RI Radio: Dave Dean To EXIT N/T WNRI

Dave Dean

A familiar voice in  in Woonsocket, Rhode Island is moving on next month.

Dave Dean, co-host of “Daybreak Southern New England” on News/Talk WNRI 1380 AM / 95.1 FM, has announced he will leave the station effective Feb. 1. Dean has served as a host on the morning program, which he co-hosts with station President Roger Bouchard, for the past 16 years.

“I just feel at this point in my life, 42 years old, it’s time for me to try to establish – maybe not a career, per se – but something where I can earn a living and have a future in it. WNRI has been great, and I’ve had a blast, and when I first came here I thought it would be something I just did temporarily,” Dean told listeners. “I’ve changed a lot, and it just felt like it was time for me to go and try something different.”

In an interview with The Breeze, Dean recalled how he attended the Connecticut School of Broadcasting in 2001 with little experience aside from a landscaping business and a whim to go into radio. After finishing the program, he purchased a time slot to host his own show one day per week on WNRI. That one day turned into four days per week, which turned into a job offer from Bouchard to co-host the morning show.