Paul O'Reilly, the cheerful morning person and jazz afficionado, who broadcasts selected dances from our weekly calendar on his "Performing Arts Report".

Dave O'Donnell, the smooth afternoon/evening and big band/sweet band guy.

      
Maine's Swing Radio

WBYA (formerly WAYD), "The Bay", 105.5 FM plays swing music 24/7.   It's "Maine's Home of Swing". Although its range is not, yet, the entire state, the station has been operating since January of 1999 so it seems to be successful enough to be around for a long time to come, which is great news for those of us in the midcoast area who tune in almost daily.  Maybe some day you folks in Portland will be able to get this station !  :>D

     The station plays all kinds of swing, from big band originals right through some of the better current retro-swing bands.   Frequent listeners will notice that they play bands that are "sweet" as well as those that are "hot".  Intermixed with all this great instrumental swing are standards from the songsters' repertoire.  Have you always known a particular tune and a few of the words, but couldn't remember the rest of the lyrics?  Chances are, WBYA will eventually play a version that  will remind you!  These are songs with brains as well as heart.  When I listen to the station, I try to have a notepad at hand, and have gotten quite a few of my current favorite dance tunes and artists, both vocal and instrumental, by taking notes when Paul or Dave tell us what they have been playing.

     The license for the 105.5 frequency was bought around 1994, with the stipulation that it be developed within 5 years.  With time running short, at the end of November, 1998, Paul O'Reilly was hired, and in early January 1999, Dave O'Donnell joined him.  They had the station on the air on January 28!  The original material played on the station came from O'Reilly's extensive jazz collection and O'Donnell's large big band collection.  They were allowed the artistic freedom to create "swing with no strings".  They just KNEW that the format they developed would have a following - there was a "big hole" in the dial that they needed to fill.

     Paul O'Reilly had a strong early background in radio, and has had professional broadcast training.  As a youngster, he used to hang out at WPRO - AM in Providence R.I. (his home town), eventually working in radio in Newport and broadcasting from the Newport Jazz Festival where he rubbed elbows with the likes of George Benson, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan, Wynton Marsalis, Miles Davis, and Natalie Cole.  He moved to Hampden in 1988, and worked in local radio until 1994 when he quit, because he "couldn't stand the state of radio any more".  But he went back when the 105.5 station manager contacted him, specifically because he would be able to play the music he loves on "The Bay".

     Dave O'Donnell grew up in a large, music-loving family in New Jersey.  Radios were always on at home, and he was aware of Dave Brubeck, the Kingston Trio, and the big bands out of New York City.  Once, when home from school with the flu, he came across a big box of 45's in the attic, and discovered the Everly Brothers, Fats Domino and other early rock-n-rollers.  He was hooked!  He moved to Camden in 1970 and has been a fixture in mid-coast radio ever since.  He now lives a few blocks from the station, which puts him in the perfect position to be the station's late-night trouble-shooter, if needed.

     Neither man ever gets tired of the music they play, and neither do the listeners, in part because it is so varied  - swing has a phenomenally huge spectrum of styles, moods, and tempos and they play it all. There are fans of this station all over the country, because of the large summer population.  One young man in his 20's actually taped 90 hours of the station to play when he got back home to Pittsfield!

     These friendly and personable guys were reluctant to have their photos snapped, using the usual radio personality's excuse about having "faces made for radio".  But they are good looking guys, and of course they have marvellous voices!  The only trouble with them is, neither of them dances!  Imagine that, being awash in great music all the time, and not dancing constantly!  Well,  the rest of us can tune in, roll up the rug, and do it for them!