Pete Winchester (1991-1995)I have worked the weeknight shift during the weekdays as well as a midday shift during the weekends for four years right up to the last day. While I did play music during my time there I was mainly a board operator for talk programs. Most of the programs were on cassette tape. Some of the local ministries thought it was real professional to stick with reel to reel tape but the more cutting edge ministries converted to CD and Satellite feeds. During the last year of WLIX I was the board operator for many Spanish language programs some of which were pre recorded but most were live. I never understood a word that was being said but it knew my cues and it worked out. WLIX went off the air almost every night around midnight. I was the control operator that turned WLIX off for the last time. I created a special ID that you might hear on "online" from time to time. It had to be a legal ID including the town of license but I also liked the bottom ID better. I created it about and hour before sign off on the digital audio editing station that I had introduced the staff to. They were using razor blades to edit before that. WLIX had been my favorite radio station for years. I probably listened to them throughout their entire run. One day I called up the station and requested a song. I didn't know they didn't take request but the fellow on the other end of the line said that "The Easter Song" by "Second Chapter of Acts" was on the list to be played. I listened closely for that song. It never played. I listened for a week, a month, a year. Then when I landed a job at WLIX I learned about "dropping songs." It seems that at the end of every hour 2 extra songs are put in the list just in case they were needed to fill up to the top of the hour. Well that almost never happened and I came to realize that the fellow who told the song was coming up probably had to drop it because it wouldn't fit. So some years pass and it is Easter Sunday and I am working the midday shift. Jerry Williams had reason to be there and he granted me the ability to play any song I wanted I guess to fill a large gap. I knew what I would do. I quickly move over to the cart rack and pulled out the carted version of "The Easter Song", put it in the slot and on cue I pressed the button to start it and .. nothing. I heard nothing but dead air. I forgot to turn up the level. I couldn't start over quick enough because it was on a cart so I turned up the level and got most of the song in. My favorite ministry program was "Adventures in Odyssey" because I liked using a story to make a point. At first I had thought it was just a kids show. When it was rescheduled to my shift I then learned that it had lessons to teach every age. Since that time I have made trips to Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs where I visited with writers and editors of the program. I have an extensive collection of programs in the order that they were aired. Unfortunatly I don't have the more recent episodes. After WLIX most of us went on to work for the new owner which sported the call sign of WLUX. One by one the WLIX people became less and less. I did see the return of Mary Perez and Addie Triolo. I made it another 4 years which included moving the station from Bay Shore to Farmingdale. When I left it was similar to my last day at WLIX. I was once again the only one in the place. The only difference was that automation was in operation and their was no transmitter to turn off. At that point the only remaining member of WLIX was the Chief Engineer, John Bennett. Currently I work for a manufacturing company as a Calibration Technician. Not as entertaining but it's a living. Also I ended that exciting single life and settled down with my lovely wife Teresa. I still live on Long Island in a town called Central Islip (not CI).
Email: christian54wlix@verizon.net
A tribute to 16 great years of ministry and music on Long Island, Christian54 WLIX-AM