station, laying off six full-time and three part-time employees. The station fell victim to the local recession, and revenues were simply insufficient to pay the bills.
The station had been up for sale for a year without finding a buyer. A local group from Holyoke had expressed interest, but talks broke off several months before the station stopped operating.
It had been a terrific 41-year run for area listeners, especially those in Holyoke who looked towards the station as a regular visitor to their homes, bringing them the news of the day, conversation, and entertainment. One might say that WREB was the pulse of the community.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription): Price & Lee Holyoke, Massachusetts, City Directories
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