Voices of the Bay: Warren’s Bill Haberman

WPRO’s Bill Haberman lives by the clock. When listeners tune in at 5am, the Warren resident’s workday has already been underway for a few hours, preparing his 60-minute news broadcast and top-of-the-hour updates aired throughout the morning. The lifelong sports aficionado doesn’t limit his announcing chops to the radio airwaves. He is the stadium voice for many Brown University sports, and in recent years, Mount Hope High School boys’ and girls’ basketball. Haberman discovered his affinity for radio announcing and news-writing as an undergraduate at WFUV-FM, the campus station at Fordham University, where he received his BA in communications. Despite 30-plus years on the early-morning shift, the dad of three is the first to admit he still hasn’t acclimated to the middle-of-the-night waking hours and has no problem sleeping in on weekend mornings.

NEWS TALK: I do the morning news on WPRO 630, and I’ll do some newscasts for PRO-FM, Lite 105, and The Wolf, and some other [Cumulus Media] stations. Our station format is mostly news, but we also talk about it, which is a little unusual. Our radio station fills both of those needs in Providence. Usually, you’ll have stations that are either talk, like WABC in New York, or all-news, like WBZ in Boston. We also have Patriots and Providence College basketball.

AM CHAT: When I am preparing the morning newscast, I try to have an idea of what a WPRO listener would like to hear. I’m looking for stories I think would be of interest, and stories I think they need to hear. They [management] let me do whatever I think the top story is –  a national, world, or local story. I prepare and write local news and present it on-air as if I’m conversing with one person, not talking “at” people. It’s your morning briefing over the breakfast table.

SNOOZE ALARM: Anyone who says they get used to early mornings, I don’t believe them because I’ve never gotten used to it. On the weekends, I’ll wake up at 2:45am and then go right back to bed and have no problem sleeping until 11am.

BEHIND THE MIC: I wanted to play baseball at Fordham but wasn’t good enough, so I found myself at the radio station. It’s a 50,000-watt station and was student-run. It was mostly music, but they did a lot of news preparation. I started out doing music and transitioned to doing newscasts. I don’t have the interest or the knowledge of music. I’ve always been interested in the news. I got a full-time job as a senior at a small radio station in White Plains, New York.

BROWN BEARS: I’ve been the public address announcer for Brown University football since 1997. I also announce men’s basketball and hockey, women’s soccer and volleyball, and both lacrosse teams. My son Kipper, who’s 15. spots for me with the binoculars for football and calls out the numbers. He’s been doing it since he was 11. I love doing it with him.

SNOW DAYS: WPRO was ‘must listening’ for school kids on snowy mornings. Now kids get texts, emails, and phone messages, often the night before (informing them of a school closing). Distance learning has changed snow days forever, but “Operation Snowball” does continue. I am happy to continue Salty Brine’s “No School Foster-Glocester” tradition.