Free Republic

The tradition-filled Salem-Beverly football game is losing one of its traditions. For the first time since 1939, the Thanksgiving Day game between the two rival high schools will not be heard on the radio. The game had been broadcast on WESX ever since the radio station began 67 years ago. But the Marblehead-based station was sold in May and moved to Chelsea, where it now broadcasts Brazilian and Hispanic religious programs. The station's new owner, Otto Miller of Connecticut, said yesterday he didn't realize the lack of a broadcast this year will mark the end of a local tradition. "It's...

Most people don't think about a radio station changing format until, suddenly, it happens. One day, you turn on your favorite station and it's not there anymore. It's playing programs you don't recognize, or maybe has a different name. It's all part of a process that starts when the station is sold. The old owner departs, and the new owner takes over. People who worked there for years lose their jobs. Perhaps a small group of fans who liked the old station will try to save it. They'll write letters and sign petitions. But the FCC won't step in, and...

Growing up in Peabody, Nancy Zarella couldn't brush her teeth or comb her hair in the morning without listening to WESX. "We were brought up on it," said Zarella, who is now 70 and lives in Salem. "It was part of our lives." The small AM radio station in Salem and later Marblehead has spent the last 67 years telling listeners who won the elections, scored the touchdowns and robbed the banks in their communities. But the WESX that generations have come to know and love will soon cease to exist. The station, along with its sister station in Quincy,...