Radio’s Coach Maye burned by WILD sale

Corey J. Allen

“Coach” Willie Maye, the voice of Boston morning radio and sports for more than two decades, is now looking for a job.

Last month, Radio One Inc. sold 97.7 WILD-FM to Entercom, the nation’s fourth largest radio broadcaster, who promptly changed the station’s hip-hop and R&B format to a simulcast of their Worcester-based rock station, 107.3 WAAF-FM.

The highly controversial sale netted Radio One $30 million dollars. It also left Maye, WILD’s former morning co-host and sports broadcaster, in the unfamiliar and unenviable position of wondering where his next paycheck is coming from.

“This is a different phase for me,” said Maye. “I’ve not been in a situation like this in my entire professional career. The last time I did a resume was 26 years ago.”

Born in North Carolina, Maye migrated to the South End when he was five and has called Boston home since. Now residing in Roxbury, Maye has also lived in Dorchester and Jamaica Plain.

As a young man, Maye attended the Elma Lewis Music School, where he feels that the foundation for his broadcasting career was laid.

“The Elma Lewis School helped me with my confidence, my self-esteem and my poise,” said Maye. “We would always be around influential people, from Muhammad Ali to Duke Ellington,” said Maye, who played the African drums with Ellington’s band on special occasions.

But as he got older, he became interested in sports and would play hooky from music school to go in the streets and play baseball, football and kickball.

“They were good times,” said Maye. “ It was a different time. You never had to feel unsafe, [unlike] with all of the violence that we have in the city now.”

In 1981, Maye began working as the sports director at WCZN in Cambridge, a station that had the same format as WILD. But when WCZN changed to an all-gospel format, Maye came back across the bridge to Warren Street, beginning his tenure at WILD in 1984 as the station’s sports anchor and morning co-host.

“I think ’84 was the bursting out year for WILD in terms of the recognition of the station,” said Maye. He joined Elroy Smith on the morning show, which featured entertainers and athletes on air and a segment called “Candid Calls,” later cribbed and renamed “Jam Scams” on JAM’N 94.5 FM, formerly WILD’s direct competition for Boston’s urban market and now the city’s lone hip-hop and R&B station.

“We had voice imitations and created characters, plus, it was very informing,” said Maye, specifically the discussions of local political and social topics between on-air personalities and callers.

Maye saw WILD serve as the first stop for some now famous people. From Pebbles (now morning co-host at JAM’N 94.5) to Free (currently co-host on BET’s popular “106 & Park”), Maye has seen the small become larger than life.

“We were kind of rock stars back then,” said Maye. “Wherever we went, it was carte blanche. The people of Boston had nothing but love, respect and admiration for us.”

Some who came up listening to Maye still harbor those feelings.

“He has been a valuable asset to me. Just sitting and listening to him, I’ve learned a lot about politics and the media landscape,” said David “H,” a former WILD-FM street team member who later became an on-air personality. “It’s good to have someone like that, who’s going to keep it real, who isn’t a corporate suit, but who possibly has as much power as someone who wears those suits.”

Maye also believes that the fact that the station was in the middle of Roxbury and easily accessible by the MBTA added something to the station’s service to the people.

“I think it gave the community a sense of pride,” said Maye. “These celebrities were not only coming to your city, but to your neighborhood.

Willie Maye became “Coach” Willie Maye as an office joke that made it on air. As director of the Madison Park summer sports program, Maye had youngsters keeping tabs on him all day. One young man called up the station and asked, “Can I speak to ‘Coach?’”

“It started out as a joke, but it has stuck with me through out the years,” said Maye.

Also in 1984, Maye was approached by Cablevision to co-host the “Game of the Week,” which showcased the best game in the Boston City League of the week. Later, Maye moved up to cover UMass Boston sports also for Cablevision.

During the 1990-91 season, Maye covered the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins games on the radio for WEEI with WILD’s permission. The following season, Maye was offered a television position for the Celtics broadcasts with Tommy Heinsohn and Mike Gorman, which he enthusiastically accepted.

“I was like, ‘Heck yea,’” said Maye, who held the post until he was replaced last year.

A family-oriented man, Maye now spends his morning taking his 10-year-old son Tyler to school. But he has always taken on others’ children. As one of the founders of the Mission Hill Buccaneers, a volunteer at Habitat for Humanity, his work with Madison Park, the Hennigan and Shelburne Community Centers and the Roxbury Boys and Girls club, Maye has plenty of hands-on experience in developing the young minds of Boston.

“I’ve been blessed,” said Maye of his success in the media. “And giving back isn’t anything hard. It’s something that my mother instilled in me and I carry out today.”

Maye has not let the sale of the station sour his mood. He is alive, still volunteering in the community and looking forward to his future.

But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t hurt.

When Radio One purchased WILD, Maye said he saw a change in that people from outside of the city were taking positions at the station, but with his experience in the broadcast industry, it didn’t faze him much.

The manner in which the station was operating made Maye and other employees leery of the parent company’s intentions, and Maye said it began to negatively affect the work climate at the station.

“I think morale got low a few times, for a couple of reasons,” said Maye. “I don’t think employees trusted management that much, and they weren’t doing things that people were used to [like using T-shirts for marketing].

“We didn’t have any T-shirts for 2-3 years for our celebrity basketball games,” said Maye. “Come on now, T-shirts are the easiest form of promotion for a radio station or any other organization. They’re like free advertising.”

Maye was most hurt by Radio One’s statement that the staff underperformed.

“That was a cheap shot and a total lie,” said Maye. “We always performed with a lot of dignity, a lot of pride and a lot of self-respect.”

When WILD first came into existence, it snuck up on most residents — some found out about the station while scanning the dial after sundown, others by word of mouth, a few more by television.

The contrast between that slow grassroots boil and the immediate media blitz accompanying Entercom’s purchase of the station — capped off by the billboards dotting the city, reading “WAAF now on 97.7 FM” — has more than disturbed Maye.

“It’s like black on black crime,” said Maye. “That’s my analogy.”

Now the 45-year-old “Coach” now must hunt for a job, and that search might take him away from the home he has known for 40 years.

“This is my home,” said Maye. “My heart is with this city. It is my number one option, but who knows, I might have hit a ceiling here. Who knows, it might be time for “Coach” Willie Maye to grow up and move on. I don’t want that, but sometimes your hand is forced; maybe that’s what God has in store for me.”

One former colleague believes Maye will land on his feet.

“I can’t imagine him not being able to find something good,” said Kirk “Captain Kirk” Campbell, a former WILD intern-turned-show producer. “[Maye] is very professional and someone will be looking forward to getting him working. He’ll be doing something fairly soon, and hopefully he’ll remain in this community, because it would be a big loss to Boston if he is forced to go elsewhere.”

If Maye’s next step does take him out of earshot, at least he stands to get what should be a great going-away party. A farewell concert for WILD featuring station staff and alumni will be held Oct. 9 on City Hall Plaza from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

“We want to say thank you and show our admiration and appreciation for the fans,” said Maye.

Although the concert will bid farewell to WILD, Maye doesn’t think that Boston will be without urban radio for long.

“There are substantial resources in the community,” said Maye. “There are a couple of frequencies open on the dial. I think it’s time for some of our influential business people in the community to step up.”