Published September 22, 2010

Check out those rings! Red Sox announcer Carl Beane (Lisa Tobin/WBUR)

The most famous voice heard in Ware this morning was not that of Bob Oakes, our Morning Edition host, but of Carl Beane, the voice of Fenway Park, who delivered a special introduction to his “second home town” of Ware, Massachusetts.

“This is a town that has very special significance to me,” he told Bob and producer Lisa Tobin. In 1976, Beane was hired at WARE-AM — one of two radio stations in America whose call letters are the same as the town name. (Can you think of the other?)

Beane was the voice of high school sports in Ware and surrounding communities. “This town is very, very into its local athletics, so doing those games was a big deal,” he says.

“I knew I did a good job when Palmer people complained I was rooting for Ware, and Ware people complained I was rooting for Palmer. And I used to tell them, I’m from Agawam. I’m here to do a job.”

In its heyday, WARE was a small, 1000-watt radio station that sounded like a big-city operation, Beane says. “We had five studios in our building, and we did a lot of stuff. We carried the Red Sox, the Bruins, the Celtics, the Patriots, local sports. We did Oldies. We had a huge news department.”

What made WARE work for so many years is what made Ware work for so many years, he says: a fierce independence. Like a lot of small AM radio stations, though, WARE had to close up and leave town — for neighboring Palmer.

“This is a mill town, and when the factories and the mills closed, a lot of people left. And like a lot of small towns economically, they have suffered,” Beane says.

“People have died, people have moved away, children of those who used to live here decided they didn’t want to stay here because there wasn’t much going for them, economically. But this town is still tough.” Ware is, as we’ve said, the town that can’t be licked.

• Listen to the full interview with Carl Beane (MP3)

Published September 22, 2010

This place is beautiful. (David Boeri/WBUR)

You can be forgiven for not knowing Ware, a once-thriving mill town in central Massachusetts, where Morning Edition has been broadcasting live as part of our week-long road trip.

Driving here in the pre-dawn hours, 100 percent of the commuter traffic was heading the other direction, west, toward Amherst, where I stayed last night — there are no hotels here.

This town of 10,000, with an unemployment rate hovering at more than 10 percent, is heartbreaking. This morning, WBUR’s Bob Oakes tells the story of Mike McCarthy, who was laid off 15 months ago. Used to be you could get fired or just walk out of a factory and have a new job, at another factory, five minutes later. Now McCarthy can’t hold on to any work for more than a short stretch.

Bob asked McCarthy to think of the last thing he bought that he did not need. “It was my engagement ring for my girl,” McCarthy said.

[googlemap title=”Ware, Mass.” align=”right” url=”http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=42.259815,-72.239802&spn=0.041989,0.070896&z=14″]

Our makeshift broadcast booth is set up in a vacant storefront on Main Street. The ceiling is falling down. The space is used to store artificial Christmas trees and electric-light displays.

By our count, a full 25 percent of the stores on this stretch are shuttered. The town’s longtime AM radio station with the killer call letters, WARE 1250 AM, has left for neighboring Palmer. Even WBUR’s FM signal drops off for good in the next town over, Warren.

WBUR’s David Boeri, who lives in nearby Petersham (which you haven’t heard of either), describes the Quabbin region as “achingly beautiful.”

But, he says, “you can’t eat the scenery.” Wal-Mart is the biggest employer here, but it doesn’t pay a living wage. There are dollar stores, a McDonald’s and strip malls, too. But you have to turn off Route 9 and take Route 32 to get there.

Published September 21, 2010

Worcester is a study in urban decay and renewal. Abandoned warehouses and idle factories. A shuttered parking lot next to failed mall. But as WBUR’s Curt Nickisch reported this morning, these empty spaces are beginning to make way for condos, offices and biotech labs — taking advantage of the cheap rent and light traffic, at least compared to big brother Boston.

Photographer Jess Bidgood captured scenes of Worcester’s changing face:

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Published September 21, 2010

This billboard for the hyperlocal network CentralMassNews.com appears to take a jab at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, which recently started charging for some online content. (Andrew Phelps/WBUR)

You’ll recall the Worcester Telegram & Gazette — this region’s largest source of original local journalism — erected a partial metered paywall last month (which I subsequently tried to explain).

Now it seems the hyperlocal aggregator network CentralMassNews.com is capitalizing on the unpopularity of that decision with readers, who apparently expect the news is and always should be free. A billboard on Shrewsbury Street declares, “Never pay for news again!”

Unfortunately, as you hear us say during pledge drives, the news is expensive. I find the farthest west I travel, the harder it is to find diverse sources of news and information. I am spoiled by Boston’s two newspapers, alt weeklies, broadcast media — and the bloggers and aggregators who are equally important in helping me parse the news. Boston’s media market may be shrinking, but Worcester feels like a desert.

Then again, it could be I just don’t know what’s out here. Central Bay Staters, where do you get news and information? Who should I follow? What should I read?

Published September 21, 2010

I get the feeling this stretch of Shrewsbury Street — one of the main drags in Worcester — used to really be someplace.

262 Shrewsbury St., Worcester (Andrew Phelps)

Published September 21, 2010

Every day this week I’m asking our Twitter followers (@WBUR) to tell us where to eat in the cities and towns along #Route9.

@Hnicho1 was first out of the gate:

easy- coney island.4 hot dogs, straight up.

George’s Coney Island Lunch on Southbridge Street, to be precise. “Best hot dogs, maybe in the state,” he added.

I read the tweet back to Oakes; his eyes lit up and he drove us straight there. (Bob grew up in Worcester County. He’s got a million stories.)

I was excited to photograph the beloved neon sign, maybe get a dog. I even survived the terrifying Kelley Square rotary to get there. Upon arrival, however, there was one problem (see second photo).

On the Coney Island sign in Worcester, the mustard drips in neon. (Andrew Phelps/WBUR)

I picked the wrong day to visit Coney Island. (Andrew Phelps/WBUR)

Published September 21, 2010

Stained glass window in the Grand Hall at Union Station, Worcester (Andrew Phelps)

The heart is printed on all the street signs in Worcester and on the beautiful stained-glass ceiling of Union Station here in downtown Worcester. It’s the heart of the commonwealth.

Published September 21, 2010

What’s news on a chilly Tuesday morning in Worcester — where Morning Edition has been broadcasting live as part of our special Route 9 road trip:

IBM To Buy Marlborough’s Netezza For $1.7B

Computing giant IBM Corp. continued its local shopping spree yesterday, agreeing to pay $1.7 billion for Netezza Corp, a Marlborough firm that makes systems for analyzing massive amounts of corporate data. The deal is the second-largest acquisition of a Massachusetts technology company this year, and the fourth by IBM. (The Boston Globe)

Clark Will Pay Worcester $6.7M

Clark University has become the third local private college to step up and agree to make annual payments to the city in lieu of property taxes. (T&G)

Worcester Commuters Plead For More Trains

Every weekday, more than 15,000 people find their way between Boston and Worcester by train. The Patrick administration is working to nearly double the number of trains on the line by adding another 10 in each direction. (WBUR)

Cahill: Stop Commuter Rail Expansion

Saying simply, “we just don’t have the money,” independent candidate for governor Timothy Cahill defended his call to pull back state support from transportation expansion projects. (WBUR)

Auburn Man Pleads Guilty To Having Explosives

Anthony Simulynas pleaded guilty Monday in Worcester Superior Court to 16 counts of possessing an infernal machine, two counts of possessing a firearm or ammunition without a firearm identification card, and improperly storing a firearm. Authorities said they seized 85 weapons, about 800 pounds of ammunition and two boxes of suspected explosive devices from the home in February 2009. (AP)

Published September 20, 2010

It isn’t always pretty, but radio gets made.

Here is behind-the-scenes video from our Route 9 broadcast in Framingham. Warning: This video is only for die-hard public radio fans.

[youtube url=”M-seBPeMTxg”]

Published September 20, 2010

Elias Fernandes is the owner of Padaria Brasil Bakery in downtown Framingham, where WBUR broadcast live Monday morning. (Andrew Phelps/WBUR)

We started the morning on Route 9 thinking about food: The smell of fresh bread and pastries permeated the air at Padaria Brasil Bakery in downtown Framingham. Highly recommended are the coconut bread and my personal favorite, the pao de queijo — Brazilian cheese bread.

On Twitter, I asked people for lunch suggestions in Framingham. You all must have been hungry… See everyone’s suggestions and add your own after the jump.

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