New Ideas for the Oldies Station

Andy Austin in the Seacoast Oldies broadcast booth

Photo: Gail Burnett

By Gail Burnett

Andy Austin never knew his grandfather Ed Austin, a Sanford police officer who died before he was born. It was years before Austin learned that his grandfather had been one of the first voices on WSME, a Sanford radio station that debuted in 1957.

“But we had this weird lineage,” he said. “I’ve always been interested in radio, since I was 6.” He used to “broadcast” from his bedroom, using K-tel vinyl compilation records that were then popular. Later, he turned around a mediocre high school career by getting involved in the media technology program at the Sanford Regional Technical Center. Through that, and with the help of instructor Gordon “Bud” Johnston, Austin began broadcasting school news on WSME.

That’s just one of many full circles for Austin, now known to radio listeners as the voice of Seacoast Oldies radio station, a successor to WSME. He hosts “York County’s Morning Show” there every weekday from 5 to 10 am. He’s returned to his hometown and his hometown radio station. He’s even brought SRTC students back to the local airwaves.

This wasn’t always the plan for Austin, who will turn 50 next month. After graduating from Sanford High School in 1993, he worked for local station WCDQ in the same building as WSME until it closed in 1999, and then he got out of town.

“I didn’t want to stay in Sanford,” he said. “What 18- or 22-year-old does?” He began a long radio career that took him to Boston, Providence, Fort Meyers, FL, Portsmouth, NH and Portland. He started doing track announcing for NASCAR events all over the country.

But there was something missing. Every time he came home to visit his parents, Ralph and Linda Austin, he felt more drawn back to the community. “That just deepened as I got older,” he said. He became so disenchanted with corporate radio that he considered training as a game warden so he could return to rural Maine.

Then he talked to Pete Falconi, the primary owner of Port Broadcasting who now owned the Sanford station. He learned that Falconi was open to the idea of welcoming Austin as a part owner who would revive the oldies station, which broadcasts at 1220 AM and 104.3 FM. “I had to do it,” he said. “If I didn’t take this chance, I’d always regret it.” Last August, he came back.

The station still plays music from the 1960s through the 80s, but with Austin’s leadership it’s started to increase its focus on the community. It broadcasts local games, Chamber of Commerce interviews, a French language show and other local programing. It draws listeners’ attention to local events and news. The focus is on York County, from Waterboro to the Berwicks, from Biddeford to Lebanon.

“We’re talking to people who are driving to work at Pratt & Whitney,” he said. “We’re talking to commuters on the way to the Shipyard.”

The station is also talking to students. Since October, two SRTC students, Lila Sprague and Aubree Velleux, have been producing the York County Varsity Report, a rundown of school sports. Austin beams like a proud father when he talks about the interns. They are, after all, walking a path that’s very familiar to him.