After decades, Brother Wease moving to later morning radio timeslot

For decades Rochesterians have been waking up with Brother Wease.

Starting Monday, Sept. 18, they’ll be hearing from him later in the morning.

On Friday, WAIO-FM (95.1), an iHeartMedia station known as Radio 95.1, announced that Wease, whose real name is Alan Levin, will move out of the 6 to 9 a.m. timeslot to host a show from 9 a.m. to noon also featuring his wife, Doreen, John DiTullio and Dale Budziszewski, aka Dale Buda.

Wease said he requested the change for a lot of reasons.

“I’ve been getting up at 4:30 in the morning for work for 38 years,” he said after Friday’s broadcast. So, he was ready for something new — but he suspects that others are, too.

The coronavirus pandemic has altered every facet of life, including the morning commute to work and, by extension, morning radio, he said.

“I said, ‘I would love to see what we could do later.’”

He said he feels “very badly that people who have woken up with me for many, many years. But at the same time, I have many friends and acquaintances that used to listen to my show after 9 a.m., because I used to go to 11. So, I feel bad for the morning people, but at least I didn’t retire.”

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If he had, he said he would have done a podcast with his wife, who has a master’s degree in optical engineering from the University of Rochester and once worked for Eastman Kodak.

“She’s actually quite good” as a broadcaster, he said, and has joined him on the air many times over the years dating back to his days as a morning show host on WCMF-FM (96.5). “She’ll take a lot of hate, but none of it means anything. People say Show A is so much better than Show B. But it’s just people talking. You like who you like.”

The 6 to 9 a.m. time period on Radio 95.1 will be filled by nationally syndicated “Rover’s Morning Glory,” which previously aired on the station from 2 to 7 p.m.

The noon to 2 p.m. slot will be hosted by two other iHeart personalities, Jeremy Newman, who DJs on WDVI-FM (100.5), or Country 100.5, and longtime WHAM-AM (1180) talk show host Bob Lonsberry. (Previously, DiTullio and Budziszewski had a show from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. And in early 2022, Newman briefly hosted a 9 to 11 a.m. show with Pete Kennedy.)

DiTullio and Deanna King, Wease’s former morning show partner, will be on from 2 to 6 p.m., and “News Junkie,” another nationally syndicated program, will air from 6 to 10 p.m.

The “Rizzo & Jeff Show,” hosted by Rich Deaver and Jeff Daly, was dropped by iHeart this past spring after a year on the air in a round of staff reductions, RadioInsight.com reported. The pair now hosts a podcast that can be accessed on their Facebook page.

Wease said he expects to hear “a lot of positive things and a lot of negative,” about the new changes, “but that’s radio. Radio is a benign medium, and when you write in or call in to say hateful, negative things, that means I’m doing the best job. I moved you to take action. That’s positive to me.”

A Vietnam War combat veteran, he was a concert promoter before he started his radio career in 1983 as an advertising salesman at WCMF.

His unmistakable gravelly voice was first heard on the air in 1984 when he took over a late-night slot. In 1985 he moved to mornings, hosting “The Brother Wease Morning Circus,” which became one of the most highly rated programs in the market.

He shared his life, including a cancer diagnosis and treatment, with listeners — and he shared the spotlight with a rotating cast of characters. A number of personalities who got their start on the show went on to become huge stars in other markets, including Greg “Opie” Hughes, BJ Shea and Stephanie Miller, who was known to Rochester listeners as “Sister Sleaze.”

In late 2007 after Entercom bought WCMF, contract talks between Wease and the company broke off. He disappeared from local radio at the start of 2008, and a no-compete clause in his old contract kept him off the air until November of that year, when he took over as morning show host on Radio 95.1.

“I’m very, very proud of my career,” said Wease, a member of the Museum of Broadcast Communications’ Radio Hall of Fame and the Rochester Music Hall of Fame, “and I can’t wait for this next piece. It’s going to be very exciting.”

Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers general assignments. Send story tips to mgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @MarciaGreenwood.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Brother Wease moving to later timeslot on Radio 95.1 in Rochester NY