14 Facts About Yankee Network

Yankee Network was an American radio network, based in Boston, Massachusetts, with affiliate radio stations throughout New England.

At the height of its influence, the Yankee Network had as many as twenty-four affiliated radio stations.

The beginnings of what became the Yankee Network occurred in the mid-1920s, when John Shepard's Boston station WNAC linked by telephone land lines with Robert Shepard's station in Providence, Rhode Island, WEAN, so that the two stations could share or exchange programming.

Main benefit of joining the Yankee Network was that it offered its affiliates as much as 17 hours of daily programming.

Yankee Network affiliates were provided with access to some of the best-known Boston vocalists and orchestras, as well as nationally-known entertainers who were appearing in Boston or Providence.

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The Yankee Network had its own 22-piece orchestra, led by Charles R Hector.

In 1935, the Yankee Network centralized its executive offices and studios in a new headquarters, 21 Brookline Avenue in Boston.

The Yankee Network earned praise for its coverage of natural disasters in New England, such as in April 1936, when heavy rainstorms caused flooding in western Massachusetts, or in September 1938, when a hurricane devastated much of Southern New England.

The Yankee Network faced a powerful opponent—the Radio Corporation of America, which saw FM as a threat to its established AM radio business.

In 1938, a former Yankee Network employee named Lawrence J Flynn challenged the license of Shepard's WAAB in Boston, and lodged a complaint about WNAC.

Yankee Network decided to relocate it to Worcester, a market that Yankee did not serve at that point.

In mid-December 1942, it was suddenly announced that the Yankee Network was being sold; the news caught most people in Boston's broadcasting community by surprise, as it was not generally known that the network was for sale.

One popular announcer during this time was Gus Saunders, who was well known as the host of another of the Yankee Network's cooking programs; in addition, Saunders announced some of the network's sports events, such as Boston's BAA Marathon.

WNAC, WNAC-TV, and the entire Yankee Network increased the amount of hourly newscasts, added more news bulletins, and sent out members of its Boston staff to post news headlines on billboards around the city.