WATR Hosts In-Studio Holiday Event

By Nancy Sasso Janis

The “Mornings with Chris and Allison” program on 1320 AM WATR celebrated the final weekday before Christmas with a special in-studio event. Allison “Allie” Demers, who organized the very festive on-air event, asked listeners to post on the morning show’s Facebook page if they were interested in being part of the in-studio audience on Friday. Due to the space limitations of the studio on Broadcast Lane in Waterbury, the listeners invited to sit in the studio were limited to six people.

In the past, WATR celebrated the holidays with an Open House Party. The newly retired General Manager Tom Chute would do a live broadcast and listeners were invited to stop by sometime during the three hours.

The first one that I attended was held in the lobby of Waterbury’s Palace Theater and Chute put me on the air to talk about my work with the Naugatuck Patch. The next year, “TC” moved the Open House to the beautifully decorated lobby of Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury. Because I was still working as a teacher in Naugatuck, I would be among the first arrivals to the party at Seven Angels and leave to get to school on time after taking some photos.

Post pandemic, Director of Operations and Programming Christopher Fortier and Demers decided to ease their way back into the annual event with a smaller, invited audience that was offered a glimpse behind the scenes of the morning drive time program at the beloved local radio station. The broadcast proved to be a fun and festive in-studio party for the attendees as well as the listening audience.

Upon arrival bright and early at the station, the guests were given light-up necklaces to wear (some of which worked better than others) and festive headgear to sport. Demers then took us on a “field trip,” a tour of the station that ended at the break room (which Chute always called “Cafe 1320”) filled with breakfast treats.

During the broadcast, we were introduced to members of the WATR family that had stopped by, including Bob Sagendorf (pictured above with his lovely collie “Molly,”) engineer Johnny the K, and Jay Crawford. I got to hug fill-in newsman (and talented community theater performer) Tyler Bard before he had to head to work.

Musician Marty Q (pictured above) brought his guitar to the studio in order to perform live. He began with a simple and lovely performance of “Alleluia,” and followed up with his brand-new single “Talk to Me.” Marty Q’s music is available on all music services.

“Coffee Break” host Barbara Davitt, affectionately known as “BD,” called into the studio from the home of her daughter in Pennsylvania to wish everyone a happy holiday season. Davitt, who recently celebrated 60 years at WATR and will soon officially mark a very important birthday, will return from vacation in the new year.

Some important guests also stopped by to share a holiday message with the WATR audience. Paul Pernerewski, the new mayor of Waterbury, came into the studio between the gym and his office at City Hall to speak on the air. The mayor shared that he is almost completely moved into his new office, although when he arrives at City Hall and employees greet him with “Good morning, Mayor,” he still looks over his shoulder for former mayor Neil O’ Leary.

Mayor Pernerewski mentioned that he recently attended a meeting of the school board and was impressed with the school system and its students. He also announced that he will be continuing the monthly Mayor’s Hour on WATR, the radio show on which he had sometimes served as fill-in host for O’ Leary.

In between all of the special guests, the morning team managed to accomplish most of their regular routine, including local and celebrity birthdays at 7:35 a.m., and the daily contest after the 8:00 a.m. newsbreak. This week, callers were asked to decide which of three statements was not true of the morning show hosts and the prize was a free oil change from Naugatuck River Motors.

Some of the in-studio guests were “put to work” during their visit. Nancy G. read the names of local people who were celebrating their birthday on Friday (to which I had added local community theater director and actor Tina Parziale and beloved former day-care provider Kathy Sciarrino.) Demer’s invited me to read the items on “Allie’s Calendar,” a weekly list of events scheduled for the upcoming weekend.

Events include:
Holiday Lights at Lake Compounce through Dec. 31.
Glow Hartford at the Connecticut Convention Center though Saturday.
SantaCon Golf at Lyman Orchards Golf Course on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Reindeer Goats at Aquila’s Nest Vineyards in Newtown on Saturday.
Holiday Nights at the Bradley Mountain Farm in Southington on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

In Theater:
“A Christmas Carol” at Hartford Stage through Christmas Eve
“A Christmas Carol” at the Shubert Theater in New Haven
“A Sherlock Carol” at Westport Country Playhouse through this weekend

In Music:
“The Merry Christmas Darling: Carpenters’ Christmas” holiday show at the Foxwoods Wolf Den on Friday at 8 p.m.

Father James Sullivan of the Basilica in Waterbury (pictured above) also blessed us with a visit, during which he spoke of the spirit of forgiveness during Christmastime. He also gave those in the studio and the listening audience a heartfelt blessing.

At the end of the fun broadcast, the invited guests were presented with lovely parting gifts, but the best gift was the experience of being part of the Christmas celebration.

WATR may be heard at 1320 AM or 97.7 FM or at watr.com