Sag Harbor, on Long Island's East End, can hardly be called the media capital of the world, but WLNG General Manager Emeritus Paul Sidney was definitely one of the giants in the radio business. Sidney, a longtime champion of local radio, passed away on April 1st at age 69. He arrived at WLNG AM 1600 as program director shortly after its inception in 1963. WLNG FM 92.1 came along later, but the FM always maintained that 1963 AM radio sound even after the AM side signed off for good, keeping the FM stereo off and the reverb on, with pumped up audio processing unduplicated on today's radio dial. And those jingles - one for everything! They made their own rules and stuck by them to create a consistency and heritage seldom observed in this changeable business.
Back in 1982, I had the pleasure of visiting WLNG with a radio friend who used to work for Paul. There he was, at the station on a Sunday, with WLNG cranked up in his office. He told longtime air personality Rusty Potz to "put on the Connecticut jingle - we've got somebody here from Connecticut!" - and he turned it up even louder. He was so proud of what WLNG stood for. You never know where you're going to find great people in radio. Paul Sidney's loyal crew at WLNG continues to share fun with legions of listeners, providing a reliable source for local information, serving the community in countless ways, knowing everyone, getting results for advertisers and even making money along the way. WLNG's secret to success? To use Paul's operative word: "Consistency." What's wrong with that?
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