CT Radio: Nearby WDAQ Adjusts To Massacre

Following the shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Conn., on Friday (Dec. 14), radio is doing what it traditionally does best in the wake of such tragedy: providing listeners a forum to express their emotions and tempering its sound and playlists accordingly.

"Sandy Hook is 11 miles down the road from us," adult pop WDAQ Danbury, Conn., program director/morning host Rich Minor tells Gary Trust at billboard.com.  The school's proximity, he says, has made it a natural partner when the station has conducted community-based promotions.

Minor says, however, that the events of Friday hit especially hard, considering that WDAQ was amid a fundraising partnership for the holidays. "I was actually supposed to go to the school tomorrow at 11:30. It's on my calendar," he says.

On-air, WDAQ has radically changed its presentation since Friday, airing calls from listeners and adjusting its music as needed.

"We're letting people grieve," Minor says. "It's just me in mornings and Nate Mumford in afternoons during the week, so, on Friday, we were just trying to get information out. Since then, we're airing more calls. We've suspended all uptempo music beds under our talk breaks, as well as giveaways and gossip for now."

The station has also aired songs since Friday that are normally far beyond the scope of an adult pop station that lives by a code of hipness. What's hip, says Minor, is what hits home at a given time. "We're playing a song called 'Aftermath' by Lifehouse with clips from President Obama's speech in Connecticut Sunday night. We're also airing a special cover of White Lion's [1989 Billboard Hot 100 No. 3 ballad] 'When the Children Cry,' also with sound bites."

Appropriate soft AC songs are even in the mix on WDAQ now. "We've played Eric Clapton's 'Tears in Heaven,' Bette Midler's 'Wind Beneath My Wings' and Whitney Houston's 'Greatest Love of All'," Minor says. "I even played a request for USA for Africa's 'We Are the World.' A listener - male, by the way - called during it to give me props for playing it, saying how poignant it seems right now."

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