Radio Remembers: Elmira's "Mr. WENY", Rhode Island's Russell Gasparian

Steve Christy began his broadcasting career in 1960 in Upstate New York on WNIA-AM and then WBUZ-AM in Fredonia before he moved to WENY-AM (1230) in Elmira, where he was a popular DJ and later became the PD. When WENY added a TV station, Christy became its first weatherman, a job he would keep for three decades. Also known for his work hosting the annual Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon for 36 years, Christy passed away after a battle with cancer. He was 75. The Star-Gazette newspaper has a tribute to Christy here … Russell Gasparian came to the US from Syria with his family when he was eight years old. Without any formal radio training, he established the Armenian Radio Hour in 1947 on WRIB-AM in Providence, and in the more than 60 years he put the show together, it aired on a number of area stations. His show has reportedly become the longest continuously running ethnic program in the United States. Gasparian passed away. He was 91.

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