Long Island Talk Radio 103.9
Maureen Rossi
John Caracciolo says he had a very average Long Island childhood. The forty-nine year old grew up on a tree-lined block in a bedroom community in Nassau County. The son of a beautician and a member of the Police Department – he says maybe this is where his childhood wasn’t so average. “My mother worked for the police department so she played with guns and my father did hair,” he joked.
Back in December along with his partner Victor J Canales (Vic Latino) Carracciolo launched a new radio station. The first of its kind, it’s the only free all news station on FM radio in the region. Housed in a corner office at MacArthur Airport, Long Island News Radio can be found on your dial at 103.9. “We needed it we didn’t have a news talk outlet dedicated just to Long Island to Suffolk County,” he explained.
Caracciolo is not new comer to the news business or the radio business. He’s spent most of his adulthood dedicated to both. His company JVC oversees several Long Island stations that serve the entire island and coastal Connecticut; 105.3, Long Island’s only Spanish FM station, WBON LaFiesta on 98.5 and the Island’s home for Country music, 96.1. Caracciolo and Canales have over three decades of radio experience between them. They are proud to say that all their stations are staffed 24/7 with live D.J.’s who interact with their listeners via the phone, social media and texts.
Caracciolo says they try to be as fair and as unbiased as possible when it comes to political issues. He says the goal of the station is to cover all of Long Island and speak to all demographics.
LI News Radio found itself on the political radar right out of the box. In addition to the Chairman of the state’s Independence Party Frank MacKay, former Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy is also one of the station’s hosts. Many on the political front have already graced the newest air waves including Suffolk County Legislator Tom Cilmi. In less than three short months, some of the who’s who in local and state government have provided their political views and knowledge of government.
Frank MacKayMacKay also hosts a segment called 52 players that actually highlights the who’s who on Long Island. “It all about the players, there are 52 weeks in a year, 52 cards in a deck,” said Caracciolo. The radio enthusiast said sometimes they highlight a well known person who’s politically active or it could be someone behind the scenes or even a business CEO that’s helping to develop the future of Long Island. “Someone like a Tritech, the company behind the Ronkonkoma hub,” noted Caracciolo.
He says the most exciting thing about this new project is that it’s in his backyard. “I love listening, I just love local news,” he said. Caracciolo is proud of the fact that the news department is the largest in Suffolk County. He said we live on an Island with one daily newspaper and one television news station; we needed more than that.
In addition to reporting the news live several times a day, the Long Island News Radio website has a banner ticking off breaking news. An extremely well done site, it’s visually esthetic and easy to navigate. The Listen Live option appears throughout layers of the site. Caracciolo says they want people to be able to listen at their desk and through mobile devices in addition to the radio. WEEKDAYS provides of list of programming. NEWS is provided in short blips – under one-hundred words, BUSINESS takes a look at the breadth of the business community on the Island, TRAFFIC provides maps with jams/accidents. WEATHER has forecasts but perhaps we’ll see beach reports in the summer months with rip tide warnings. SPORTS has a popular segment called Scoreboard Roundup. In addition, the station is the broadcast home of the NY Islanders.
Smithtown resident and former Smithtown Democratic Chairperson Elaine Turley appeared twice in the last month on Steve Levy’s Saturday program. She said she provided a more liberal counterargument to the conservative guests. The popular and well poised Democrat spoke on an array of political topics and said she enjoyed participating in the show on Long Island’s new Talk Radio Station.
When asked what his favorite show is Caracciolo said he has a few. “On the weekends we have a show called Young & Young Brother’s In Law, they are criminal defense attorneys and the stories told are captivating, I listen to their show every week,” he said. The self-proclaimed news junkie said when he’s not running the business, he’s playing with transmitters. What’s on the horizon for Caracciolo and Long Island’s brand new radio station? He said they are looking to develop a very hip somewhat lighter segment for the mornings with a male/female duo. It would be fun and they’ be doing the whole chatting from the couch thing – a View type radio program with interesting banter about the region and the news of day. Long Island native and national powerhouse Sean Hannity can be heard weekdays from 3 – 6 p.m. To listen or get news updates, check out the site: www.linewsradio.com
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