The Nightcrawler recently caught up with radio personality Steve Cantara, ex-co-host of Quinn and Cantara, to talk about his unceremonious sacking at Lazer, subsequent attempt at syndication and his triumphant Valley return—sans a sidekick. Here's how it went down:
Nightcrawler: Hey, Steve, great to have you back. Could you give us the Cliff's Notes on your Lazer stint and the E! True Hollywood Story behind your departure?
Steve Cantara: Quinn and I hosted the Lazer 99.3 morning show for years, back to the launch of the station in 2000. It was a blast. Our show was smart, edgy and, on a few occasions, "blue," and it ended up catching up with us and pissing off more than a few managers within the Saga Communications family. Even though it ended ugly [in August of 2004], I stand firm when I say that some of my best radio of my 18-year career came out of that tiny little building on Hampton Avenue in Northampton.
Where did you go from there? You and Q seemed to be making a successful go at syndication with three or four major New Hampshire/Massachusetts/New York radio stations, the last I heard. What happened to that?
After our four-year run at Lazer, Quinn and I were hired by WHJY Providence to host a syndicated night show. The flagship station was WHJY Providence, and the show was heard on Rock 105 in Syracuse, N.Y., WHEB in Portsmouth, N.H., Rock 101 in Manchester N.H, and a small radio station in southern Vermont. We hosted that show from early 2005 until last January, when Clear Channel decided not to renew our contracts. Clear Channel at the time was getting ready to sell, and having a live, two-person night show was considered a luxury.
Late last year as our contract was winding down, Quinn and I flirted with a couple offers, one in Boston and another in San Diego, but in the end, I knew my heart was here in the Valley and that my days of chasing a big-market radio job were over. So my girlfriend and I decided to move back to Northampton and Quinn took a job with a film company out in Aspen, Colo.
Do you still keep in touch with him?
Quinn and Cantara had a 7-year run that we can both be proud of, but we have not talked since the show ended last year. We always enjoyed working with each other, but we were never really close off-air.
Speaking of getting back on air, you initially re-entered radio on the business side, correct? Were you prepared to give up the on-air side, or was that a pre-calculated means to an end?
I was never ready to give up the on-air side of radio… but I was also realistic about getting back on the air in a market where I burned more than a few bridges. So I arrived back in Northampton with no job lined up, but happy just to be back, and in a few months took a job with the Clear Channel Radio cluster in Springfield. After about three months of being a really shitty sales guy there, I was approached about hosting mornings on WRNX.
How is the new gig working out?
Really, RNX's format is more suited to my personal taste in music. I'm only a couple weeks into the show and it's nowhere near where I hope the show will be in a few months, but I'm excited about what can be done on a station like WRNX.
What about working solo?
It's tough. When you work on a show alone, personally I find it somewhat limiting. And, of course, the WRNX target demo is much different than the target demos of the rock stations I worked at. But at this time in my life, WRNX is the perfect place for me to end up. I could not have walked into a better situation.
Even with all the changes in the industry?
Believe it or not, even with all the challenges radio faces—satellite, Internet, iPods—it really has not changed much. My belief is, there will always be a place for terrestrial radio as long as it's live and it's local.
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or email Garycarra@aol.com.
