Scotty’s Love Shack Interactive Blog

I wanted to take a moment and thank each of you for a wonderful Love Shack journey! You have made the Saturday night party a special part of my life, and for that I thank you for listening and sharing! Although nothing is forever, I only wish this could. Coming soon 96.1 will be transformed, and a new exciting direction awaits. This is my opportunity to say thanks, and wish you personally only the best in life!!!

Although my future is filled with endless opportunities, this chapter in my career draws to a close with nothing but happy and warm memories. Thanks to Jay Letterman, David Widmer, and the LI Radio Group family for letting me hang around and stir it up this long. What a ride!!

Scotty Hart

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Click here and join Scotty’s message board!!

Click on your favorite decade below and relive some fun!!

The 50’s
The 50’s
The 50’s (The Day The Music Died)
The 60’s
The 60’s
The 70’s
The 70’s
The 70’s
The 70’s
The 70’s KISS!!
The 80’s
The 80’s MTV’s 10 Year Montage!
The 80’s
The 80’s MTV’s Launch Song August 1, 1981!
The 90’s Remembered With Images!
The 90’s Pop Craze!
The 90’s The Rock!

Good Times - Great.. Was it really that long ago?

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Here’s what they are saying about the “Love Shack”!

Anybody heard the Love Shack on Saturday nights from 7PM till midnight on 96.1 out in Suffolk??? It’s really live and local and must stream as well as they seem to not only get calls for requests from the island but at times from all over. The music ranges from some early stuff from the 60’s up thru today’s AC and varies from rock and roll to pop to classic disco dance and some occasional pop rock tunes as well. Show is very uptempo and moves right along with one of the two guys that are on-air actually sounding like he’s doing live remotes from out at various events, and then eventually returns to the studio when things really start to heat up.

These two guys are a bit goofy but definitely funny together and sometimes almost over the edge. A great change from the usual bore-fest on the radio dial at night and even during the day. Worth a listen but I can’t imagine how long this will last in this climate of corporate nickel squeezing. Actually it is definitely surprising that a live and local fun show full of all of the stuff, plus some well produced segments like this is still alive and available much less allowed in these times.

Refreshing Radio! Kudos to the visionary here!!!

Comment Courtesy of Radio-Info.com

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Hi Scotty,
Thanks for letting me hang out with you and Rover at the station. I had a lot of fun. It’s very interesting and cool seeing how radio works from the inside out. You work so hard to make sure that every listener is enjoying your show. Trying to get to all the phone calls is a task all by itself. But you do it so well and make it look like a piece of cake!

Carol, Ronkonkoma

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I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Jay Letterman for letting me have so much fun and having the insight to see what a great show you have!! Thank you Jay!!! Scotty is the best!!

The Huckster

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I love you guys!!!
Ciao..
Hank in Brooklyn

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Hi there hottie Scotty! Have to say I am havin’ a blast callin’ u on Saturday nights. u r a great guy and dj! I would have showed up with candles and dinner but did not want u to faint on air and turn all kinds of red shades. Oh, and Rover is very funny and full of life!

Love ya
Tina, Mattituck

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Just so you know, my friends in California, Michigan, Tenn, Fla, Texas, and upstate NY were listening. We love listening and dancing while we’re chatting in the room! www.love961.com!!!

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YOU GUYS ARE SOOOO FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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That had to be one of the Best New Year’s Eve’s I ever had and without a hangover!

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Scotty,

Once again you are the Best!!! It was great fun Saturday night! I love the fact that you are so down to earth and can relate to your listening audience. As you and everyone else knows across the country, Hank from Brooklyn came by my house in a Limo and we went to the station to bring you some Pizza and pastries. And you were ever so gracious to let us see how a GOOD radio show is aired. It’s too bad that more radio people don’t follow your example!! Listeners enjoy that one on one contact over the phone and you provide us with that!!! You’re show was great, you were great, what more can I say?!

The Love Shack with Scotty Hart streaming live on the internet! You are the best Scotty!!!!! Muah, a big kiss for you!

Luv ya,
Carol

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Wow…!

My first time tuning in on you this past Saturday via www.love961.com, and I must say I really enjoyed the show. It sure beats some of the things on the radio around here. I am looking forward to this coming Saturday night!! Woo hoo, it almost feels like I have made a date! Scotty you are a trip, very entertaining, and fun to talk to. When I go to chase the first tornado this year, I will have you in mind.. Best Wishes!

Wendy (Amarillo, Texas)

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Hi Scotty,

I also just wanted to let you know you are partially responsible for me having an online and long distance romance going on. OMG, who would have thought!! Music is our connection. Your show was responsible for the dedications back and forth. Streaming on the web with love961.com, it’s so cool!!

But my dear Scotty, you will always have a special place in my heart for all the kindness you have shown me. For example, playing Swing the Mood reminding me of dancing with my Dad and also the support you gave me when I did the Walk for Juvenile Diabetes.

You’re the best!!!

Luv ya,
Carol

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To my favorite DJ and my dear friend,

I just want to take this opportunity to say I am blessed for having met such a warm, kind and considerate person!! Not to mention, funny, wild, thoughtful and gracious!!  I wish you all the best in your future endeavors and I know that this is just a sample of better things to come! Traveling down the highway of life, I’m sure our paths will cross again. You have made my life richer and I thank you for that!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you really know what good radio is all about!! In this day and age of high tech, it is a shame that people don’t interact more often….it desocializes them…I’m not even sure that’s a word, but you know what I mean. I love the rebel in you, it just adds to who you are!

So in closing, I just want to say, I will miss you terribly on Sat nites….I looked forward to my time with you. But alas, another chapter is closed. I had so much fun with you and hope that someday, somewhere down the road, we will meet again……sending all my love and best wishes to you!! A trail of hearts from me to you <3<3<3<3<3<3<3….tears here!!

Luv ya bunches,
your #1 fan (at least in my eyes)
Carol

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Carol, and all the rest.. Thank you for listening and sharing during the run of the Love Shack! If it wasn’t for you the audience, this show could never have existed! I take nothing but warm memories of a time when radio was truly interactive and personal. And I will remember each of you for that.. forever!!!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!
Scotty

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It takes just one person to make a difference, what will you do to change your world?

Love Shack Interactive Is Sponsored By YourLI.com!

I am sorry to report local radio great WLNG’s “Paul Sidney” passed away this morning at 1am. He had been previously in declining health for quite sometime. I spoke with Paul just a couple days ago and it was my opportunity to thank him for all he’s done for me, and my career. I told him that I never forgot the early lessons taught, and that his gentle guidance would always be a part of my delivery as a personality, not an announcer. That radio is a friend and local companion. For that I will always be grateful and humbled.

More News Here

The Press Release:

WLNG RADIO sadly reports the passing early this morning of Eastern Long
Island’s most well known broadcaster, the legendary Paul Sidney, a
personality who almost monopolized the airwaves out here for 4 and a half
decades.

Loving the East End and every facet of broadcasting, particularly his air
time, audiences and callers, Paul could hardly be kept from a remote
broadcast. By the time he’d been on the air at WLNG for a decade or two, he
had built an immense local following

We don’t know just how he got the bug, but by the time he was 8 he had mikes and a whole studio in his room in Brooklyn. Undeterred by his youth, by 11 he had hung around the DuMont TV studios in New York so often that they finally gave him some commercials to read. From that point on, his every breath became radio. His first full time air shift was at WBRY in Waterbury Connecticut followed by several years at WLIS Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Lured away from Saybrook by WLNG’s founder Fitgerald Smith and WLNG’s first General Manager James Talcott, Paul descended on Sag Harbor when WLNG was but a 500 watt AM at 1600 on the top of the dial. What followed through the years was more power for the station, the addition of an FM and ultimately the development of a great team of inspired local talents.

What also followed were a string of national awards for the station. For
Paul himself there’s now a whole hallway at the station of commendations
capped by several life time achievement awards and a recent New York State
Broadcaster’s Induction into the Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame.

Although Paul never had much of a financial interest in WLNG and hasn’t been a shareholder for some years now, for decades our principal shareholder Robert King and several other caring long time shareholders have partnered with Paul in running the company. Shareholder Gary Sapiane for instance has been aboard and into community concerns with Paul for 38 years, Shareholder Rusty Potz for 33 years, and Shareholder Ann Buckhout for 30 years. Although not owners, there are two full timers now at the station, Brian Bannon and Chris Buckhout, who were following Paul around in LNG’s studios 30 years ago when they were but 4 or 5 years old.

As a family station we couldn’t be more proud of our oldest DJ, our former General Manager and President Emeritus Paul Sidney. As will all of his listeners on Eastern Long Island and the whole world of small market radio, the airwaves will truly miss the boundless vibrancy of Paul Sidney.

A gathering at the Yardley Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor at 2 PM tomorrow, Friday, will precede a prayer service followed by a procession for the internment at the Chevra Kodeta Cemetery also on RTE 114 in Sag Harbor. All are welcome.

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ALBANY, NY (05/30/2007; 0908)(readMedia)– The New York State Broadcasters Association (NYSBA) today announced that broadcasting entrepreneur Paul Sidney, president and GM of Sag Harbor-based radio station WLNG 92.1, has been named to NYSBA’s 2007 Hall of Fame. Sidney joins five additional Hall of Fame-bound nominees from the NYC, Albany, Buffalo and Rochester/Syracuse markets, as well as previous regional inductees including Martin F. Beck (founder of WGLI, Long Island’s first rock station), Bill Paley (”father” of CBS), Lev Pope (president and CEO of WPIX) and Bruce Morrow (“Cousin Brucie’s Saturday Night Party” on Sirius Satellite Radio).

“Paul Sidney is what local radio is all about…localism, community involvement and entrepreneurship,” said NYSBA President Joseph A. Reilly. “He truly deserves this recognition and honor.”

After cutting his broadcasting teeth at WLIS in Old Saybrook, CT, Sidney

came to WLNG in 1963. Over the past 44 years, he has turned the East End station into one of the most successful and respected small market radio stations in the nation through its close alignment with the community.

Toward that end, WLNG provides extensive local news coverage using its fleet of radio electronic newsgathering vehicles. These mobile units provided exhaustive coverage of Long Island’s devastating Pine Barrens fires in 1995. They were also on duty when TWA’s Flight 800 went down in July 1996, enabling WLNG to become the first station in the country to break the news of that tragedy within moments of the crash.

Known for its back-to-back musical jingles that promote the station with its own distinct reverb sound, mix of vintage oldies and colorful disc jockeys, WLNG also raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for local charities and has been repeatedly honored with “Crystal” and “Marconi” awards for its “For Excellence in Community Service.” In addition, under Sidney’s leadership, the station has worked tirelessly to promote local businesses. WLNG does hundreds of live remotes each year (sometimes two or three in a single day) at store openings, festivals and events using the station’s “Friendly Giant” — a bus whose side panel features each of the station’s long serving disc jockeys riding a bicycle built for 10, beneath the motto, “Locally, no one pedals harder for your business and your community’s concerns.” Further, Sidney, a former NYU communications student, has helped WLNG become the region’s “leading full service news and information source” with its extensive foul weather coverage.

“During hurricanes and storms, ask any `Bonacker’ (local resident) out on Eastern Long Island and he’ll tell you nobody is more relied upon than WLNG radio,” said Gary Sapian, the station’s vice president, noting that the station may have close to a 90 percent share during major storms. “One of the big reasons for this is our in-house color Doppler radar, which is backed by emergency generators at our studio, as well as at our FM tower site in Southampton.” Sapian, a longtime employee who joined the station in 1964, added: “If there’s one person who symbolizes radio on the East End, it’s got to be Paul. On weekends and remotes, he’s the principal voice on Eastern Long Island. Not only has he been around longer than anyone else, but his style has made an indelible impression on the minds of both those who listen and those who go on the air in search of listeners.”

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Newsday.com

OPINION:

Radio can be the glue of a community

BY DEBBIE TUMA

2:53 PM EDT, April 20, 2009

Copyright © 2009, Newsday Inc.